Personal Learning Network: Twitter

Personal Learning Network: Twitter

My Twitter: What I Learned in Four Weeks on Twitter

Image Source: Twitter @teachergoals

So to be completely transparent, I jumped on the twitter bandwagon when it came out years ago, and deleted it after a few months because I was only using it as a tool to complain.  After my fours weeks using Twitter as a personal learning network I learned that I was using twitter in ALL the wrong ways the first time.  What an amazing tool it can be when it is used for personal and professional learning.  It is essentially a sound boarding tool for educators to collaborate, communicate, and educate.  When I was first given this task, I was nervous about participating in a twitter chat because I had never heard of it (what kind of Millennial am I?).  I quickly found that twitter chats are almost hourly occurrences if you follow the right people.  Overall I found educational resources, advocates, teachers, mentors, motivation, and leaders that will help me in my future teaching career. Click here @mkmurph04 to visit my Twitter account! 

Who Do I Follow & Why...with a few links to my favorite accounts ☺

• Peers: I enjoy learning from familiar faces and staying in the "know"
• Educators: I found that other educators post teaching strategies, lesson plan ideas, classroom layouts, and other things that will spark inspiration for my future classroom. @theautismhelper
• Famous Voices in Education: I have heard of certain people like Brian Aspinall, George Couros, and Nicholas Ferroni in graduate classes.  Their work has stuck with me and their message is something that I would like to incorporate into my career. @NicholasFerroni
• Educational Applications: Certain applications like Seesaw, Peardeck, and Nearpod have twitter accounts.  Their accounts have troubleshooting tips, new additions to the app, and examples of people utilizing their application. @PearDeck
• Advocate Groups: As a future special education teacher it is important to me to educate myself on all of the advocate groups and nonprofit organizations that serve the populations that I will work with. @autismspeaks
• Educational Models & Professional Development: I pride myself on being dynamic and by researching different models and professional development opportunities I can continue to be a dynamic professional. @socialthinking
• News Outlets: As an educator it is important to be educated in what is going on in the world. @chicagotribune

Twitter Chat Participation # 1: The Key Ingredients to a Positive Classroom Climate
I decided to participate in a chat that Brian Aspinall (check him out if you have not!) started.  The chat was about key ingredients in a positive classroom.  This to me aligned with classroom expectations and philosophies of education.  As someone who does not have their own classroom, I thought this was the perfect chat to participate in.  It was exciting to think about what my "ingredients" would be and it was also a learning opportunity for me to read about current teacher's "ingredients."  I stand by my response; my Key Ingredients would be compassion, empathy, honesty, fairness, clear expectations, AND promote advocacy.  I wanted to add this because in special education it is important for students to know their accommodations and the reasons behind them.  They should be able to advocate for themselves when it comes to that!  Feel free to list your key ingredients in the comments section!

Image Source: Twitter @mraspinall

Twitter Chat Participation # 2: #NoSummersOff Campaign
Scrolling through twitter  I found that Nicholas Ferroni (another person to check out if you have not, his work is awesome) started a campaign called #NoSummersOff.  This was to communicate the misconception that teachers have summers off.  I found this chat and campaign interesting because it showed a different side of teaching.  I got to learn a lot about what teachers do during the summer and I was able to relate to a lot of their summer choices.  Nicholas Ferroni turned this campaign into a series of videos that are very interesting.  Check out his twitter account to see more (it is linked above)! 

Image Source: Twitter @NicholasFerroni

Educational Resource Found

If you go to my twitter account there are MANY resources in education to follow.  However, I followed @edutopia in hopes that I could use it as a resource.  I find a new article, new account, or new piece of advice in education daily by following EdUtopia.  If you take one thing from this blog post PLEASE follow this account if you are in education.  It takes strategies that work and don't work in education and provides evidence to support that.  I was specifically drawn to an article that they tweeted.  It is an article about a high school teacher tracking his students' mental health.  It includes strategies that he found useful in combating and supporting mental health in the classroom.  I think in the time that we live in that is such an important thing to think about as a teacher.  A classroom is not just filled with content and subject matter, but it is also filled with students who need to be taught social and emotional lessons.  This is a GREAT article supporting that.
"In High School, the Kids Are Not All Right."