Day 5: Twitter is Where It Is Happening
I joined Twitter in March, 2009 but I can’t remember why. I didn’t make my first tweet until July, when I shared that I went for a run – and I remember thinking that I was silly for sharing it because my 10 friends probably didn’t care, nor would they see it so why the heck should I tweet. I didn’t make my next tweet until February, 2010. I followed friends and well known people for fun.
In May, 2011 with a shared love for technology and innovation, my colleague Cara Petrone Figliomeni (@MrsFig_11) and I put in a TLLP proposal to use iPads in our school to develop critical thinking in the arts, “iThink, iCreate, iLearn” and we went to Toronto to learn about our TLLP (Teacher Learning and Leadership Program). I left the conference to attend the 2011 ASET Spring Conference in Niagara Falls, where Dr. Alec Couros (@courosa) was the Keynote Speaker. Listening to Dr. Couros at the Keynote and then again at his breakout session, I began to realize the value of using social media not just for fun, but also as a powerful learning tool, and I was hooked.
I began to follow other educators (through my introduction at ASET) and I began to realize how many amazing educators were willing to share practices and open their classrooms/schools/learning for anyone to see. Soon after following @courosa, I noticed that he was often tweeting and joking with @gcouros, so I followed him too – I have become a huge fan of both brothers – and have become a connected educator by following their lead and modelling.
Learning to use Twitter to follow other educators and to connect happened gradually, and it wasn’t until this spring that I really began to understand how isolating being a leader could be, and how there was a whole network of educators sharing and learning together. My ‘aha’ moment happened with another one of my favourite connected educators, Donna Miller Fry (@fryed) helped me finally narrow down my PQP practicum
Using twitter might not be for everyone, but if you start small, learn about it by talking to others and trying it out, I think you will be amazed at how you can connect, share and learn with over 241 million active users. Imagine what our students could learn, if we showed them how and why they could use twitter. If you missed it from the OSSEMOOC Day 5 post, check out Sue Waters “Guide to Tweets, Hashtags and All Things Twitter” to learn more.
Some amazing twitter follows that have impacted my learning can be found in lists that I created and am sharing with you:
- Innovation #connectPQP educators
- GAFE & Technology educators
- SNCDSB educators
- Connected Principals
If you are new to twitter and want to build your followers to learn with, check out my lists with twitter links to some great connections.
What is your twitter story? How has twitter impacted your learning? Not on twitter – have we convinced you to connect?
Becoming a Connected Learner 
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I too started a Twitter account a few years ago and then never really kept up with it. Thank you for reminding me of this important sharing/learning platform. I am hooked again and have since ‘tweeted’ twice in the last 2 days:) I found I had to get over the fear of posting and putting myself out there. I am trying to be the risk taker we ask our students and other teachers to be.
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Okay….so I am confirmed ‘retweeter’ and I love to follow and learn from everyone else. I am really hopeful that through my desire to become a connected leader I will become more confident in sharing my own learning.
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If you are retweeting, that means that you are on their learning from others. Once you begin to share your own learning, you will get more confident and you will realize how much people appreciate learning from you. When you get feedback like retweets, mentions and likes you begin to realize that being a learner is about sharing and that people value what you have to say. I also like it when I tweet because it is capturing my learning that I can go back to at a later time.
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Here goes attempt #2.
I probably read that you went for a run! Similar to your story I too joined Twitter but didn’t know why or what I was supposed to tweet about. I simply followed people and retweeted a few things. In the last year or so I started to pay attention who I was following and tried to use Twitter more effectively. Having a personal and a professional account helped to focus my newsfeeds. Having accounts connected – Twitter and Instagram also helps because you can post in two (or more) social media outlets with one click.
In the classroom I saw the power or Twitter and the connection with students and social media last year when we followed our elf Jingles. It was amazing how engaged the students were with Jingle’s tweets. I enjoyed tweeting classroom challenges – writing haikus, answering math questions etc. It made learning fun. The good news is that our new elf arrives in 25.5 hours!
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Thanks for trying again Cara – I was interested to know what you had shared! I like how you have the accounts connected so that you can share your messages in different places at the same time – I’ve followed @JinglesATootsie and love his escapades at HAS – I loved how it connected the students with social media and gave them an idea of how twitter can be used in a fun and engaging way!
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Among a few others, I like to follow some colleagues to view their amazing stories. Occasionally I have something to share but mostly I employ twitter to learn from my colleagues…here are a couple
Gianna Helling@TCDSB
@giannahelling
Evelyn Giannopoulos
@Ev_Giannopoulos
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Thanks for sharing some of your connections John – it always amazes me at how many connected educators are out there so willing to share and learn with each other.
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Haha Kim! So glad you have all of this information here. I have yet to “confirm” my account. Now I know where to go to find out more. Thank you! I`m not on YET!
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I love the “yet” part – I’m just waiting patiently for you to get on Twitter because I know once you get on there and start figuring it out, you will love the sharing and openness of practices. When you are ready, there will be connections waiting for you 🙂
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