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WOW! After beginning to delve into Twitter, that’s the first word that pops into my mind for many reasons. First, what a potentially fantastic learning tool! Right now, I am just discovering all the possibilities it offers me as an educator and learner. Once I become comfortable with it myself, I can’t wait to see how I can use it in my classroom. At this point, I also find Twitter to be a little overwhelming. Like I stated in my first blog, trying out new things is at times stressful and scary. This is another one of those assignments that is pushing me out of my comfort zone. However, I am willingly and excitedly diving in head first. You can find me on Twitter @lindsaykober.
“Twitter has become a popular tool for educators to connect with one another to get advice or information quickly, share points of view, or just stay in touch” (Solomon and Schrum, 2010, p.35). This sums up why Twitter is an invaluable tool when establishing and participating in a personal learning network (PLN). Having information available at my fingertips in real time is extremely valuable. With a simple tweet, I can have answers and resources at my disposal in a very short amount of time. As a busy mother of two very active boys, a teacher, and a graduate student, this is very important to me. Likewise, Twitter is also a tool that will aid in the research of topics. When I follow hashtags of interest, I can pull up endless tweets and articles about the interested topic. I really can’t wait to dig into this more! I can see how one can get sucked into a virtual world and lose track of time very easily. One click leads to another and another!
In the beginning of my encounter with using Twitter, I can already see how priceless this tool will be in aiding my professional growth. The amount of information, professionals, and ideas I am exposed to is mind boggling! I do like how TweetDeck organizes all this for me. In my first blog about PLN’s, I stressed how important sharing is. The “Teacher’s Guide to Twitter” confirms this by stating, “Along the lines of the ‘get what you give’ idea, the more you feed into the community, the more robust it will become and the more it will grow and become useful to you” (2016, para. 7). It is clear that sharing is the key. Through my investigation I read multiple times that first you are to read and digest the information, but then you must share. You can share your ideas or you can share someone else’s by retweeting. The more you do these two things, the more people you’ll reach and the more your network will grow.
After spending a couple of hours exploring Twitter and deciding who I was going to follow, I am very excited about the future possibilities it has to offer. Kathleen Morris, a teacher and a blogger for educators, summed it up perfectly, “I find Twitter to be like a virtual staff room where I can catch up with my PLN. It is a place where I can find advice, give advice, find great links, share my work and engage in general musings about education” (2016, para. 10). I found her advice very beneficial and have consequently decided to follow her on Twitter as well. I have very much enjoyed exploring new contacts and reading the plethora of information about all the topics that interest me. The next step will be to share and tweet.
Before I end this blog, I want to share a very useful website I found, Twitter for Teachers, by Kathy Schrock. It literally has information about everything you could want to know about Twitter as a beginner. Kathy Schrock provides helpful tips and tools in this valuable resource. I bookmarked this in my Diigo account for future reference.
Now that I have established myself in the Twitter community, I am anxious to reap all the benefits this aspect of my PLN has to offer in conjunction with this blog and my Feedly account.
References:
Morris, K. (2016). Step 2: Using Twitter To Build Your PLN. Retrieved July 10, 2016, from http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/pln-challenge-3-using-twitter-to-build-your-pln/
Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2010). Web 2.0 How-To for Educators. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.
The Teacher's Guide to Twitter. (n.d.). Retrieved July 10, 2016, from http://www.edudemic.com/guides/guide-to-twitter/
RE: "I can see how one can get sucked into a virtual world and lose track of time very easily. One click leads to another and another!"
ReplyDeleteOh, yes! In your research you might have run across "the stages of Twitter use." If not, they are often listed as denial > curiosity > AHA! > obsesssion > a part of life. It sounds like you have progressed quickly to the AHA! stage. :-)
I read your first tweets and followed you. I am impressed that you shared your blog on your first tweet! You are on off to a great start.
Tweet on!
Dr. Dell
Re: " I can’t wait to see how I can use it in my classroom. At this point, I also find Twitter to be a little overwhelming. Like I stated in my first blog, trying out new things is at times stressful and scary. This is another one of those assignments that is pushing me out of my comfort zone."
ReplyDeleteI completely agree! I am excited to be able to try using Twitter in my libraries, but this is also another assignment that has really pushed me out of my comfort zone. I am feeling overwhelmed with Twitter as well, but I know that will pass as I get used to it. I am excited to build my PLN and learn so much more.
Lindsay,
ReplyDeleteI can see that you are excited to set up your PLN! I am also very interested in all the resources that are available through Twitter. I had never thought of Twitter as something that would provide us as educators with so much information! I am looking forward to when I have connected with a global group of educators that will help me to really step up and stand out as a teacher. I am always a little timid about sharing the work that I do with others, but look forward to sharing with people who are as excited about the materials and trying new activities as I am.
Lindsay,
ReplyDeleteI can see that you are excited to set up your PLN! I am also very interested in all the resources that are available through Twitter. I had never thought of Twitter as something that would provide us as educators with so much information! I am looking forward to when I have connected with a global group of educators that will help me to really step up and stand out as a teacher. I am always a little timid about sharing the work that I do with others, but look forward to sharing with people who are as excited about the materials and trying new activities as I am.
Lindsay,
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more with your statement about following hashtags of interest. When I first started hearing about people (teenagers) using hashtags several years ago, I thought it was pretty annoying. However, now I absolutely love using them on all my social media sites! They provide such a quick way for me to search for things that are exactly aligned to what I am wanting to learn more about.
I also liked what you said about sharing and retweeting. You said, "The more you do these two things, the more people you'll reach and the more your network will grow." I think that is so important to realize that as uncomfortable as Twitter is for some, it will be hard to see or reap the full benefits of it without diving in and getting involved, not just absorbing information. That is something I need to keep telling myself - I need to post and share things instead of just looking at what others have done.
I completely agree that I find Twitter overwhelming! There are so many resources and information there it is easy to get lost into it. Twitter does seem like it is and will be a great tool to keep up with a PLN while keeping busy with the day to day activities of life. I like the idea of Twitter being like a “virtual staff room.” I know as a teacher I have had some of the best learning opportunities by just sitting around and talking with other teachers and having this with teachers throughout the world will give me so many more ideas for my classroom!
ReplyDelete