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Getting Started
To be completely honest, my least favorite part of Facebook for years, was the postings. It seemed odd to me that people would share so much, from the mundane, “Today went grocery shopping”, to the extremely intimate, “Got cancer again”, to the over-opinionated, “Don’t get your children vaccinated or your they will die,” posted right above, “Get your children vaccinated or they will die.”
When I heard there was an app, Twitter, that was only the posts part of Facebook, I thought, “There’s one app I’m sure to use…never.” A few years ago, the tech specialist at our school made a big push to set-up Twitter accounts. Not being one to say no to people who have always said yes to me, I set up my account…and then literally posted nothing…ever.
It wasn’t until I was assigned to introduce myself to the Twitterverse in my Integrating Technology graduate class, that I really started seeing Twitter as a resource for teachers. After participating in an ICE Chat, I realized that there were teachers not only talking about their effective teaching strategies, but also sharing their resources. Videos, articles, quotes, projects and printables were all available on Twitter.
First up, ollow 20 people/organizations that are involved with education. The first few were easy. Friends of mine who are educators, the tech specialists in our district, and a few Professional Learning Networks like ICE and Edmodo. The rest came via searching with #’s (#math or #5thgrade). Even after all of this, I still found I needed a handful more to follow. This would become much more manageable after I participated in my first twitter chat through ICE’s Personal Learning online discussion called an "Ice Chat".
The Chat
I was a little nervous going into it. How would I know if people saw my responses? What if my responses suggested I had no clue what I was talking about? Would I remember to tag #edu776nz?
When the chat began, I felt like things were happening at blazing speeds. By the time I read a tweet and hit “Live” there were 5 more tweets that I had to read. I wanted to contribute to the conversation, so I decided I would answer the first of eight questions chatters were responding to. I quickly learned I had to paraphrase as best as possible to be able to get my message across. It made me wonder if in general I talk too much. Probably.
By the end of the chat I felt like my neurons were firing. The questions posed led to introspective thinking of best practices. This metacognition I feel leads to some of my best personal development. The chat also proved useful in finding other people to follow. I was able to recognize that there were some members of the chat who had experience executing personalized learning and could provide insight on how to achieve it. I also found that if there is a person you follow who you find resourceful, chances are they follow people who also are resourceful too.
New Resource:
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Do you know Hardik Parikh? Neither did I until he started following me on twitter. Turns out that he co-founded a tool called PracTutor. PracTutor is a program that customizes learning for each student based on individual skills and empowers them to master every concept of the Common Core Standards in grades 1 through 8. They claim, “All kids - whether they need intervention, accelerated learning or career and college readiness, can achieve their goals.” While I can’t say that I have used the program, I do like the concept behind it, and like how it addresses personalized learning. While I wouldn’t use this as my only curriculum, I think it would be beneficial to supplement with this tool and use it as a Tier II intervention you could progress monitor with. Another bonus is that the format mirrors PARCC questions so students could get exposure and practice to the types of questions they will see on their state assessments.
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Not only does Practutor seem like a useful program, I also appreciate how they tweet articles and videos that are thought provoking and very relevant to the teaching profession.
Great post on your Twitter journey! Does PracTutor charge or is it a free service?
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