My First #EdChat

Today marked an important milestone in my ongoing efforts to build a Personal Learning Network via my blog & Twitter™.

At 8AM Perth time, I joined in an international #edchat conversation on the topic of participatory / inquiry learning.

Following the conversation via Tweetdeck™ (for Google Chrome™), I started out by retweeting other teachers’ ideas, and throwing my own experiences / questions into the mix. I soon found myself conversing with several teachers (including a fellow Aussie in the US!) about rubric assessment, science teaching, and curriculum differentiation for seriously at-risk students.

I was really surprised with the intensity and quality of the Twitter™ #edchat conversation, and marvelled at teachers’ willingness to share their ideas, resources, and insights via their Personal Learning Networks.

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Twitter as a Professional Networking Tool

I’ve been using Twitter™ for less than a month, yet it has already started to transform aspects of my professional knowledge and practice. Aside from collating an incredible range of educational weblinks, I have found an empowering medium for sharing my ideas, and learning from experienced educators around the world. 

Twitter™ has made me a more collaborative teacher. I have always been happy to share my teaching resources & relief teaching materials with other teachers; which are generally ‘borrowed’ from, or politely shared by the amazing colleagues I meet on my relief teaching travels (See Learn to Steal on the Success in the Classroom Blog). Today, I had the opportunity to share my recent differentiated science project – Energy Sources Investigation (Year 6) with several teachers on the other side of the world … in America!


Twitter™ &
Me – Read, Learn, Reflect & Share

I have often said that relief / substitute teaching is an amazing professional development experience, as it enables me to explore & learn from other teachers’ practice. I now know, that when I eventually have my own class, I won’t lose the learning experiences and networking opportunities my day job provides.

I won’t feel so isolated, shut away … too busy to talk about teaching with my colleagues. I’ll have my PLN, which continues to grow day by day. For a graduate teacher, this is empowering and really exciting!

A big thankyou goes to @clivesir, @enrichingkids, @Edu_Traveler, @nykat, and @franklin_h, amongst others, who have actively supported my tentative forays into the online educator community.

Why not join me as I continue to read, learn, reflect and share via my online PLN?


Recommended Weblinks

Twitter for Teachers: A Guide for Beginners (Creative Education Blog)

Do Something: Twitter 101 (Stumpteacher Blog)

Connect to the World Through Twitter (Teacher Reboot Camp Blog)

Twitter as a Professional Development Tool (Social Media for Working & Learning Blog)

4 responses

  1. Twitter is a powerful learning tool providing teachers with 24/7 personalised learning. If you enjoyed #edchat you might also like #elemchat (for K-6 teachers)http://elemchat.wikispaces.com/There is also a #ntchat (for new teachers)& you can check times herehttp://cybraryman.com/chats.htmlLooking forward to seeing around the 'Twitterverse'!

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