TWITTERpated!

I was hesitant to sign up for a Twitter account at first because it seemed like just another meaningless social media outlet to waste time on.  Luckily, though, Kelly Gallagher opened my eyes when he used it in a presentation at a State Reading Conference I attended last November (follow him @

KellyGToGo).

Twitter is an excellent resource for teachers, and our tech coach swears by it.  So long as you use it professionally and consciously follow/Tweet only ed-related people and ideas, you’ll soon find that it is THE quickest, most accessible PD available to you as an educator.

Here’s an example of just how fast Twitter can work for you as an educator:  A few weeks ago, a teacher at our regional conference told a story about how she and her class found the skeleton of an unknown animal during an outing.  When the class returned to the building, the teacher challenged the librarian:  “Who could find what species the animal was first?”  Then the teacher immediately Tweeted out a picture of the skeleton to her contacts with the trademark # to start a conversation about it on a page, and began asking questions to and receiving answers from university students and specialists all over the world to keep the chats flowing.  Within TWO HOURS she had the answer: The class had found a raccoon skeleton!  (Meanwhile, after pouring through books for hours, the librarian asked to ship the skeleton off to a lab, waited two weeks for a reply, and never did get the bones returned…)

This is just one example of how efficient Twitter really is for us as teachers, but it’s not the most FREQUENT way that I use it.  Instead, I’ve found that it’s an incredibly meaningful way to access new PD ideas quickly.  When I browse my feed on Twitter, I’ll easily scope out three or four teaching ideas, apps, or articles that I haven’t heard of before.  Go ahead, search the #geniushour, #socrative, or #kahoot pages, or click on them when they pop up on your feed.  Need a #MysterySkype contact? Looking for a conference that professionals are actively recommending to one another, such as #Edutech?  Search no further.  All you have to do is build your network and follow quality educators and program representatives.

Yet another meaningful way to use Twitter is to keep parents and your schoolwide community informed of what’s going on in class.  My school’s teachers, superintendent, principal, and students are all on Twitter and use it as a constant update option for parents.  If, for example, your class is engaged in an exciting new project, then all you have to do is snap a photo, tweet it out with the #Nameofyourschool, and then the parents can click on the school’s page and be able to visually SEE what it is their child came home excited about that day!

If you’re REALLY into Twitter and get involved in multiple chats, you may be interested in signing up for a Tweet Deck account so that you can keep pages of chats separated from one another.  (This is excellent when you want to have a more inquisitive, in-depth conversation with someone about a new project or product that they mentioned on Twitter.)  But, if you’re just getting started on Twitter, then it may be easiest just to start with the basic account.  In that case, here are a few things to know once you’ve signed up for your account:

1:  Type @ to talk directly to a person and for only that person to see your tweet (aside from on your newsfeed).

2:  Make a hashtag # to view a page. There cannot be any spaces for whichever words you want to be added to the page.  (For example, if you hashtag #booktrailers, then it will show up on the “book trailers” page.  However, if you hashtag #book trailers, then your post will show up on the “book” page.)

3:  Some educators and resource reps I recommend you follow:  @yaujauku, @cybraryman1, @SkypeClassroom, @eduechME, @STEMCONNECT, @educationweek, @GetKahoot, @IRAToday, @NCTM, @KellyGToGo, @khanacademy, @gailandjoan

Grow your network of educators on Twitter and delve into PD networking while you gain resources and ideas.  Tweet away!