To Tweet or not to Tweet???

Signing up for Twitter was one of my first assignments for LIBE 461, intended to encourage us to begin developing our Personal Learning Networks. The problem? The only things I knew about Twitter were that a cute little blue bird is its icon and that celebrities tweet as a form of self-promotion. I could not comprehend how Twitter could be used as a form of professional development. So I turned to what I have come to view as a new technology "For Dummies" guide- videos by Common Craft. Here is their "Twitter in Plain English" .

Despite watching this and signing up for Twitter, I felt lost when it came to figuring out who to follow and how to best follow them. I began by following TL's I knew and then, after a key word search, chose other TL's who's tweets appealed to me. However, I must confess, this is where my Twitter journey ended; as I could not wrap my head around how to keep up with the tweets, and what to- or how to- actually tweet myself. This has been a loose end that has followed me ever since, so I decided to come back to the "art of tweeting" for LIBE 477. I was actually recently inspired by a mom friend of mine, a total "hockey" mom, who tweets all the time (particularly at hockey games, of course). She felt so excited when her favorite sport blogger that she follows gave her a shout out! Listening to her talk made me realize, if this mommy friend can do it, so can I! 

Will Richardson in Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tool for Classrooms claims that Twitter, or "micro-blogging" done in 140 characters or less, is a powerful professional development tool. "Following other educators on Twitter creates a "network at my fingertips" phenomenon where people ask questions and get answers, link to great blog posts or resources or share ideas for projects as they go through the day" (Richardson, 2010, p.86). Richardson also describes Twitter as a "running river of conversation" and a type of "sixth sense" (Richardson, 2010, p.86). For these reasons, I am determined to give Twitter another chance.

I still have apprehensions about the use of Twitter or perhaps the misuse of Twitter. See my Current Event #2  "Who Gives a Tweet?" for more thoughts on this. However, I plan to revisit my Twitter subscription and review the list of teachers I am currently following, thoughtfully add to it, and actually begin tweeting myself, in hopes people will begin following me. As far as I know, I currently have one follower; I have to give her something to read! I will reflect more on the use of Twitter as a professional development tool at the end of term. For now, here is a great resource from TeachHUB.com on 50 Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom.

Question: How do you use Twitter in your educational practice?

Works Cited:

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts. and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.