The Past…

Twitter has always been a foreign universe for me. It is something that I briefly explored at the beginning of my first teaching job (the classic overachieving first-year teacher) and used to connect with teachers, principals, and division staff in my new division, share resources and things that I was trying out in my new role as an LRT, and develop a PLN. I had big hopes and dreams for what this would look like, however, that quickly petered out as I became overwhelmed with the new adventures that come along with being a new teacher and did not feel like I could keep up with a new job, and creating and sharing content on Twitter. Therefore, my Twitter presence was very short-lived.

The Present…

Now that I have had the opportunity to dive a bit deeper and more intentionally into Twitter, I am seeing its benefits! I have really enjoyed sharing and learning from my classmates and understand how it can be an important part of a PLN. My grasp of why so many people utilize Twitter as a professional resource is expanding the more I use the platform. Here are a few things that I have noted throughout my experiences with using Twitter over the last month:

Twitter Highlights…

• I have to admit when I retweet organizations or other people’s content and they respond, I get a bit of a thrill!
• Learning from all of my classmates and other professionals on Twitter has definitely already had an impact on how I use tech in the classroom. For example, edpuzzle was something that was brand new to me that I have now tried to incorporate into my classes.
• On a personal note, I have discovered a whole new world of Swifties (aka Taylor Swift fans) that I can connect with and hear about all things Taylor (if you know, you know).

New Learnings: Tweetdeck 

Although I have been doing a lot of learning, there are still so many aspects of Twitter that I feel unfamiliar with. I have attempted to understand what a tweetdeck is however, am still in the very early learning era with this concept. Based on the tips that popped up when I first opened up my Tweetdeck, it is just a different way to view Twitter on your desktop. I do like that I can create a deck or a column specifically for my ECI 831 course, including a column just to show tweets that are #ECI831. I can then add different social media education or tech ed hashtags or accounts to my deck. This is definitely helpful for organizing my Twitter, however, my understanding is that it is only available for desktop (please correct me if I’m wrong!), so my phone feels a bit chaotic in comparison.

Retrieved from https://create.twitter.com/en/products/tweetdeck

The Future…

To be honest the thought of keeping up with Twitter following my ECI 831 course feels overwhelming. Although there is a lot of value in developing and staying connected with a Twitter PLN, I can certainly see myself deleting the app off my phone at the end of the course. As I said in my relationship with social media blog post, for my own mental health and wellbeing, I really try to limit my own time on social media platforms. However, I do like that Twitter is a resource that I can always come back to when I need to reconnect, find resources, or share ideas. Therefore, I think long-term it is not going to be a fairytale, happily ever after for us, but Twitter and I will have a long-distance relationship.