I have had an incredible opportunity to talk to well-over a thousand teachers in the past year at Outrageous Teaching seminars or Teach Like a Pirate keynotes. One common complaint I have heard is the lack of meaningful local professional development opportunities and the lack of funds to send teachers to state and national conferences. Well, I have a slightly self-serving answer to the first problem…I travel well! But, more importantly, I also have an answer that is free and available to every teacher out there.
Get ready for it!
Twitter (Wait, wait…don’t leave, let me explain)
We no longer live in a world where you have to wait for PD to come to you, you can access it 24/7 365, right from your computer or smartphone. The use of Twitter by educators is a full-on revolution that is changing the landscape of educational collaboration. Teachers are developing Professional Learning Networks (PLN’s) that span the globe. You can share ideas, ask for (and give) help, and follow all of the emerging educational trends through Twitter.
When I think back to the first time I heard about most of the current and cutting-edge educational trends…it almost always can be traced back to Twitter. The vast majority of educational blogs, magazine articles, newspaper stories, etc. that I have read in the last 12 months have been because of links in Twitter posts of people I follow.
I am sending this message as a special invitation to have you join me for a Twitter event that I think will show you some of it’s potential power. Tomorrow evening (Monday 1/23/12) at 7pm Eastern, 4pm for us on the left coast, I am hosting a Twitter chat for social studies teachers about how to engage hard-to-motivate students. I would love to have you join us even if you teach another subject because I think it will still be relevant. Feel free to participate, but also feel free to just watch the action if you want.
Here’s how you do it: Are you already on Twitter? Search for the #sschat hash tag. All posts will include #sschat in the tweet so that the discussion can be easily followed. Jump on Twitter at 7pm Eastern, go to #sschat and follow along. Reload often…the tweets will be pouring in!
Not on Twitter? Time to join! Go to http://twitter.com and provide your name and email and then choose a username and password. I recommend your name or a derivative of your name but do what you want. I am @burgessdave so you can follow me, if you like. At 7pm Eastern on Monday(1/23/12), go to the “Discover” tab and type in #sschat and join the discussion. If you tweet, please put #sschat in your message so that it will be a part of our discussion. A hash tag (#) put before a topic helps to organize tweets in a more usable, searchable, and effective manner. I recommend that you practice searching for the hash tag before Monday afternoon. If you join, send me a tweet by mentioning me (put @burgessdave in your tweet…the @ symbol directs the tweet to a particular person and is called a “mention”). If you need help, type “Twitter tutorial” into google and you will find articles, videos, etc..
Here is an incomplete list of education-related hash tags that you might like to check out:
#edchat General educational topics discussed here
#edtech Great for educational technology
#ntchat Support for new teachers
#sschat Social Studies
#mathchat Math
#scichat Science
#engchat English
#psychat Psychology
#socteacher Sociology
#kinderchat Kindergarten teachers
#1stchat First grade teachers
#2ndchat, #3rdchat, #4thchat, #5thchat
#mlearning Mobile learning discussions
#cpchat Principals and admin
If you attend a conference…find the hash tag. For example, #NCSS11 was used by many of us at the last Nat. Council of Soc. Stud. Conference in DC.
Trust me, there are many more. You can get unbelievable PD and support 365 days a year. You can also influence thousands of educators all over the world right from your own classroom. Geography no longer needs to be an obstacle to PD and collaboration. If you’re not getting the kind of growth and stimulation you need at your school or district…join the revolution!
Dave Burgess
P.S. Don’t forget…please join me for #sschat on Monday 1/23 7pm Eastern, 6pm Central, 5pm Mountain, 4pm Pacific!!