To many people, Twitter is just a relatively new social media site on which shallow teens and preteens waste much valuable time; however, to educators, Twitter, when used properly, is an invaluable resource for connecting with other educators and maintaining a rich and lively perspective on the field of education.
At the beginning of my roller-coaster with Twitter, I was firmly of the above belief: that Twitter is only good for picking immature fights and oversharing about personal life. Following that suspicion, I was of the opinion that Twitter is also helpful in a professional context, but only to those that are heavily steeped in technology and prepared to spend significant amounts of time developing their Personal Learning Network (PLN) on Twitter. As I began to be compelled to use Twitter more, I was able to engage in valuable discussions with practicing teachers, as well as fellow pre-service teachers on a deeper level than I would have thought possible as a Freshman in college. I participated in seven "EdChats" during my first semester, and though getting up at 5:20 to participate in a 5:30 chat was painful and intimidating, it was profoundly rewarding when professionals asked for my input on certain topics, and gave me personal feedback on my work and answers to my questions. Over the course of the semester, a few companies sought me out to review their resources upon seeing that I was serious about my learning and excited about the field of education. |
Currently I am excited to continue with my communication with professionals via Twitter. I have seen it play a role in recent graduates getting jobs quickly, and I have observed many teachers refreshed and excited by contact with fellow teachers regarding career and every-day difficulties in the field of education.
I plan to tweet questions and thoughts that come to mind throughout the years, even before I have my own classroom, as that will help me to gain knowledge, as well as helping current teachers to express themselves and put valuable thoughts into future generations of teachers and students.
In conjunction with that, I also plan to respond to my peers, and even professionals, as relevant ideas occur to me. This will contribute to the atmosphere of professional conversation and camaraderie, as well as allowing me the chance to practice contributing my thoughts to the professional circle.
The final activity which I plan to actively participate in is the EdChats. These provide vigorous live communication so that professionals and pre-professionals can connect and build relationships and encourage each other instantly over the course of a few minutes.
I also intent to take a more passive position by retweeting and favoriting others' tweets to encourage them to continue sharing their thoughts and communicating with other educators.
I plan to tweet questions and thoughts that come to mind throughout the years, even before I have my own classroom, as that will help me to gain knowledge, as well as helping current teachers to express themselves and put valuable thoughts into future generations of teachers and students.
In conjunction with that, I also plan to respond to my peers, and even professionals, as relevant ideas occur to me. This will contribute to the atmosphere of professional conversation and camaraderie, as well as allowing me the chance to practice contributing my thoughts to the professional circle.
The final activity which I plan to actively participate in is the EdChats. These provide vigorous live communication so that professionals and pre-professionals can connect and build relationships and encourage each other instantly over the course of a few minutes.
I also intent to take a more passive position by retweeting and favoriting others' tweets to encourage them to continue sharing their thoughts and communicating with other educators.