In the south stagnant water is a nightmare. The heat does not mix well with it, it starts smelling, then you get mosquitoes, and then there are the reptiles – I hate reptiles. If you own a pond or lake you have to find a away to keep the water moving most of the time to avoid the issues mention before. Movement is key.
Every so often I feel that I have to defend my twittering. I find myself explaining why many times. Yes, twitter is a social media platform. Yes, I can be very social there. But if you have ever been around me in ANY situtation where I am comfortable I am pretty “chatty.” It is me and who I am. But chatting just to chat is not why I am there. I am there to learn. I am there to be part of a community that builds off each other.
I have never had a colleague come to me and say “Look at this cool website” or “I just read a book about pedagogy & learning as a whole, you need to read it!” So sad to say that, but it is the truth. When I started twitter 3 yrs ago I was becoming pretty bummed I was a semester away from having to part ways with my EdS cohort. It was the first time I had been around a group of people who pushed me to learn and shared new ideas. I am person addicted to learning. That would be why I finished college, got a MEd & completed all courses for an EdS before turning 30. I need to feed that hunger. The thought of losing that support system terrified me, because I am so not ready to go back again, though the word Doctor is intriguing. Twitter has helped keep that support system as part of my everyday life.
Yes I “play” on here and so do others but that is no different than pur kids chatting in the hallways between class! I enjoy knowing personally the people I learn from. I love their unique personalities. There are no rules (though some may argue) to twitter but be yourself! I like hearing that people have a good (and sometimes bad) day. I like the people who tweet out their posts (bc my reader gets so full and it helps me sort). I like the laughs and I even like the annoying folks (they don’t bother me, they add to the whole melting pot of people I enjoy being around!).
So the paragraphs above here were written days ago & the post has sitting here unfinished. Today I led 3 different sessions at the district Tech Camp. A whole day of doing the 2 things I have this huge passion for, technology & professional development. Professionally it was such a fun day to spend it doing what I love. So if these are my passions why would I not be an advocate for twitter?! Twitter IS professional development. Period. The blog post, the links & tools shared, the connecting with people smarter than me, and more!
If a dam is on a river, the river stops & becomes stagnant. If there is no dam the river eventually stops but only when it reaches the ocean. There is entire sea of knowledge out there, I know I don’t want to get stuck behind a dam.
Like you, I love being a part of technology and professional development and I frequently get asked what I find to be the most valuable tool to me as an educator. Hands down, Twitter has been more valuable than any other tool I’ve used while in education. I have met more brilliant people, gotten more great ideas, through twitter than I could have from any other tool. Found your blog through Twitter! Thanks for not being stagnant!
A friend of mine suggested to me yesterday that I should ‘go cold turkey’ from twitter for 2 weeks and take a break. I couldn’t believe it! Why would I want to walk away from learning and making connections with people who share similar passions as me? Like you I don’t want to be stagnant and I find my PLN inspires me to learn more and share more. I have tried unsuccessfully, to explain to people I work with the value in this but to no avail. I suppose I could ‘go cold turkey’ but it would be like shutting my mind off to learning…No thank you!
Thanks for sharing this post.
I was very close to becoming stagnant before finding twitter. Bless my heart- I was bored and thus a boring teacher. Twitter led me to Edcamp, #kinderchat and renewed my passion for learning/teaching.
Great post! Thanks for being such a valuable part of my PLN.
I, like a lot of us it seems, am reflecting on the whys and whats of twitter. The thing I appreciate about you, Amanda, is your honesty and emotion-on-sleeve. I’ve never met you yet I trust you implicitly. Thanks so much for the great humanity you bring to our PLN.
Amanda, I love this post of yours! I learn so much from my PLN on Twitter, and it’s amazing people like you that push my thinking and make me a better teacher.
Aviva
Amanda,
If we are to be true life long learners, something we ask of our students, then we have to continue to engage in conversations and collaboration which Twitter readily makes available to us. Many of us are online with our PLN’s because there is a missing element. Luckily, we have found it virtually. I have only been a member of this wonderful community for a little over a year but I shudder to think what would have happened to me if I hadn’t given it a try.
Thanks for another great post.
Aviva (akak @Grade1) just retweeted your blog post so I came to read it. In what other way would I be able to connect with you? I liked your analogy of the moving waters. If I can’t move schools or positions, I can move my mind and teaching practice, and Twitter helps do that. Now I need to check whether I’m following your blog – if not, I know a way to move my mind further. Thank you for the reflection.