Twitter can easily seem like a time sucker. Which as teachers is a daaangerous thing. Who has time to waste with everything else on your plate? Well, turns out Twitter is a great place to connect with other teachers, and to learn new strategies and tools to use in your classroom. If you haven’t already joined Twitter as a part of growing your PLN (Personal Learning Network), I encourage you to do so! Here are three great ways I use Twitter:
- Hashtag searches – by searching for a specific hashtag, you can find materials or discussions on a variety of topics, that will help keep you abreast of education policy or changes, as well as new trends transforming classrooms around the country (and the world!)
- Follow your favorite teachers – one more way to reach out to fellow teachers and leaders in your field is by following them on Twitter. The 140 character limit means that no post is very long, so skimming through posts is easy, and can give you “sound bytes” of information that a longer blog post couldn’t
- Participate in a Twitter chat – There are many chats out there, that take place every week, after school hours. It depends on what your specific interests are, but most week nights (and even Saturdays) there are chats going on.
Some best practices to keep in mind if you decide to participate in a Twitter chat:
- Be sure to use the chat hashtag every time you write or respond; this is how others will see your comments
- When answering questions, use A1:, A2:, etc so others know what you’re talking about
- If you have them, use pictures and other media to link to your webpage, class information, or Pinterest boards! This allows others to see just what you’re talking about
- Don’t just stick to one liners–engage others in the dialogue!
Ready to get started? Here are several Twitter chats to join!
Source article: ISTE Twitter Chats
Amanda M. Orozco 
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