This week I decided to tweet out Rita Pierson’s Ted Talk entitled “Every Child Needs A Champion.”
This tweet is representative of my twitter profile because I use it mainly to encourage and promote good teaching practices. I am not a huge “tweeter,” but I want to further my own knowledge of the profession and help other teachers further their knowledge too. I also want to encourage teachers, as we all have those days when we go home and cry after a long, hard day. This tweet is close to my heart and I hope that it both gives other teachers new ideas on how to create connections and encourages them with renewed enthusiasm for their profession.
This weekend, I observed several Ed Chats on Twitter before participating. I watched one about using iBooks in your classroom, which was very interesting. Teachers talked about the different interactive ways their students were utilizing iBooks in the classroom. It moved at a moderate pace, so I was comfortable reading the responses on TweetDeck.
I also observed a chat called #Pichat, which was mostly about teachers growing as educators. I really enjoyed several of the charts and websites that teachers shared. I particularly liked one of the links about self-doubt that teachers have while teaching. I feel that as a new teacher, I definitely fight self-doubt, and this was helpful for me. This chat also moved rather slowly, as I don’t think they had a set time for this week, but I liked that because it allowed me to look around at my own pace.
The chat I contributed to (or attempted to contribute to) was called #web20tools. This is a chat dedicated to web tools for use in the classroom. I read a lot of the teachers posts about using technology within the classroom, and I enjoyed looking at resources they provided and thought about how they could be used in my own class. I posted a response on Friday, 11/27 at 5 pm and noticed that no one responded, which I attributed to it being a holiday weekend and this chat having no set time for this week. I later realized, however, that it didn’t post to the # page, so I reposted it again and had the same problem. I never did figure out what was wrong with my post, but I gave up after several unsuccessful attempts, satisfied that my followers would see it. I posted it again just before class to see if it would work, but it did not. Never the less, I felt like I contributed and I really enjoyed watching this chat happen.
Below is a screenshot of what I posted (or attempted to post) in the chat.
A “PLN” stands for Personal Learning Network. In my Twitter PLN, I have added users like the US Department of Education, TED Talks, TED-Ed, Education Week, Edmoto, Michelle Rhee, Vicki Davis and other major education users. I believe that this will help me to expand my knowledge of education in that it will expose me to a variety of ideas about education. I hope to learn more about how real teachers are integrating technology into their classrooms and how they are handling the major transition into Common Core.
Pinterest Board for Education
As an avid Pinterest user, I already had started a pin board for education resources. I mainly use it for pinning ideas of how to incorporate technology into my lesson plans. I do also use it to cultivate lesson planning ideas or classroom organization ideas as well. This allows me to view how other teachers have incorporated content into a classroom environment so as to spark new ideas within myself.
I also followed several education boards. For example, I follow Patrica Wilcox’s “Technology in the classroom” board, which shares great resources that teachers can use in the classroom. I also follow a “New Teachers” board, which provides lesson plan ideas, words of encouragement and organization ideas to new teachers from experienced teachers.
These boards allow me to look at what more experienced teachers have to say/suggest and to incorporate what works for me into my own class. It also allows me a diving board from which to spring into all the other people who follow that board. By connecting with other new teachers who follow the “New Teacher” board, I can make connections with people who are experiencing the same things I am and discuss our struggles/triumphs. It also opens up an entire new world from which I can pull knowledge and resources. In sharing our resources via Pinterest, teachers spread ideas to other teachers and encourage learning across the web.