Using Twitter to Connect

This week I learned how useful twitter can be for educational purposes. We participated in a live interview via Google Hangouts with Toby Brown, a professor at Oklahoma State. He discussed why and how he uses twitter to grow professionally. I learned that twitter chats are a great way to share information and ask other educators questions. By simply hash-tagging during a chat on twitter, you are instantly connected to others.

The twitter chat I observed this week was Elementary Counselors Chat, #escchat. It took place on a Thursday at 7-8 central time. The topic was art therapy. I think this topic was chosen to be discussed because it is a common way to have children discuss their feelings. Rather than talking about things, children can draw what they feel.

It was so interesting to watch the chat live. I had seen some of my followers use hash-tags before but I had never searched a hash-tag and watch the chat happen. To begin, all the teachers all introduced themselves. Then they began answering questions that one person posed. They used letters and numbers to communicate which question they were answering, for example the first question would be labeled: Q1 and would have answers labeled: A1. It was so cool to see teachers communicating back and forth, sharing their lesson ideas, successes, and failures. They offered to help each other with tools that other teachers were not familiar with. I really enjoyed it and I look forward to doing this again. I think the hardest part about the chats is remembering when they happen! Once you have a specific area of teaching that you want to connect with other educators about, it would make participating in these chats much easier.

I follow many of my friends on twitter but before this, followed few educators. I don't personally know very many teachers who use twitter professionally. I decided to put myself out there and follow a few well-known tweeters who I can learn from. Here are the people I decided to follow and why:

• Jamie Fath (@jamiefath) - my instructor for the technology course I am taking this semester. I know she uses twitter well and I look forward to learning from her!
• Toby Brown (tbbrwn) - he is the professor I mentioned earlier in my post that we interviewed on Sunday about twitter. He had a lot of great ideas and participates in the chats on twitter regularly so watching his tweets would be beneficial to become connected to other educators.
• Jerry Blumengarten (@cybraryman1) - Toby recommended we follow him. I am looking forward to learning whatever I can! He also participates in the twitter chats regularly.
• Scott McLeod (mcleod) - I followed him about a year ago. My dad is a friend and colleague of his so I had the opportunity to meet with him him last year. He founded CASTLE, a center whose focus is on school administrators need for technology. I highly recommend following him on twitter and also checking out his blog called Dangerously Irrelevant.
• Jacob Short (mrshort2005) - He is a teacher at Saint Edmond high school, my alma mater. He occasionally participates in the twitter chats and also is a great example of how to incorporate technology into a high school classroom.

There are so many other great tweeters out there, but this will do for now! I look forward to creating authentic connections with people in the future. Similar to my blog post about being a connected educator, we must create relationships, not just internet interactions.

I think the twitter chats are helpful and I will participate in the future. I am connected through social networks already for personal purpose, I might as well follow some educators too and hit two birds with one stone! I know a new and unknown tool can be frightening to use, so here are some tips for teachers new to twitter:

• Follow at least 5 people who are tied to the education field. 
• Watch a twitter live chat. Check out this link to find the times and dates of different topics discussed: Twitter chats
• After you have slowly immersed yourself into the twitter world, tweet at an expert with a question!
• Push yourself even more, participate in a chat!
• Slow is key. Don't overwhelm yourself.