Dear Teacher who is still not on Twitter,
Maybe you didn’t receive my previous mail. Just in case it didn’t convince you, here are a few more examples of the benefits of Twitter…
1. Continuous learning with and from a global community of educators, via countless links to interesting posts and articles, tools and websites, conferences and workshops. thoughts and ideas.
2. Year 5 students at my school are learning about Aboriginal culture. Twitter led me to @jessica_dubois, as a result of which classes at our schools were able to interact via Skype last week. It was an incredible learning experience for both sides!
3. Ongoing connections with PYP educators like @jessievaz in Chile, @maggiswitz in Switzerland, @sherratsam in Thailand and @garethjacobson in Bangladesh (among others!), to whom I can turn for advice and ideas relating to learning in the PYP.
4. #Elemchat is a weekly Twitter chat for primary school teachers to discuss issues and share practice. It’s great to get different perspectives from all over the world and the connection with talented organisers @tcash in Morocco and @gret in Argentina is an added bonus.
5. Year 1 teachers at my school have recently started blogging and are keen to make global connections for their students. Via Twitter, I’ve found them a number of interested teachers and classes in Colombia, Switzerland, Canada, Indonesia, Chile and the US and inspired them further with the work of @grade1 to see what is possible.
6. Inquire Within, a collaborative blog about inquiry learning, has a range of contributors from twelve countries across six continents… all via Twitter. (Join us!)
7. Upper Primary teachers at my school were inspired by a Skype session on literacy and class blogging with @kathleen_morris and @kellyjordan82 a few months ago and the dynamic duo has agreed to do another session next term to inspire teachers in the lower grades too.
8. @toughLoveforX is a retired printer and design teacher in NY, who comments with interest on my blog and our school class blogs, giving valuable insights and asking tough questions about education that make me think (and act).
9. It was great to have @henriettaMi, who I know through blogs and Twitter, visit our school when she was recently in Melbourne to present at a conference. She graciously agreed to present an after-school session to further inspire teachers at my school with their class blogs.
10. Endless advice, assistance, support, collaboration, encouragement, inspiration, motivation … and friendship.
Why wouldn’t you want to be part of it?
Let me know if you want help getting started.
Edna
By whatedsaid | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon
What Ed Said 
@ Edna,
Another great post! Kelly and I have recently been presenting to staff at our school and other schools about the benefits of Twitter. This is a tool we can’t speak highly enough of!
Thanks for the mention too – Kelly and I look forward to speaking with your staff in a few weeks.
Your readers might be interested in reading how through Twitter one of my seven year old students has found a real authentic audience for his work and benefited in so many ways. http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2011/09/16/the-power-of-twitter/
I will be promoting this post!
Kath
LikeLike
Thanks for promoting the post via twitter Kathleen! I am at the beginning of the journey.. and it has been an exciting one! BTW are you and your phone/laptop joined at the hip?
many thanks again both!
josx
LikeLike
So glad you found the post.
Not sure if you’re asking me or Edna if we’re joined to the computer – a common question. Yes, we are a bit but our students are better off for it! 🙂
LikeLike
Up until now, I never saw any value in Twitter. My sister, as a journalist, uses it sparingly but I never thought that I could gain anything out of tiny 140 character length messages. Your post convinced me and I’ve just created an account. Any tips or suggestions? Any particular education threads I should follow?
LikeLike
You might like this post I wrote with 10 Twitter tips http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2011/04/04/top-10-twitter-tips/
And if you want to learn more about hashtags, I have written this post http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2011/06/30/all-abouttwitter-hashtags/
Let us know your Twitter name so we can follow you.
LikeLike
Luckily if I go out, you are there to respond while I’m gone…. 🙂
LikeLike
My Twitter name is: mynameisred09
Thanks for the helpful posts! 🙂
LikeLike
What a great post Ed! I’m going to share with many teachers I know, who haven’t joined twitter yet. I have learned and changed so much thanks to my PLN. I hope more teachers give twitter a try. Twitter has definitely led me to some amazing educators and learning opportunities that not only changed my teaching, but also changed me.
Thanks for the mention. It means a lot coming from you! #elemchat is such a special chat for me. I love learning with you all!
LikeLike
Thanks, Gret! I agree with all you say 🙂
LikeLike
Nahid, For a start you can search for and follow hashtags like #edchat #elemchat or #edtech, depending on your area of interest. There is lots of great advice online for teachers new to twitter. Take a look at Kathleen Morris’s post
http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/2011/06/21/pln-challenge-3-using-twitter-to-build-your-pln/
and there are some further resources here.
http://scopusict.wikispaces.com/Twitter
LikeLike
Thanks! I’ll be doing research on using Internet technology in a religious education classroom soon, so this will be a huge help! 🙂
LikeLike
Great post!
Dear same teacher who is still not on twitter. Check out what teachers did because of twitter today. We do this kind of thing all of the time: http://blog.edulang.com/blog-challenge-compare-and-contrast-photo/
LikeLike
Daily I am seeing the value of Twitter as I get started using it. What a great way to connect andinform yourself of what other teachers are doing around the world. Somewhere there must be some guidelines for those of us who are not ‘joined at the hip’ with our computers.
I loved that comment, and I was going to ask more or less the same thing…of both of you!
LikeLike
Edna
Ive been a supporter of Twitter for 2 years now. I started small, ‘stalking’ tweeps. Watching, learning, reading, becoming and feeling empowered. One day I decided to ‘tweet’ I wasn’t sure what would happen, who would respond or how someone out there would respond. Someone did and it just went from there. 2 years go by and I meet some of my Tweeps at a Tweetup, finally meeting face to face. Awesome feeling that connection.
The power of twitter is the sharing and collaborating, the feeling that you’ve got a tribe out there that you can call on for support, ideas and encouragement. And as an educator that’s a pretty powerful tool to add to my personal learning network. Someone at the last conference I went to likened Twitter to ‘being in someone elses brain. Im in about 500 so far, and learning more every day.
LikeLike
Terrific post! Twitter has been a wonderful resource for personalized professional development opportunities. Scheduled Twitter chats are extremely useful and can be a forum to share and receive resources around the world. For more info:
http://educationalaspirations.wordpress.com/2011/07/17/professional-development-via-twitter-chat/
LikeLike
Hi, my name is Zack Burroughs, and I am a student in Dr Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama.
Here is our class blog
Here is my personal blog
This blog post hits the nail right on the head. I’m not even a certified teacher yet, and my teachers are already reinforcing our education with Twitter. I did not even have a Twitter account until Dr. Strange made it required for us to make one and get involved. I was almost instantly convinced.
For Dr. Strange’s class, we were assigned teachers to follow, and I have already found many interesting blogs and articles in the tweets that those teachers send out. Twitter is definitely a must-have for the teachers of today and tomorrow.
LikeLike
Yet another outstanding post, Edna! Thank you for the kind mention.
Twitter has definitely changed the game for me. It has allowed me to connect with forward thinking pedagogues, and sparked some thought-provoking conversations that I would not have been otherwise able to participate in! I have gained so much from my PLN – mostly professionally, but also personally.
Sometimes I wonder, when I interact with colleagues at my school who aren’t on Twitter, what *are* they waiting for? 🙂
LikeLike
First let me say I got plugged into blogs via a twitter message and things just took off from there. I am very sure my narrow understanding of how teaching and learning is was bulldozed by what I read, for that I am grateful.
Having said that, Twitter, like all technology, calls to you. It tells you, you have a message waiting. There are times when I need a time out, I need to ruminate on what I have read.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Laura A. Diaz ~ Books and Beyond and commented:
1. Continuous learning with and from a global community of educators, via countless links to interesting posts and articles, tools and websites, conferences and workshops. thoughts and ideas.
2. Year 5 students at my school are learning about Aboriginal culture. Twitter led me to @jessica_dubois, as a result of which classes at our schools were able to interact via Skype last week. It was an incredible learning experience for both sides!
3. Ongoing connections with PYP educators like @jessievaz in Chile, @maggiswitz in Switzerland, @sherratsam in Thailand and @garethjacobson in Bangladesh (among others!), to whom I can turn for advice and ideas relating to learning in the PYP.
4. #Elemchat is a weekly Twitter chat for primary school teachers to discuss issues and share practice. It’s great to get different perspectives from all over the world and the connection with talented organisers @tcash in Morocco and @gret in Argentina is an added bonus.
5. Year 1 teachers at my school have recently started blogging and are keen to make global connections for their students. Via Twitter, I’ve found them a number of interested teachers and classes in Colombia, Switzerland, Canada, Indonesia, Chile and the US and inspired them further with the work of @grade1 to see what is possible.
6. Inquire Within, a collaborative blog about inquiry learning, has a range of contributors from twelve countries across six continents… all via Twitter. (Join us!)
7. Upper Primary teachers at my school were inspired by a Skype session on literacy and class blogging with @kathleen_morris and @kellyjordan82 a few months ago and the dynamic duo has agreed to do another session next term to inspire teachers in the lower grades too.
Click the above link to continue reading this awesome and informative article!
Happy Reading! 🙂
LikeLike