To be honest – I have never been a fan of twitter. I used it once in high school French class and have not used it since. I was a little leary when I found out we would be using it for this class. I found participating in the #SaskEdChat very interesting. I thought the concept of this chat was a great idea. Allowing different educators to come together and discuss topics of the classroom is a wonderful resource and network tool. I did really like being a part of this chat, but I did have a few critiques. I think it is hard to decipher levels of professionalism on social media. From being active and a part of this chat, I was able to identify different levels of professionalism from the participants. I also felt a little intimidated replying to the questions asked in this chat. I had some replies to some of my answers that made me feel a little insecure. I understand that Dr. K. Christopherson wanted to challenge the thinking of all the participants, but I felt as though by refudding my answers that meant I was just wrong. By the end of the hour, I felt a little defeated and did not want to answer any more questions.
With that being said, I do think Twitter can be a good professional networking tool. Depending on who you choose to follow, I think Twitter can be very informative for teachers and educators. Events, spirit days, and other informative information is shared by different schools around Regina and school boards to update their followers. I follow the Regina Public Schools and the Prairie Valley School Division’s Twitter account which are the two school divisions I sub for. They post and repost information from different schools in their division and different accomplishments from their students and teachers. Another way I think Twitter is a good tool for educators is that this platform makes it easy to reach out to different resources, companies, and professionals that could be used or incorporated into the classroom. As long as teachers educate their students on how to use this platform, it could be easily linked to curricular outcomes and inquiry projects.
I think I could become a fan of Twitter for a professional reason but not a personal reason. My partner, David, uses Twitter constantly. He loves using it for following sports updates and current news topics. I, however, do not share the same feelings for personal enjoyment. From the exposure to Twitter from our class, I do see myself using it for professional resources and networking when I have my own classroom. I think I would be able to find different lesson and unit ideas on Twitter, as well as different ways to incorporate certain teaching philosophies, like play-based learning, into the classroom.
Here are a few accounts I followed for inspiration and ideas!