This one’s inspired by the Good Book

“A time is coming and has now come.”

These are words attributed to Jesus throughout the Gospel of John. I quote them often, mostly to myself, as a reminder that the time for procrastination has passed. There is no more time. Action must be taken now. In fact, it’s too late for action. I’m feeling like this in so many areas of my life.

Yesterday, at the Life Group (a small group from the church I attend) I lead, a guy who I’ve become very close to, told us that his dad had hours to live. His father has been suffering from a brain tumor for almost a year now, and the end is here. The doctors allowed the family to take him home, where he has now been unconscious for three days. As I type this, I have not heard word how things have gone. This friend shared the news with us, a group that includes three teachers (decent at handling sudden truths) and two counselors (both very good at their jobs), and we were shocked into silence. “A time is coming and has now come.”

Tomorrow begins my final week of preparations before the beginning of my fifth year of teaching. After year one, I figured I could do this for the rest of my life, even if I sucked at it. Now, it’s weird to think that I’ve made it five years. I’ve got meetings all the way until Tuesday, when the students will finally be asked to break their leave and return to the cinderblock city. My responsibilities are growing and changing, and honestly, I’m scared out of my mind. There are so many things that I want to do well, and people that I want to impress, or at least not let down, that I’m almost overcome with anxiousness. “A time is coming and has now come.”

I just got off the phone with a wonderful person, who I’ve only known for a short time, but with whom I feel oddly connected. This is the first time I’ve written about this relationship development, but with this quote in my head, I cannot deny the kernel of an idea ready to pop. I need to process, but I don’t know if I’m ready to publicly. “A time is coming and has now come.”

These scenarios all scare me in one way or another, but they also hold immense hope. Why is it that such a paradoxical statement, like, “A time is coming and has now come” so completely encompasses my confusion on these matters. Lord, I wish I knew the answers.

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.

I promise

I wrote this yesterday, I promise. I'm working on a piece on Twitter, which I've been working on for too long to admit. I'm now doing an hour long presentation on Twitter for other English teachers in the district. It's funny, and not at all exciting. I wish I could figure out why. That would be something worth writing. Well, yesterday I wrote this, and I'm not ashamed to post "work writing" on this blog to make sure that I post something everyday, even if I forget to post it that day. Yes, I make mistakes. This is more about the commitment to write everyday than to be a rule follower. So, here it is. It isn't great, but it is the portion I am willing to share. The presentation is on Thursday, so maybe then I'll writing about how everything goes.

Twitter for Teachers: A social networking tool as professional learning network

Yes, it is a social networking tool, which means people develop social connections. But like many things, teachers have found a way to use it as a tool to our benefit, and for two reasons: teaching can be isolating, and teachers love free resources. 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 isolation can easily be broken down by transparency in practice. That transparency in practice is accomplished through the sharing of ideas and resources. No longer do teachers have to beg, borrow, and steal for something to use in the classroom, all we’ve got to do is listen and learn.

There’s two different types of interaction: friendship-driven and interest-driven. As teachers, we’re not really focusing on the friendship-driven interaction, although I think you will find that once connections on Twitter are developed through interest-driven activities, friendships will arise.

day 5 . . . and continuing

This is my fifth day in a row that I've sat down to write for this blog. Writing isn't something that I have ever done consistently, but since talking to Sara Allen at PV (and of the 2010 OWP SI) about my desire to write everyday, I've found a partner who consistently reminds me of my commitment. There have been days when I didn't remember, like today, and her reminder is necessary. There are other days (but since it's only been five, really not that many) that I've known what I wanted to write about and been itching to sit down.

Today, I want to clean. I want to lay on the couch in front of the TV, put my feet up, and fall asleep. I want to eat some of my left-over soup and allow my brain to turn into that same consistency as I flip the channels in search of God knows what. But now, I sit at my dirty dinner table and write. Mostly, I process.

I process last night and today and realize that I am incredibly blessed. I am surrounded by wonderful people, probably more so than at any other time in my life. I should qualify that statement by making an exception for family, because my family is amazing and when I was younger and we were all closer, nothing could beat us. But now, away from family and as I develop close friendships and work relationships I realize that I am so blessed to have great people in my life. I guess I'm only hoping that things continue in this pattern, and maybe somehow get even better.

just getting it done

I've done a bunch of driving today. And talking. I hate the driving, because it is so absolutely, inescapably hot. I love the talking. It's great. It's the people that make it great. Thanks to all you out there who I got to talk to today. You're great.

Keri and I are working on our "Twitter" piece, whatever it is, for the Digital Is website. I'm really excited to get back into it because it is fun working with Keri, and sharing what we know, even if the knowledge is somehow marginalized or devalued because of the timing. The Digital Is website is very cool. It's beautiful, really. I can't wait to see our work up there. I'm also imagining what other work I or we could put up on the site.

I love the fact that Christina and Kate (and the NWP) used Drupal to make the Digital Is website. And I'm really glad that the content will be user generated. It's important to have the curators there, but it's also important to see the work of regular people. Combining open source and user generated is exciting to me. It's time the high and lofty recognize the expertise present in the masses. It's time value judgments aren't made based on the name on a paper but on the quality of the work.

Civil rights is a fight for equality. It's not over. There are politicians doing all they can to make sure that access is not granted. There are intellectuals making sure that value is based on unfair assessments. Each step in the direction of granting open access and equal privileges is positive. Thank you to NWP for taking a step in that direction with Digital Is.

Now that I've gone on, Adbusters style, I'll stop. I don't know why I write this way, but it seems to always pour out of me this way.