Week 3: My ON/OFF Relationship with Twitter!

I have many different thoughts about Twitter and it is completely dependent on what world of Twitter you are living in. I know this probably does not make sense but I will explain below. Just so this article makes sense I have an account that I have had for a long time that I call my personal account and an account I made for this class that I call my professional account.

Personal Thoughts on Twitter

I have had a Twitter account since I was in Grade 7 or 8 and I really did not know how to use it until about a month ago. On my personal account I follow people that I guess are “Influencers” because they say things that go viral. I also follow friends that I had in Elementary School, friends that I that I have from High School and then people related to sports.

But I will be completely honest I was mostly just a lurker because I don’t want to share about my personal life.

Have I had lots of laughs from things that I have seen on this account? Yes I have.

Can I say that I have taken long breaks from Twitter? Yes I can say that also.

Did I think that Twitter was unique but not really that important? Yes I definitely felt that way for over half of the 8 or 9 years that I have had it.

I hope I’m not the only one that has felt this way……..??????

Thoughts of Twitter during EDTC 300

This class has changed my thoughts on Twitter and has made me realize that Twitter is more than news sites and people poking fun at themselves and/or other people. I don’t know if this is the right word or not but the “PROPER” way to use Twitter is to follow people that are Educators or sites that promote education along with only reliable new sites.

I have tried to follow all my classmates and whatever comes across my feed as long as it is positive and has an educational focus. I have followed people from across Canada, in England and a couple of people from the USA (One person in Kentucky). It is so cool to read about the challenges and resources that people who live in different areas with different interests/important information can help get to the same goal of doing the best job possible to educate children.

About #SaskEdChat, I was so nervous to begin with but honestly after I answered the first question I was all in. Some words I thought of during the experience includes: exhausting, exhilarating, quick and enjoyment. I could not believe how welcoming the regulars were and it was so cool to be part of it. I felt so much relief reading the answers other people had about things such as technology and teaching advice that brought peace to my mind. It was so great to share things that I have learned over the last 4 years and also read and learn more others. It is really cool to be part of a learning community like the one that has been set up in #EDTECH300. I look forward to being part of this again in the future. Also thank you to TweetDeck for making this experience manageable and a little less stressful.

Challenges to me with Twitter

I still am not 100% certain how I plan on using Twitter in my classroom. As an Elementary teacher it partially depends on what grade I end up teaching. I think it would be kind of interesting to use twitter almost like a blog for Grade 1’s because it would be nice to see their progress from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. I have also thought that maybe we would have technological literacy time where we could go through my feed and read some tweets or articles that interest the class. I definitely believe that Twitter is part of the classroom, I’m just not sure if it is for me as a resource and/or professional development. It might be all of the above or it might be part of the classroom in a way that I have not thought of or found online.

Somedays I truly struggle to find articles to share on twitter to further the profession development of myself and my peers. So over the next little while I need to find more educational pages to follow on Twitter along with finding more sites and good quality sites to follow on Feedly.

Thank you for looking at my blog. I hope you have either learned something from this or felt some ease because you are not the only one that is still learning the ins and outs of Twitter.