Twitter Experience and Thoughts
I joined Twitter in 2014 at an educational conference. A speaker encouraged us to join conversations and gave us a hashtag to use during his presentation. I created an account fully intending to participate with fellow attendees, but I was lost an unsure of how and when to use @ and hashtags. After letting my account sit idle for a couple of years I picked it up again to follow some coaches, sports figures and a few other random celebrities. I rarely checked my twitter feed and due to my lack of understanding I saw no value in this social networking platform.
In the fall of 2018 I updated my Twitter account per an assignment in the ITEC program. I followed several instructional technology, ed tech, STEM, math, and elementary education users. Now and then I would scroll through my feed only paying attention to feeds that had catchy visuals. It was not until a colleague in the ITEC program pointed out the benefits of Twitter that I began to explore the true value of this social networking platform.
Now I check my feed daily, read tweets and continue searching for people and topics to follow. Fitzpatrick (2015, p. 1) pointed our “people have claimed that Twitter is a great way to connect with other educators and build your Professional Learning Network (PLN)”. I am excited to be a part of and build my PLN. It feels refreshing to be a part of a community of like-minded people who are passionate about education, technology and other thought provoking issues.
I have learned how Twitter is beneficial in the professional realm. I am comfortable using Twitter as a resource and to connect with my learning community. After reviewing the articles and videos on Twitter I am more comfortable tweeting and sharing what I am doing in the classroom. One of my key take-aways from this module was from the Starting a PLN on Twitter: A Quick Guide for Teachers by Common Sense Education video. I now understand that hashtags categorize tweets and how hashtags are used to join chats. My goal is to be able to use Twitter at my next conference to be able to participate in conversations while attending a presentation. I believe I now have the tools to make this happen thanks to my current readings and video lessons on Twitter.
How to use Twitter with Teachers, Students and Parents
It is evident that I now believe in the use of Twitter with fellow teachers to build a Professional Learning Network (PLN). Educators from across the state, country and world can join together in PLN’s to share information or discuss topics. If that is not enough and you want to connect even more and fully engage with your Professional Learning Network you can hop online at any time and find a chat to join through #educaht which I learned in Fitzpatrick’s Starting a PLN on Twitter: A Quick Guide for Teachers by Common Sense Education.
Using Twitter with parents is a good way to share what is happen in the classroom. Parents can feel connected to the class and stay informed. By the time students get home from school they rarely remember what they did. With the use of Twitter parents can ask students specific questions about their day, activities and things they are learning. This is key in enhancing the lines of communication between students and parents, and affording parents an opportunity become involved in their child’s education without being present at school.
Lastly, after reading I have learned several great ideas for using Twitter with students. Twitter can be used to stay organized and keep up with assignments, share notes and ask questions. What about using Twitter for daily challenges? 50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom gave some fun suggestions like daily word games, math puzzles and video challenges (Miller, 2019). The potential for Twitter uses in the classroom are limitless, however since I teach in an elementary school parental involvement would be necessary.
Podcasts
To begin exploring podcasts I subscribed to several channels and screened topics. I landed on a couple of interesting shows including the iTeach Podcast staring Dr. Vega from Kennesaw State University. I liked the variety of available podcasts when I was searching. The podcast I previewed was The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast and the assortment of episodes within that podcast gave me plenty opportunities to find a topic that piqued my interest. I like the fact that I could listen to an episode, stop and pick it up where I left off. During the show I watched, Ms. Gonzalez let listeners know they were welcome to and leave comments on the episode. I was surprised to hear Jennifer give listener’s resources to use including lesson plans. My overall experience was a positive one that has encouraged me to create a podcast.
Using podcasts with students would allow teachers to support one if not all of the 4C’s, creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. As Bradbury stated (2019, p. 3) “when students work with audio and video, they are given the opportunity to bring out their personality and showcase how much they know about a subject.” There are a plethora of seniors in which students could use podcasts in the classroom. In social studies students could create a podcast and discuss their thoughts on era being studied. Or they could create a podcast as if it were taking place in that time period. This would be especially beneficial to students with different learning needs. If students were not great test takers but they could create a podcast and use their verbal skills to relay their knowledge they would have a venue to showcase their success. “For many students, it’s much easier to express their thoughts and ideas through their voices rather than through written assignments” (Bradbury, 2019, p.4).
I created a podcast and asked friends to listen to my first episode and leave comments. I had a several participants and my plan is to give people a chance to respond individually and then come together in a round table discussion for my second episode.
[Common Sense Education]. (2019) Starting a PLN on Twitter: A quick guide for teachers
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=5HegF3hezF4]
Bradbury, J. (2019, February 4). Why should we podcast with students? Learning through SAMR, Bloom's & 4c's. Retrieved from Teacher Cast: Cast: https://elearningfeeds.com/why-should-we-podcast-with- students-learning-through-samr-blooms-4cs/
Fitzpatrick, E. (2015, August 14). Building your PLN withTwitter: A beginner's guide. Retrieved 2019, from Learning Bird: https://learningbird.com/building-your-pln-with-twitter-a-beginners-guide/
Miller, S. (2012). 50 ways to use Twitter in the classroom. Retrieved from TeacherHUB: https://www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom