Before making a Twitter account, I thought of all of the things that people think or sterotype about what Twitter is used for. For example, posting pictures, talking about your day, checking up on friends and what others are up too. Not only did Twitter prove those people wrong, but it also took me by surprise too. Twitter is used for so much more than just having fun talking to friends and posting about your new coffee place you like.
Since I am going to school to become a special education teacher, I had the perfect opportunity to follow fellow teachers of all grades and specialists as well as administrators and prinicpals. I get to see what they strongly belive in when it comes to education. Since they all speak and reply to each other on Twitter, I participated in a "Twitter chat", which is a way for teachers to come together at a specific time and talk about their educational experience while asking questions for others to answer. I was hesitant to see if I could find one, but it turns out millions of teachers are on Twitter! I started following some of the teachers who were in the same field as me and found a chat! When looking up chats, I saw #3rdchat and deciding that was the one I would go with.
While participating in this chat, I got to speak and answer valuable questions about certain classroom styles, what to incorporate in activities and share my opinion as well as reading other educators responses. In this chat, we responded to questions pertaining to creativity in your classroom. We were asked what we think creativity means, how it should be incorporated and what should be done in order for students to express it. Teachers expressed that they promote creativity by making sure the student's know all work is not the same and they are all unique in their own way! When looking at these teacher's responses, I got to gather some ideas of how to bring out student's creative side. I will take all of this information and put it into my students when I become a teacher soon! Teachers stressed the idea of using multiple different ways to complete a task so that the students have options. They talked about new seating arrangements or options including bean bags, balls, cushions which could make the student more comfortable. They also mention how technology could bring out someone's creative side for example, Flipgrid. One of the teachers mentioned that Flipgrid helps the student become more creative when having to film a video of others or themselves answering questions. They also said that having students come to the board to circle or reply to questions gets their blood flowing and makes it more fun! I contributed my own ideas on the chat as well, for example in math, the students could answer with blocks or a drawing. Watching all of these teachers come together to provide opinions or options for activities showed me that in the future I have people rallying behind me to succeed even if I do not know them on a personal level.
Other than the #3rdchat, I was able to follow all of these amazing teachers that were so welcoming. I was now able to scroll through my feed and see what they are completing in their classes and what ideas I can use in my own class. I am also getting recognized by some teachers for good ideas or advice they can give me. On Twitter, I am now able to express some assignments I am proud of from my Technology class and reach out to their Twitter pages. I also get to relate to other teachers who use similar programs maybe for different reasons. I get to respond to other teacher's quotes and express how I feel about them. I get to read new articles that pertain to education and learn a lot from.
Twitter has shown me that teachers from all across the world can help each other, encourage each other and share ideas all in one spot. If you are a teacher or becoming a teacher like me, I suggest to make an account right now! Twitter is a great opportunity to meet new people including collegues, administrators and maybe even students! The teacher world is so wide with wise words from all. Get out and participate in a chat or just see what other teachers are up to in their classroom. Twitter is worth the hour or so of your time each day, such an amazing educational resource to use.
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