Twitter is one of my favorite places to get lost in educational banter, philosophies, instructional strategies, and practical solutions. 

A few years ago, I started a Twitter account for my classroom, at that time teaching grade ⅔. I used it as a way for families to connect with us and see what we were doing in our classroom everyday. We also followed other classrooms and learned from them! It was an overall amazing experience and the parent feedback was phenomenal. Initially, a slight struggle to get parents connected and set up with accounts, but once that was out of the way, they really appreciated being able to see all the learning happening in their child’s classroom/school. They also took advantage of the educational platform and followed parenting experts or other accounts that could help them support their child at home. CTV News ended up visiting our school and featuring a little segment on how I was using Twitter in the classroom. Feel free to check out my classroom account @MrsTurberfield.

Classroom Twitter accounts have almost become common practice. I think it is so beneficial to utilize online platforms to showcase children’s learning and to connect with other students, educators, and experts. We have so much knowledge at our fingertips these days and I feel like that happened very quickly. I do sometimes have some hesitation in exposing my little students to the wide web. I find myself being very cognizant of how I display my posts and safety and parental approval are top priority.

My Twitter account went stagnant over the past few years. I used it to seek information, however, I was not a very active poster. This class re-sparked that energy! I am loving the opportunity to connect with my EDTC300 peers to learn some new things. 

Some of my favourite follows are

 @ConcentusCEF- Concentus website

@SecondStepProgram- Second Step website

@ETFOEducators- Ontario teacher’s Fed website

@ReallyGreatRead- Really Great Reading website

@DrJCarrington- Dr.Jody Carrington website

Aside from educational accounts, I follow some accounts based on personal interest. I am a huge weather buff so I love following tornado hunters like Reed Timmer! I also love HGTV’s famous celebrities Jillian Harris, and Joanna Gains.

I will say that Twitter can be difficult to navigate. It definitely took me some time to understand hashtags and how to find relevant material. I do not love that you cannot edit a post after it has been made. I am very good at forgetting to tag an account or add an additional hashtag, but the only way to do so is to delete and rewrite it again.

Follow me if you are not already @Khordal. I look forward to connecting with you!