Catholic School Matters
January 8, 2017
How I Use Twitter
I spoke with a couple of friends about Twitter who had great questions about how to engage on Twitter. One asked how to find relevant friends to follow and how to get people to follow him. The other asked me why I was continuing to clog up his feed with multiple tweets about my latest newsletter, blog post, or podcast. I figured it might be a great chance to answer both questions:
· I rarely open Twitter and just start drinking from the firehose. Most of the time I only read things which have been “tweeted at” me (look for the twitter handles at the end of posts). You can’t count on the fact that people will see what you post so that is why “tweeting at” someone makes sense.
· I use Twitter to gather the specific information tweeted at me and to publicize the content I’m generating (newsletter on Sunday, podcast on Monday, podcast blog on Tuesday, Wednesday book blog post, Friday blog post). Or I’ll find someone’s blog or newsletter and subscribe to it.
· It’s important to figure out why you are using Twitter. I don’t post selfies or tweet out random information. I don’t follow Katy Perry, Tom Brady, or politicians. I follow education-related content providers and educators. Just like I don’t follow schools and companies on Facebook. That’s for friends and families.
· Whenever I am tweeted at, I generally “like” it at the very least. But most of the time, I retweet it. Both actions help spur connections on Twitter—literally by drawing attention of my followers to something else but also influencing the Twitter algorithm.
· Want more followers? My recommendations:
o Pick a short Twitter handle.
o Find people/organizations to follow. Use the search bar and look up organizations and people.
o Open those profiles and see who they follow. Then follow those people.
o Find out who is following you. Follow them back. Find out who they follow. Follow those people.
o Like and retweet tweets you like. The more active you are, the more likely it is you will build connections. When my tweets are retweeted, I make sure to “tweet at” those people next time I have something to send out
o Open your notifications and see who is liking and retweeting you. Follow them.
o When Twitter recommends people, follow them.
o When someone puts twitter handles in a tweet you like, follow those people
I’m not an expert on Twitter. I’ve never mastered lists, I rarely do Tweetchats, I don’t taunt foreign adversaries, and for the life of me I can’t get some people to follow me. But I figure they use Twitter for different purposes than me. You can do all this in one hour a week--gathering content, publicizing your content, and making connections. Become a lifelong learner.
Dr. Tim Uhl, Superintendent
"Catholic School Matters" Podcast
Tomorrow, Episode #18 will drop and includes an interview with Dr. Tara Rolle, the Assistant Superintendent of the Diocese of San Jose and the Director of the Drexel Schools, an innovative partnership model of inner-city schools in San Jose. Last week, Episode #17 was an interview with Dr. Julie Vogel, the superintendent of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, and previous to that was Episode #16--an interview with Bill Daily, the San Antonio principal who has tripled enrollment growth in his school.
Here is the link to the podcast on iTunes. Please subscribe to the podcast so new episodes will automatically download. The show is also available on Stitcher and Google Play. If you don't have accounts with any of those content providers, here is the link to my basic page with the podcasts.
Dr. Uhl's Blog
- TUESDAY: Dr. Vogel's podcast. He focused on the "Ministry of Interruptions."
- WEDNESDAY: The first Wednesday Book Blog was about "Reinventing Catholic Schools"
- FRIDAY: Dr. Uhl blogged about the use of Twitter.
This week, Dr. Uhl will blog about:
- TUESDAY: Reflections on Dr. Rolle's podcast.
- WEDNESDAY: The Wednesday Book Blog will be about marketing. Stan Phelps' book entitled Purple Goldfish should provide food for thought on how we market to our current customers.
- FRIDAY: "Learning to Ski"
You can find the blog at drtimuhl.com
The Week Ahead
Monday: office (Helena) & Great Falls meetings
Tuesday: office (Helena)
Wed: Billings meetings
Thurs: St. Labre Board meeting (Bilings)
Fri: St. Labre Board meeting (Billings)
Saturday: travel to Phoenix
Next week: 1,965 miles
Last 2 weeks: 1,053 miles
2016-17: 18,354 driving miles; 14,376 air miles
What I'm Reading 2016-17
- Stall Points by Bever van Derek.
- Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance (finished)
- Why Don't Kids Like School? by Daniel Willingham (finished)
- Tom Clancy: Commander in Chief by Mark Greaney. (finished)
- Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis by Robert Putnam (finished)
- The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. (finished)
- Reading with the daughter: The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (7 books, finished).
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni (finished)
- The Gift of Failure by Jessica Lahey (finished)
- Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen (finished)
- The Purple Goldfish by Stan Phelps (finished)
- The Song of the Dodo by David Quammen (finished)
- Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman. (finished)
- Reinvention: Accelerating Results in the Age of Disruption Cragun & Sweetman (finished)
- Cultures Built to Last: Systemic PLCs at Work by Fullan and DuFour (finished)
- Daring Greatly by Brene Brown (finished)
- Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time by Margaret J. Wheatley (finished)
- The Orange Frog by Shawn Achor (finished)
Montana Catholic Schools
Email: superintendent@montanacc.org
Website: www.montanacatholicschools.org
Location: PO Box 1708 Helena MT 59601
Phone: (406) 442-5761
Facebook: facebook.com/montanacatholicschools
Twitter: @mtcathschools
For Principals & Teachers
- National School Choice Week is Jan 22-28. Click here to receive your free materials. There is a School Choice rally in Helena on January 25th. Catholic Schools Week is the next week (Jan 29-Feb 4).
- Montana Catholic Schools now has a new Facebook page. and Pinterest board. Please like them so I can share marketing material there.
- On the Horizon:
- Virtual Leadership Meetings Jan 24th 9 am or 1 pm. Here are the login details.
- 7th/8th grade days at the legislature Feb 24th
American Catholic News
Leadership Links
Teaching & Learning
Miscellany
Past Issues of Catholic School Matters
December 18, 2016 "The 'Best Of' Issue"
December 11, 2016 "Brain-Based Learning Special Issue"
December 4, 2016 "Cultures Built to Last"
November 20, 2016 "Good News Issue"
November 13, 2016 "School Culture Special Issue"
November 6, 2016 "Diocesan Demographics"
October 30, 2016 "Catholic Leadership Summit"
October 23, 2016 "Classroom Management Issue"
October 16, 2016 "Professional Development Conferences"
October 9, 2016 "Daring Greatly"
October 2, 2016 "The New Podcast"
September 25, 2016 "The Productivity Issue"
September 18, 2016 "Measuring our Success"
September 11, 2016 "Courage and Grief"
August 28, 2016 "A Senior Moment"August 21, 2016 "Schools as Field Hospitals"