Did you know?
There are over 300 Twitter Chats for teachers every week? It’s true! Check out the schedule here. Have you ever wondered how other teachers begin that challenging unit on measurement? There’s a chat for that! How do colleagues make the Civil War come to life for middle school students? There’s a chat for that! We are hearing a lot about “flipped learning,” but what does it look like? There’s a chat for that, too! Twitter chats are powerful sources of professional learning.
Getting Started…
This is a great video by Cool Cat Teacher, Vicki Davis.
When you see her screen, you are actually seeing a tool she uses called Hootsuite. This tool provides the user with a more “organized” view of Twitter, shown by the columns. Another popular tool among tweeting teachers is Tweetdeck; it offers several of the same features as Hootsuite.
Twitter Chats
This is a glimpse at a Twitter chat. You can see that Kim Hendrick, Coordinator of Connected Learning for Center Grove Schools in Greenwood, Indiana, is facilitating the discussion. It’s important to note that the teachers are using #INeLearn at the end of their tweets.
#Hashtags
Hashtags help our tweets stay organized. If your Twitter account is public, then anyone can see your message. For example, first grade teachers use #1stchat to connect with other teachers of first grade students. When you click the word or phrase with the hashtag, then you can see all the tweets with that hashtag. Indiana educators use#INeLearn to connect with other teachers around the state. The #INeLearn chat takes place on Thursday evenings. For more information about #INeLearn, visit the site with the chat schedule.
You can use more than one hashtag in your tweets if you want to reach out to more groups. You may be interested in reaching out to all teachers; #edchat is recommended for such use. You can use hashtagged words and phrases at any time while tweeting. Hashtags are not limited to chats.
Archives
Miss a chat? No problem. They are archived for later viewing. One such example is the archive of the #flipclasschat below. The facilitators of this chat keep their archived chats in a Google Doc. Another popular tool used for archives is Storify.
Suggested Uses
Jump in! Look around! The brilliance of Twitter is that the user can determine his/her level of participation. You can watch, follow, or jump right in and participate. Many teachers all agree that Twitter is the best professional development tool they have ever used. Teachers find great ideas, solve problems, and find inspiration in the Twitterverse every single day.
Additional Resources
Twitter is only one of many social media resources that provide personal and professional growth opportunities and support collaboration. Many teachers use Google+, Facebook, Pinterest, and other tools to connect with others and learn online.
Your Challenge
Today’s challenge is to examine how a Twitter chat of educators could expand your professional knowledge.
How could you use this resource to connect with and learn from other educators?
How could other educators learn from you? Share those reflections in the comments below.
If you have another great tool for collaboration and professional learning, please feel free to add it to your comments as well.
Do you participate in any educational chats? What have you learned from those chats?
Is there a specific topic in education that interests you? Please share below and we will find a chat for that!
How could you use this resource to connect with and learn from other educators?
How could other educators learn from you? Share those reflections in the comments below.
If you have another great tool for collaboration and professional learning, please feel free to add it to your comments as well.
Do you participate in any educational chats? What have you learned from those chats?
Is there a specific topic in education that interests you? Please share below and we will find a chat for that!
Informative blog! it was very useful for me.Thanks for sharing. Do share more ideas regularly.
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