One thing that I was sure about was that I will never fall into this online social networking service called Twitter. How wrong I was...
It all started when I heard of Quadblogging (which was created by David Mitchell), where four classes from over the world connect with each other to share and collaborate. As an enthusiastic blogger with my Year 1 class, I was immediately interested in this great concept and amazing opportunity for my students to give them a global audience when sharing our learning. Proceeding to the 'sign up' form it asked your Twitter id and although you do not have to be a Tweeter to sign up, I thought this is it and signed up for Twitter on 8 January 2012!
I have never looked back ever since, as Twitter enables me to learn, share and collaborate with other professionals. I also regard it as my personal PD.
Since being on Twitter, I have learned about Daily 5, through their live chat via Twitter on 28 April. What a buzz! I was amazed and overwhelmed and just followed all the tweets for a couple of months, before taking the step to contribute to discussions and asking questions.
The outcome was that I bought the Daily 5 and CAFE books and I am slowly starting to integrate this into my class programme.
I have now even started my personal blog to share my ponderings about my own inquire, learn, grow and inspire journey.
What a great learning journey I'm having with Twitter!
What a great learning journey I'm having with Twitter!
Twitter and Qualblogging are both really powerful tools to aide your development as a teacher - although with the Quadblogging its a bit lucky dip about the Quad you end up in, there's some amazing sites about. As for Twitter, I signed up in 2008 and did nothing for the first 12 months, didn't 'get' it and now its probably the most important related IT thing that I do. I'm always raving about its possibilities to people and its importance, for those who it get I think its just an invaluable tool. Even blogging which isn't new of course has so much scope for collaboration! Well done too on blogging with Y1 students!
ReplyDeleteThank you Myles. I have grown and learned so much as a teacher since being on Twitter. Although I have been teaching for many many years, I sometimes feel like a new teacher with all the amazing things about.
DeleteI am 'addicted' to Twitter now because of its possibilities and, as I see it, my personal PD as I connect with and learn from amazing people.