Learning through Twitter

    Today I wanted to share with you all how useful Twitter can be for professional development.  I just started using it a little over a month ago and have already learned so much.  It is a great way to expand your professional network.  To get started make a twitter account, here.

      A great way to find more people to follow is to join in on a Twitter chat.  There are chats for each day of the week about specific topics.  You can find a list of weekly chats here.  To participate in a chat you just search the hashtag at the time of the chat.  For example, last night there was a chat using the hashtag #elatlap.  That stands for English Language Arts Teach Like a Pirate.  This chat was about how to make your Language Arts class creative.  If you do a search for the hashtag #elatlap you can find the tweets from the chat. In a chat, a moderator posts questions and anyone who wants to participate responds to the questions using the hashtag at the end.  If you find someone who you think has great ideas during a chat then follow them. It is likely they will post other things you will like that will come up on your newsfeed.

   Once you have built up your followers and have started learning from others you need a way to organize your tweets. There is a great website called Storify that will help you organize your tweets.  When you find a tweet you like on Twitter, favorite it.  You can then create a story quickly by dragging your favorites into a category.  Here is an example of a Storify I recently made:

    If you are just getting started on Twitter, here are some great educators I recommend following.  To follow them just go to twitter, search their usernames and click follow.

@sjunkins

@TeachJunkie

@JoyKirr

@daisyray215

@kbport714

@daveburgess

@donalynbooks

And of course, don't forget to follow me.  If you go to my followers you can find additional educators to connect with.

Follow @sixthgradetales

The word cloud above was created by @NYtechprepper.  He asked his colleagues to tweet one word about their experience using Twitter.  As you can see there are multiple reasons to start tweeting. I hope to see you all on Twitter and hopefully we can participate in an upcoming Twitter chat together.  If you have more questions about how to use Twitter, please feel free to send me a message.  At first it can seem confusing but it is definitely worth your time!