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| Image from http://cybraryman.com/twitter.html |
As you are spending all your waking and sometimes non waking hours preparing for the upcoming school year and your new group of students take a few minutes for yourself (well not entirely for yourself). Join Twitter--or refresh your feed.
Twitter is a powerful tool. It connects you to people all over the world, current happenings, and many opinions and ideas. So you might be thinking, if I have a few minutes everyday to myself, why spend it on Twitter.
What is Twitter?
Why Twitter?
Twitter is a great resource for teachers. Teachers are excellent about sharing with your colleagues across the hall. View Twitter as a group of teachers that are across a very large hall. Teachers are excellent at searching online for new activities, experiences, websites, and tools to bring into their classrooms. Many teachers already love Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers to connect with other educators and the great activities they are doing in their classrooms. Did you know that Twitter can help do the same thing but with a wider audience?
Twitter is also a great tool to share what you and your students are doing. Consider sharing your twitter name (handle) with the parents of your students. This is an easy way for them to follow what their kids are doing on a regular basis; most of them already utilize Twitter, so why not use it to remove the walls on your classroom. You can create a hashtag for your classroom as another means to share and follow what you and your students are doing. Remember #pvepd? Your Twitter feed can also be displayed on your Canvas page so that everything is in a central location for families and students alike.
How to Get Started
If you are willing to give Twitter a try, first you need to create an account. There are 2 ways to do this:
1. Log on to www.twitter.com
or
2. Download the app for your smartphone or tablet
I suggest doing both!
Next, you need to build your timeline so that it becomes a powerful, personalized tool for professional development. Here is a great way to get started.
Building Your PLN (Professional Learning Network)
Building your PLN is very easy with Twitter. It is as simple as typing into the search bar. You can search for people to follow by topic, interest, or hashtag. When you created your Twitter account, Twitter most likely created a list of people you should follow. These are all excellent ways to create a list of people to follow. Don't forget to follow the other teachers in your building and district!
Image from http://www.edudemic.com/guides/guide-to-twitter/
Connecting and Collaborating with Educators
Twitter is about making connections and collaborating with others. Once you have a list of people that you follow, the next step is to collaborate and interact with them. This is done by tweeting or replying to them by including their handle (ex. @mrsdrakepve), sending them a direct message via Twitter, or participating in a chat on Twitter.
Creating and Sharing
Are you doing something fun in your classroom? Did you find a great tool or resource online? Did someone have a great idea? Share it!
Tweet: Share what you are doing in your classroom or what great things your students are doing with a tweet. A tweet is a 140 characters or less. Include a photo or video to make your message more exciting and interesting for your followers. *Remember Tweets are public, so if you include a photo or video be sure you have photo clearance for all those included.*
Retweet: Did someone on your timeline have an idea or resource that you liked or thought others should see? Then simply retweet it. When you do this, you will share this tweet with the people who follow you.
Sharing a Resource: When you are online many sites allow you to share directly. If you read an article that you really liked or found powerful, share it via Twitter! If the site doesn't have sharing buttons, you can simply copy and paste the link and share it that way too.
Teachers are very humble people. We like to do what is best for our students and keep our celebrations in our classrooms. If you are doing something or have a resource that you find useful and engaging don't be afraid to tell others about it--it isn't bragging! If you are looking for something, are excited by a student achievement, or have an engaging lesson someone else is probably doing the same thing. Help a fellow teacher and spread the wealth!
When you and your students are doing great things remember to share with @pveelem and use #mypve!
Until next time, continuing honing your craft!
Until next time, continuing honing your craft!
