Twitter Chat

I loved the Twitter Chat!  I don't like Twitter regularly, but I loved participating in a Twitter Chat!  It is fast paced and trying to keep up was a bit frustrating, but there were so many ideas and so many who are excited about teaching!  Using Tweet Deck helped to keep up with the conversation.

I participated in two Twitter Chats and attempted a third.  I participated in #EngageChat and #EduGladiators.  I attempted to participate in #iteachphysics.  I tried to participate in the
#iteachphysics chat that was posted for a particular time, however when I tried to join there was no one there!  I felt like I was stood up. Oh, well.

It was great to hear from teachers all over who are facing the same issues in the classroom.  As educators we often feel isolated and feel like we are the only one in our situation.  However, of course that is not the case.  There are teachers all over who face the same challenges and have great ideas to overcome those challenges.

#EngageChat was focused on engaging students who are culturally diverse and the second was #EduGladiators which was again focused on engaging students with technology and relevancy.  Both chats were extremely encouraging by the other participates and fast paced!  The two Chats were not that different except for the content of the information.   I did add a couple of people to follow after both chats.  The ones who I added were the ones who I had talked with during the chat.  I also added EduGladiators so I can keep up with other chats.

I think continuing to participate in more Twitter Chats will improve my experience.  The first time I was in a Twitter Chat I didn't know what to expect.  Now that I know what I am doing I think the next Twitter Chats will be more beneficial to me.

Picture Source: http://socialnicole.com/twitter-chat-participate/

My PLN Reflection

I've have created a PLN throughout this course.  (I made a mistake on the graphic, it should of course have PLNs instead of PLCs.)  I have created my PLN mostly on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinetrist.  I have used others, but not to the same extent as these three.  My favorite is Pinetrist!  I switched content areas this school year from Physics to Math, so I needed some ideas one how to get started.  I had taught math previously but by getting on Pinetrist I was able to get a lot of quick ideas, and as a teacher anything I can do that saves time helps!  I love that Pinetrist has a picture highlighting the information and then you can go to the website.  I feel that is by far the easiest to use.  I love how I can easily organize my information and follow others who have similar interests.

I have used Facebook for years.  I have continued to add to the number of  pages that I follow, most of those are physics related.  I plan on adding more math pages throughout the school year on my Facebook account to give me additional ideas.  The great part about Facebook is because I already spend a decent amount of time on it, so I can be looking at what friends are doing and links for teaching will pop up.  I think this is great because I'm not always thinking about teaching outside of the work day,  This encourages me to continually engage in professional growth without spending tons of additional time.

I don't particularly like Twitter.  Although I will continue to give it time to see if it is something I may eventually like.  It may be that I am still getting to know a new program.  I did however like the Twitter Chat and added more to my PLN through the chat.  I was not a fan of Google Plus either, again that may change over time.

It is great to communicate with others throughout the United States and even on the world on how to best teach.  The encouragement from others is extremely beneficial.  Prior to this course I did not think about using social media to help me to be a better teacher, but now... how did I teach without it!