I’ve always heard that one should
try learning something new every day. I have to admit that since embarking on
this technology track through graduate school, there have been very few days
that I could say I did not learn or experience something new! My latest adventure has been exploring the
world of Twitter. I have to admit, I was very skeptical of the entire Twitter
concept. I see it mentioned on television, hear about it on the radio, and see
the funny little bird icon on most websites, blogs and other pages that I visit
on the internet. My doubts about it
being something I could use to help me in my professional career… were to say
the least, great. However, to complete
the assignment for class, I signed up for my Twitter account, and began to
search through numerous other Tweeters! I wanted to find resources that would
help me in developing posts to benefit my blog topic. My topic for this blog is
to find new and different ways to teach kindergarten concepts. I first began my
search on Twitter for fellow Early Childhood educators. I then found that by refining or narrowing my Twitter
search, the accounts that I found were more precise to what I wanted and fit my specific
needs. I quickly realized that this
whole Twitter world was fascinating! I had no idea that so many ideas,
resources, links, and materials could be found through a Twitter account. The first night I searched, I honestly spent
hours reading tweets, seeing who others were following, and adding people to my
resource list.
Some of my favorite Twitter accounts that I found were kindergarten
teachers that were bloggers as well. For example, Jeannie Partin
(@kinderlifestyle), is a classroom kindergarten teacher that blogs about
reading instruction and development. Her tweets are filled with new and
innovative ways to teach kindergarten literacy concepts. I found myself self
wanting to read more of her tweets. There were so many resources that she provided.
Another account that I was intrigued by
was Christine Carrion (@carrion_creates).
As a blogger and kindergarten teacher, Carrion’s tweets are primarily
about ways to incorporate SMART technology in the kindergarten curriculum. This
was exactly what I was searching for to get ideas for my blog. I found great
resources that could be implemented right into my kindergarten classroom and
ideas to share with others through my blog.
I have
to admit, searching Twitter for my resources was not a hit every time. I did
run across many accounts that I had great expectations for, but was
disappointed when I read that most of the tweets were about personal business
or day to day life. I just had to think
about the criteria for finding my resources---valid, useful, professional accounts
that benefit my common blog topic. I
guess you can officially call me a tweeter now! I have started creating a
professional list to share with colleagues in hopes of providing a type of collaboration
through my kindergarten blog.I would like to think that other professionals could find beneficial resources from the Twitter list that I have started creating.
Where once I was a
skeptic, I am now a believer in how effective this mode of search can truly
benefit me as a professional. Check out
my resource list below and follow me on Twitter (@ColburnMichelle)…you might
become a believer in it too!
Here is the link to my resource list
https://twitter.com/#!/ColburnMichelle/ed-529/members
https://twitter.com/#!/ColburnMichelle/ed-529/members
I think it is funny how reputations are developed. I, too, was skeptical about the twitter site having educational benefits. However, I developed my opinion on twitter based on hearing that this celebrity or professional athlete tweeted this about some random event, and was being ridiculed for their unprofessional comments. Due to news about scenarios like the one above I just stayed away from twitter. In my opinion, news outlets and certain people, in general, are just waiting to be offended over something someone says. Therefore, I developed a negative opinion of twitter because I thought it would be a place where I would voice my opinion and then potentially get blistered for not communicating it delicately, or just plain outright having an unpopular opinion. Based on this prior established view of twitter I chose not to put myself at risk, but I was without a doubt wrong about twitter. An individual does not have to tweet about anything, and can benefit from the endless resources that come from people linking sites and software to their twitter accounts. I have to admit I totally misjudged twitter on a preconceived reputation without even researching the site. I am glad, like you, I was forced to interact with the twitter site putting all ill feelings about its use behind me. Twitter is an invaluable resource for an educator that needs to be used to benefit student learning as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteAs a special education teacher I found many of your accounts on your twitter list to beneficial for me. I have to teach a multitude of different levels of reader, and need techniques and guidance for these wide ranges of readers. Many of your accounts, and links within your accounts, from your twitter list provided ideas and opportunities to use with my struggling readers. I particularly liked Nicholas Provenzano, also known as the nerdy teacher. His blog was extremely insightful about technology that I thought would be good to use in literacy instruction. He had videos and some links within his blogs that were very enlightening. There were many other accounts on your list that I see being helpful in my plight to learn to mold tech with literacy. I think you have done a great job with your list and I look forward to reading more of your blogs.
I totally agree with you, Michelle. I can’t believe how much there is to learn on Twitter. There are so many resources in our grasps and innovative ideas are a click away. You developed a great set of resources. I viewed them this morning and started following many of your suggestions. My blog focuses on the early childhood classroom too and I was amazed very few of our “tweeters” overlapped. I am sure our searches were similar too. This is another example of how vast the resources are on Twitter.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite accounts on your list is #Kinderchat. The creators describe the site as, “glue and glitter, bringing daily joy to twitter.” How cute is that description!? Twitter feeds like this one is what I enjoy the most about Twitter. It is a collection of people, with similar interests, sharing information. This is the way I learn best by learning from and sharing with fellow educators. The teacher blogs you incorporated were a great way to take a peek inside the classroom of teachers across the world. I learn so much from my fellow teachers and twitter makes this exchange very easy. This is a very beneficial way to learn new, innovative ideas for the classroom.
Thank you for sharing your resources with me. (By the way, I love your blog theme and background! Sooo cute!)