My Daily Blog Challenge: 30/365
Around this time last school year, I was sitting in a school in-service meeting. The presenter pitched his belief that all teachers should be on twitter and gave many examples as to why he believes it is a powerful tool. I didn't see the possibilities, but I decided to start an account in case I got bored and needed something to do. The presentation was great and I was not bored, so I had little time to explore Twitter.
I kept my account but didn't do a lot with it for a few months. After some peer pressure from one of my followers, I decided to try a chat in January. I have now surpassed 11.3 thousand tweets and I cannot even begin to describe all of the new information I have learned on Twitter. It has been an amazing experience!
Twitter also exposed me to the concept of a PLN-Personnel Learning Network. At first I thought it was all about following lots of people and having a large following. Just like life, a strong PLN is based on relationships. It took me a while, but I finally realized that the power of Twitter lies in my relationships with my PLN, not in how many people make up my PLN.
I can say without hesitation that I would not be the teacher I am (and the one I hope to become) without my PLN. Twitter shows me all the possibilities in education. I always tell my students, I may not come up with great ideas, but I know when I see one. Twitter exposes me to tons of fantastic ideas that I can use in my classroom. Twitter also surrounds me with passionate and creative teachers.
I am blessed to have a great PLN (both in person and online) and my focus now is to continue to build great relationships. We all have something to offer and share with each other and Twitter makes it easy to connect. It's not about numbers, it's about relationships.
Thank you to my PLN! Without you, my life with be much more stressful. You are a source of wonderful ideas and constant support.
Congrats to my Daily Blog Challenge Support Group for finishing one month of our blogging challenge (give or take a few days because we did not all start at the same time.) Check out our Hashtag #EdBDaily to follow our blogging journey.
Congrats on 30 days of blogging! I would love to join you folks in this challenge and I enjoy following the hashtag on twitter. Maybe in another month or two :)
ReplyDeleteI love seeing how much of a different twitter can make in the lives of educators. You didn't mention that you are now tweeting with your class, too!
Thank you Emma! You should join the challenge, even if it's for a month ;). I forgot to mention the tweeting with my classes ;) That has been a great adventure too.
DeleteGreat post, Marisa. I hardly know what I did with myself--how I learned OR how I filled my little spare bits of time--before Twitter! I agree with what you say about building relationships via your PLN. I have been slow to figure that part of it out and also to follow through, but I'm getting there. At first, the value for me in Twitter was consuming and curating; now, I'm seeing much more value in its use for connecting.
ReplyDeleteI haven't yet decided if I'm going to commit to another 30 days of blogging. I really want to be sure I'm posting real content, not just posting for the sake of posting. (Just so you know, I totally consider cat photos to be valid content for a blog!) I'm really pleased that I followed through on September's 30-day challenge, though. I have written about so many things I wouldn't have written about if I hadn't had this challenge. Makes me think I ought to keep it up....
Do you have a blog post about tweeting with your class? I've got my preservice Methods students on Twitter, but I'm not sure they can see how they might use it with their students.
Thank you Elisabeth! The blogging challenge has definitely been a challenge, but it has been a great experience. I would love to connect with your methods kids. Our class account is @MrsWrensClass.
DeleteI wrote two posts about using Twitter in my class room (http://mwren13.blogspot.com/2013/09/social-media-in-elementary-music.html and http://mwren13.blogspot.com/2013/09/day-15-social-media-in-music-room-part-2.html)
I would continue blogging for another month :) I start posts when I have ideas, which has helped when I don't know what to write about. We can all learn from each other and all experiences help. I need to get better about commenting on posts.