How Twitter Makes Me a Better Educator

Twitter has changed my life in the past few months.  Not because I now know what this One Direction is the girls in my class keep talking about (I thought it was a religious group for a few days.) and not because I learned about horrible/awesome/train-wreck television experiences like a man tight-rope walking across the Grand Canyon or the special effects setback that was Sharknado.  The life-change brought about by Twitter is not even directly related to sports, although it has improved how I watch live sporting events.  Even better than all those things, Twitter has changed my life by connecting me to educational gurus from all over the world and making me a better teacher.

Any teacher will tell you that we are always looking for that next great lesson or a new idea for our classroom.  Even in the seven short years I have taught this has evolved from taking ideas from co-workers in the teacher's lounge to Googling "3rd grade lessons about area and perimeter" to now having the ability to learn every minute of every day from another teacher, principal, even district administrator from a neighboring district, or another state, or even Germany.  Seriously, when I got a follower who is a teacher from Germany, I almost threw a party.

My journey to becoming a Twitter addict began about 4 years ago.  I attended a session at an MSTA convention led by Eric Langhorst (@ELanghorst) in which I first heard the term "PLN" or Professional Learning Network.  In the session he talked about the power of connecting to teachers all over the world and I thought that sounded pretty cool.  So, I created a Twitter handle (@bmcd25 - hit me up, yo!) and decided to give it a try.  Within months I had...ten followers.  I just couldn't get into it.

A couple of years later, I attended a one-day seminar led by Kevin Honeycutt (@kevinhoneycutt) and he spoke about, among many other great educational technology tools, Twitter.  In fact, he sent out a tweet and within seconds teachers from across the country were saying hi to teachers in an auditorium in Grain Valley, MO.  Once again, I thought that sounded pretty cool.  So, I tried to remember my Twitter user name and password (took at least six tries) and within months had...twenty followers.  I still couldn't get into it.

Don't get me wrong, Mr. Langhorst and Mr. Honeycutt had inspired me to use Twitter and were great speakers about its power.  I just failed miserably at trying to set up a PLN.  Then, this past spring my school district awarded several teachers a classroom set (2:1 student to iPad ratio) of iPads.  I was one of the very fortunate teachers to get the iPads.  This motivated me, so I sat myself down and had a talk.  Don't worry, I don't talk to myself too often, just when I really need it. I told myself, "If you want your students to get the most out of those iPads, you're going to have to have as many resources about them as possible.  Where would be a good place to find people who know a lot about technology and a lot about education?"  The obvious answer was Twitter.

This time, I went about setting up a PLN differently.  I once again (eventually) entered my Twitter user name and password.  Then, instead of sending out a tweet saying "Hey world, I'm a teacher looking to meet other teachers" I searched the site for "educational technology".  In other words, I stopped treating Twitter like some sort of sick teacher-only dating site and started treating it like what it can be - the biggest and best teacher's lounge possible (just without coffee).  Once I found someone who seemed like they knew what they were talking about, I added them and checked out who they followed in the education world.  Within months, I actually made it over 100 followers of my own - and almost threw a party again!

I am still a newbie at the whole Twitter thing.  I just recently participated in my first #MOedchat, and it was great.  I don't tweet a lot yet because I don't want to make a fool out of myself, but I do get a ton of information.  For example, I learned about genius hour and 20% time on Twitter, something that I am currently trying to figure out how to fit into my 3rd grade class.  Twitter has taught me all about standards based grades, something I have become passionate about as well.  Of course, Twitter has allowed me to find a seemingly never-ending amount of resources about technology in education.  Most importantly, I have found access to some of the brightest minds in education today who tweet out their knowledge all the time.

If you are a teacher and you aren't on Twitter, I highly recommend it.  It can be confusing, even intimidating at first, but it is well worth your time to figure it out.  Like I said, I'm still a newbie in the Twitterverse, but I am already benefiting from my PLN and look forward to it continuing to change my life.

Do you use Twitter for professional learning?  I would enjoy hearing your experiences in the comments section.