Well, I must start this post out with honesty. I have always thought that Twitter was a waste of time. Who cares what you had for breakfast? Who cares that you are heading to the grocery store? I’ve never had a Twitter account and did not want one. So, needless to say, I was semi-irritated at the idea of having to create one professionally. I didn’t care to know what professionals had for breakfast either. So reluctantly, I started this Twitter list. I started with Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach. I chose her because I met her a couple of years ago. I was part of a 21st Century project within the state of Alabama. She was a guest speaker at several events and even came to our school to see how we used the technology we had to promote 21st century skills. She is well-educated, professional and I always valued her advice and opinions. So, I added her and waited on tweets. I began to see that she would send links to speaking engagements she was attending, articles she was reading and forward tweets from other people she was following. I was beginning to get a glimpse into what she was learning and how she was growing professionally. This is where my idea of Twitter began to change. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.
So, I decided to go back to my delicious account and look at the weekly articles I had been bookmarking. I then added Scott McLeod, Will Richardson, and Vicki Davis. These are well-known educational professionals, and they became more resources that I could reference for information and ideas. They were tweeting about educational policy and reform. I truly believe that all teachers need to be aware of the things that affect our jobs and the children we teach.
Then I moved on to my blog. Probably only a third of my students have internet access and/or computers at home. If parents have internet access, it is through their phones and rarely do their children get to use it. Even though the majority of my students are only getting to use computers at school, I have seen how they and the quality of their work change when using technology. Although I don’t have every piece of technology I would like, it is my duty to make what I do have work best for my students. I chose to write my blog on thriving. Being at a school in a low-income area, I wanted to look at how teachers around the world are doing a lot with very little. So, I did a search for educational professionals with Twitter accounts. I was amazed at the lists that exist. I began researching Twitter profiles and explanations on these lists. I found many teachers, principals and others that were working in rural or urban areas. They are working toward the same goal I am! I was actually excited to see what these people were doing at their schools. So the rest of my Twitter list was created based on these types of people. I am now receiving valuable information and ideas. Now I am hoping rural area teachers like me can join my Twitter list to share in this valuable information I am now finding.
Here is a link to my Twitter list for those interested.
Hi Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI know how you felt when you first signed up for the Twitter account. All of last semester I would ask other students how did they find the time to read all the tweets? Most of them were like me, just read them whenever they could find a minute to spare. However there was one guy who set up his account so that his tweets would go to the Google Reader account. I do not remember how he did this but I hope that Dr. Ray can help me with this.
The first educational speaker that I heard was Ike Pigott. He came to the University of Montevallo to speak about social media tools. He was very informative and he said that it took him several weeks to get his message down to 140 characters, (which is all you can tweet at one time on Twitter). That is my hardest part, to just use 140 characters. As Mr, Pigott started to explain how Twitter and Facebook had helped him out in his job, I began to realize that it could really be a help to teachers, or educators to try to follow different educational speakers. I really enjoy reading all the different opinions about education, especially about special education.
As teachers today are focusing on 21st Century Education, we must ensure that our students have all of the benefits that we can give them. Whether it is one-on-one help or helping them to understand how to complete research on the Internet, we must provide this service. I know how it is to work in a school in a rural community whose economic status does not allow too many computers in the home, but we must find a way to challenge our students to learn about the new technology. I have let my special education students take turns working on the computer. I set a timer and they know when it buzzes, it is time for them to share the computer with other students. So far this has worked out really well, it not only encourages team building, but you can also get the students to collaborate on an assignment. It helps with their social skills, but interacting with other students, and also creates independence. My favorite technology tool is the iPad. We only have one per room right now, but the students get to share it. Maybe next year, there will be funding to get evey student an iPad.
I really enjoyed looking through your Twitter list and have added it to my list to follow your links. They will be very helpful in completing our final assignment.
It's amazing that we both felt the same way when starting this Twitter account. I too was not interested in what another person was doing or eating. I felt like Facebook did that enough. I never knew that Twitter could be used as a professional tool. I always thought of it as a recreational media outlet. I am so excited about all that I am learning in this course. I cannot wait to start following some of the Professionals on your list. I never thought about trying to find speakers I have heard. I think I will try to add them next. 21st Century Education is an interesting topic full of fascinating opinions. I feel like we can learn a lot from our list and from each other's list. This assignment has caused me to look at Twitter differently. I cannot wait to use it as a professional tool and resource.
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