Mundane Brain

I kept writing about Twitter today. It's a way for me to figure out what I want to say in my presentation on Thursday. I'm going to finish up the handout tonite. Here is what I processed through today though. It's pretty ridiculous, but it was a decent chunk of writing time.

Twitter is a social networking tool, which means people develop social connections. The descriptor “social” doesn’t need to carry a negative connotation though.

Like many things, teachers have found a way to use twitter as a tool to our benefit, and for two reasons: teaching can be isolating, and teachers love free stuff. By following good teachers and administrators on Twitter, we open up a door to what is happening around the country and the world in other classrooms. The transparency that is achieved through sharing thoughts and practices works against the isolating feelings that can accompany teaching.

No longer do teachers beg, borrow, and steal ideas and resources for use in the classroom. That’s a one-way street, with no reciprocity. Now, we collaborate. Teachers share ideas and resources in conversation; it’s a two-way street involving reciprocity.

I’m the only 8^th grade English teacher in my building. I’m one of three English teachers in my building. Counting the Librarian and the “At-Risk” educator, there are five people that I can go to for ideas and resources. That’s not very many, no matter how good they are. Through connections on Twitter, I have access to exponentially more educators in my field; the potential for collaboration is immense. Why would I not use this?

On Twitter, I propose there are two different types of interactions: friendship-driven and interest-driven.* We’re interested in becoming better teachers. We’re interested in using new and innovative tools in meaningful ways. We’re interested in engaging in meaningful conversations about what we teach and how we teach it. The connections established on Twitter allow for all of this.

As teachers, we’re probably not initially going to use Twitter for friendship-driven interaction, but as use increases, I’ve found that there’s a recursive process between the social (friendship-driven) and the professional (interest-driven). This doesn’t happen in every scenario, but it can and will happen.

I first met @poh on Twitter because I tweeted about reading a book. He asked me to write a book review on it, which I did. Then I met him f2f in Washington D.C. at a conference, and there we began hanging out. There he asked me to write something about Twitter, so he invited me to a writing retreat in Austin, TX, where we hung out more. Now I would say he’s a friend. We joke about football and baseball. We’re not great friends. The social connection grew from the professional connection, but in life that is how many things happen. First you teach down the hall from someone, then maybe if you’re ladies you have a shopping day together, or if you’re guys you go to a Springfield Cardinals game.

So, Twitter increases the number of meaningful connections available to us as educators, thus increasing the potential for collaboration. Two questions should then immediately arise: Who do I connect to/with? How do we collaborate? Both of these questions are very good questions. First, I recommend you connect with those you know. The follow up question to this: why would I need to connect and collaborate with these people through Twitter if I can connect and collaborate with them without it? Again, good question. The answer: because it’s easier. Second, I recommend you connect with those you admire, and then with those who they follow. So, if you love webquests then you should follow @BernieDodge, and probably some of the people he follows, based on the tweets. If you find yourself emphasizing independent reading your classroom, you may want to follow @donalynbooks and @paulwhankins, and probably some of the people they follow, based on the tweets. If you find yourself emphasizing current events and social justice in your classroom, you may want to follow @paulallison (and listen to his weekly Wednesday evening podcast), and some of the people he follows, based on the tweets.

Once you begin to share your own ideas and resources with others, you are collaborating. Connections can happen even when you don’t bring anything to the table. This is often called listening or lurking on Twitter, and it’s totally acceptable especially early on.

One significant way that collaboration occurs is through chats, which usually happen on a weekly basis focused on a topic question. One of the best chats, #edchat, is held on Tuesdays at 11 am and 6 pm CST and covers broad categories regarding education. Specific to English is #engchat, held on Mondays at 6 pm CST. There is also #yalitchat, held on Wednesdays at 8 pm CST, and #kidlitchat, held on Tuesdays at 8 pm CST. During these chats, you will find people who make very intelligent statements (and those who don’t) and who link to very interesting articles/videos/blogs (and those who don’t). Because of this, they’re great places to connect with people (meaning meet people to follow).

There’s much more that goes into Twitter, like understanding compositional conventions, trending topics, or using management systems, but this write-up certainly isn’t meant to be comprehensive. If you have questions, email me.

*The two types of interactions are borrowed from Hanging out, messing around, geeking out: Kids living and learning with new media by Mizuko Ito, et. al.