Monday, October 31, 2011

How a Teacher Learned to Tweet

Welcome to my blog!  Over the last year or two I have been reading several teacher blogs.  They have inspired me to try new ideas in my classroom, given me the support I needed when things aren't going so well, and provided a place for me to find like-minded educators sharing their thoughts and ideas.  This all happened without any of these teachers knowing I was there.  


One of the ideas I starting reading about was Twitter.  Several bloggers urged their readers to use Twitter to create a PLN.  What is a PLN?  It stands for Personal Learning Network.  (You know how we teachers like  educational terms and acronyms.)  I couldn't imagine ever using Twitter.  Wasn't Twitter for Kim Kardashian and other celebrities?  How could Twitter help me, a mere second grade teacher?   A celebrity in her students eyes only.  But one day, this summer, while reading another blog post about the value of Twitter I couldn't stand it anymore.  I had to see what this what all about!  I went to Twitter and signed up.  I was nervous.  Who would I follow?  I decided to start by following a few authors of professional books and some of the bloggers I had been reading.  I think the first person I followed was Cathy Mere, author of More Than Guided Reading.  She also has a blog, http://reflectandrefine.blogspot.com/.  Before you know it, I was following several people.  And I was giddy with delight when Cathy and others followed me back!  But of course, I had decided I would just follow and read.  There would be no tweeting from me.  Absolutely not!  Of course, like most teacher, you know I couldn't stay tweet-free for long.  I joined Twitter in July, and by the end of August I had been involved in the best professional development I have had in many years.  


My PLN has taught me about Edmodo and inspired me to blog with my second graders.  By using Twitter I have learned how to use VoiceThread and joined a group of teachers around the world in the Global Classroom project.  I have been able to connect with other educators that use reading and writing workshop in their classrooms too.  Each day that I log into my Twitter account I learn something new or get inspiration from other teachers!


So, I decided to start my own blog.  I hope it will be a place where I can reflect on my teaching, improve my writing, and hopefully share and interact with other teachers around the world.