I have had a Twitter for a really long time but I really never knew that a "twitter chat" was a thing. I know that celebrities do a Q&A sometimes but a twitter chat was completely different. Taking time to follow accounts that are targeted towards education has been a fun experience because I have been able to read about things going on in the education world. I have followed along with conversations between teachers on Twitter and it really gave a first hand perspective about what it is like to be a teacher in a pandemic. Seeing all the ways that different districts have handled the corona virus has really opened my eyes to what type of a district I want to work for. I think that social networking with teachers can serve as a lot of different advantages later on, you could ask an open tweet about a situation and get different teachers perspectives on how to handle it. You can also ask other teachers how they teach a certain lesson to make it more fun and engaging. A PLN really can serve for multiple purposes. A disadvantage of a PLN could be if you have multiple twitters and forget to switch accounts you could end up tweeting something on the wrong account. As we move forward with this challenge I plan to try and follow more people so that my news feed is broader with more ideas to read. I also want to try and be more active by tweeting and retweeting. So far I have really enjoyed this challenge.
- taneill
My favorite thing that we have done on twitter is the live chat that we did during the beginning of the semester. In high school I followed quite a few of my teachers on twitter, which they used quite actively. They would constantly post things about sporting events, school events, or new legislature in education. In high school I really liked seeing their posts because it did relate directly with my life and gave me more insight on the school that I go to. When I become a teacher, I want to use my twitter to be informative to my students and let them follow it so they can be informed as well.
Taylor, I can totally relate to your prior Twitter experience. I have also had a Twitter for a long time and have not been exposed to Twitter chats until this class. I remember participating in some celebrity Q&As as you referenced, but it would be nearly impossible to get noticed. This is why Twitter chats among educators are so great because people can get heard much easier. Your other comment about the recent coronavirus news making you realize what you desire from a workplace stuck out to me as well because I completely relate. Why would we ever want to work for a district that does not prioritize the health/wellbeing of both teachers and students? I would love to hear…