Disney's term twitterpated brings on a whole new meaning in the 21st Century:) And you, like Thumper and the gang, may say that it's not going to happen to you. But my experience says that you will become hooked whether you're ready for it or not!
In my mind, Twitter is, by far, the best way to receive timely, ongoing, at-your-fingertips professional learning, anytime and anywhere you can connect. I use Facebook to socialize, but I use Twitter only from a Global Learning perspective. In a relatively short amount of time I've attached myself to some of the most extraordinary educational leaders from all over the world. It is quite a rush to be in contact with them. I can honestly say, I've never learned so much in so little time. AND I haven't had to travel, or spend hundreds of dollars to receive such valuable professional learning. Here is a video that exemplifies my feelings:
In order to get started:In my mind, Twitter is, by far, the best way to receive timely, ongoing, at-your-fingertips professional learning, anytime and anywhere you can connect. I use Facebook to socialize, but I use Twitter only from a Global Learning perspective. In a relatively short amount of time I've attached myself to some of the most extraordinary educational leaders from all over the world. It is quite a rush to be in contact with them. I can honestly say, I've never learned so much in so little time. AND I haven't had to travel, or spend hundreds of dollars to receive such valuable professional learning. Here is a video that exemplifies my feelings:
1) Create a Twitter account
2) Know that, in authentic global learning networks (GLN), people want to know who you are so, when setting up your profile make sure you:
- use your first name and last name - no nicknames
- state where you are from
- if you have a blog or website you'd like to share as being part of you, post the URL
- state some things about yourself in the bio section
4) This next step is definitely a method of viral communication. Remember this "and they told two friends...and so on" method. Within each person's home page, there will be a list of people who they follow. If this person has worked hard on creating a GLN, then they will be following some pretty great people. I like to think of myself as one who has created such a realm. Follow me:) If you go to my twitter profile, you can scroll through the list of people I follow and choose to follow them too. But don't just believe me. Look at their profiles and make sure they are who you'd like to see tweeting. I always look at their profile (making sure they have followed my rules from above), and scroll down through their tweets to see if they are saying anything that intrigues me. I'm looking for people who can educate me - I don't care if they are driving on the 401, or what they are having for supper. I want to see them posting "food for thought" about education, URLs to educational sites and blogs or pics of educational value. If I had to choose one person for you to follow it'd be Steven Anderson: he tweets the most beneficial Educational PD that I've received...hands down. His motto is "Trying to Change The World, One Tweet At A Time..." He's definitely doing that!
Give yourself permission to "lurk" for awhile, but eventually you need to join the conversation. It is a little scary at first because once you've tweeted, you can't take it back. But you soon get over that. I have two rules for tweeting:
1) Learn some tweeting etiquette through a couple of websites:
2) Give them something to look at - blogs, websites, pics.
Recently, Alec Couros, during a keynote speech in Oshawa, stated that,"Twitter is trust among educators."
This is a fantastic analogy. Historically, we educators have spent countless hours within the four walls of our classrooms and worked our behinds off, alone. In the 21st Century we need to learn to have flat classrooms. We need to get past this state of being too nervous to share because, collectively, we are an extraordinary force. As a newly hired IT Consultant, I've seen the most amazing things happening right within my district. Educators are doing the most incredible things for their kids in their classrooms, but no one else gets to see, because those four walls keep getting in the way. If there was ever a way to start peeking out from those walls, it's by connecting to others through Twitter. Believe me, you will not regret becoming Twitterpated:)
