My First Twitter Chat Experience!
This entire semester, my professor has incorporated Twitter into our classroom in a professional way to show us students how to use it in our future classrooms. Twitter is just another way that I am expanding my Personal Learning Network (PLN). If you're an avid reader of my blog, you may have heard this term before. Earlier this year, we made diagrams to illustrate all the different ways in which we are connected with knowledgeable resources. If you haven't already, feel free to head over to my original blog post about my PLN to get a little bit more background.
Alright, let's get down to business. My first Twitter Chat was a complete success!! I learned so much more in forty-five minutes than I ever thought I could on social media. I participated in a chat with the hashtag #COLchat. This was hosted by Frank Bellomo, an elementary principal from Michigan, and Walter Kozlowski, the Director of Curriculum and Assessment for Chippewa Valley Schools in Michigan. Also participating in this chat were other education students, principles, and deans. In this particular chat, we discussed continuous improvement and all the ways to keep kids motivated and moving forward. This chat is usually held every 1st and 3rd Monday of each month. Every single chat contains a different topic. For example, the previous chat was about gratitude. Detailed answers emerged from thought provoking answers. Every person participating in this chat has different ideas and methods, allowing me to expand my PLN.
Because this was my first twitter chat, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Before the chat started, the moderators did a very nice job introducing the topic and explaining exactly how the process was going to work. The environment was very welcoming and inclusive. I had worried that I wasn't going to be able to answer any of the questions intelligently enough, but they were just looking for generalized thoughts and ideas. I was very surprised with how casual this chat was. In my mind, I thought it would be professors talking academic language the entire time, but really, it was just normal people looking for new thoughts and ideas, just like me. I really struggled with the speed of the chat. With eight questions to ask and only forty-five minutes to do so, the moderators moved very quickly. Unfortunately, I did not use tweetdeck, so when I thought I was all caught up, really it was just because my browser hadn't updated the new tweets. This made it difficult for me to follow along because, before I had answered the previous question, there were more questions and responses to acknowledge.
Aside from my experience, the questions asked in the chat are as followed:
Since this was my first chat, my participation was minimal. I answered the second questions after I had seen how my peers were doing it. This was my response to question 2:
As for answering this question, I also responded to a peer's answer. Their answer to question 4 really resonated with me and intrigued me. Teachers are always trying to figure out effective ways to have their students do self assessment. This was my response to their answer:
Alright, let's get down to business. My first Twitter Chat was a complete success!! I learned so much more in forty-five minutes than I ever thought I could on social media. I participated in a chat with the hashtag #COLchat. This was hosted by Frank Bellomo, an elementary principal from Michigan, and Walter Kozlowski, the Director of Curriculum and Assessment for Chippewa Valley Schools in Michigan. Also participating in this chat were other education students, principles, and deans. In this particular chat, we discussed continuous improvement and all the ways to keep kids motivated and moving forward. This chat is usually held every 1st and 3rd Monday of each month. Every single chat contains a different topic. For example, the previous chat was about gratitude. Detailed answers emerged from thought provoking answers. Every person participating in this chat has different ideas and methods, allowing me to expand my PLN.
Because this was my first twitter chat, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Before the chat started, the moderators did a very nice job introducing the topic and explaining exactly how the process was going to work. The environment was very welcoming and inclusive. I had worried that I wasn't going to be able to answer any of the questions intelligently enough, but they were just looking for generalized thoughts and ideas. I was very surprised with how casual this chat was. In my mind, I thought it would be professors talking academic language the entire time, but really, it was just normal people looking for new thoughts and ideas, just like me. I really struggled with the speed of the chat. With eight questions to ask and only forty-five minutes to do so, the moderators moved very quickly. Unfortunately, I did not use tweetdeck, so when I thought I was all caught up, really it was just because my browser hadn't updated the new tweets. This made it difficult for me to follow along because, before I had answered the previous question, there were more questions and responses to acknowledge.
Aside from my experience, the questions asked in the chat are as followed:
As mentioned before, everyone was very welcoming and always had a positive comment about my thoughts and opinions. Because of the positive experience that I had my first time, I have a strong feeling that I will participate in more twitter chats in the near future. An educational chat like this one provides insights and different ways of thinking that I would have never thought of. It creates a connection between me and other college students and professors as well as current educators. Seeing how we all think differently depending on our situation gives me insight into what I will be doing and what I can incorporate into my own classroom.
I would like to say thank you to the people who participated in the #COLchat with me, as I thoroughly enjoyed everything we discussed. I cannot wait to participate in my next #COLchat twitter chat coming up here this month! Again, thank you so much for taking the time to read my post, and feel free to leave comments below!!
If you would like to participate in any Educational Twitter Chats, you can follow this link to the official
schedule!
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