photo © 2010 Steve Garfield | more info (via: Wylio)When I mention to others around me that Twitter is great for teachers they say, "No way!" and to some extent I can understand that. We already have very busy lives, get caught up in Twitter and there goes more time. I held out against Twitter for quite awhile. Turned a deaf ear.
However in January when I participated in the Edublogs Teacher Blogging Challenge I decided to dip my tootsies in. It wasn't that bad! Actually it was very good. A Twitter user only uses it as it suits them. You might just follow others and pick up ideas. That's one thing I do, I now have a number of people I follow who share great websites and ideas. I test the ones I like the sound of. Sometimes I click further onto the web site they are sharing. Imagine my surprise today when I clicked on a website and found a face staring up at me that I knew. I couldn't believe my eyes. I had taught with this Principal back in the days when he was a Deputy Principal at our school and I have a lot of respect for him. So now I have the link to his blog on my blogroll.
One of the reasons I followed the link was because I follow mainly Australian and American educationalists. They are great, yet I need a little more New Zealand in my diet, for the very reasons that TraintheTeacher shares.
Occasionally I share my own comments and thoughts on Twitter. Not often, I am still getting used to it. I occasionally retweet. Tweeting is like mini blogging. Ideas are shared very succinctly. You call in when you have time. Learn a little more about it when you have time. At present I am learning about #tags. I haven't got into any of the'live' chats because the overseas ones are on at a time when I am working or asleep. If you read this and have ideas on any good New Zealand Twitter people to follow let me know. Maybe if I Twitter about it I may get a response as well.
If you are not a Twitter user I encourage you to try it. Just small. Don't even tell others you are trying it. Find a few people to follow. See who they follow. Follow them. Start here and read Kathleen Morris' post about Twitter.
I agree! Start small and find others with your same interests. What's amazing is that others may not be in the same continent...the world is truly flat!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Miss T! One of the great things about Twitter is that you can use it as your time and inclination allows, like you said. You never know what you'll find!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention,
Kathleen
Theresa
ReplyDeleteSo true and I love that about blogging and Twitter.
Kathleen
thankbyou for dropping by, I hope to get better slowly at using Twitter following example of you and other great educators.
Kathryn
Nice post!
ReplyDeleteIt took me a long time to open up to Twitter. I thought it was another FaceBook so why would I want two of them? When I finally was open to learning about it, and stuck with it through the learning curve, I realized it's power.
I really believe it goes hand in hand with blogging -- which was yet another milestone for me to get to.
Kind regards,
Tracy Watanabe
Tracy
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by. It is funny how we approach new things. We have a perception of them, often they are quite misinformed. We have to dip in to find out.
K
I agree too Kathryn. It is so important to be open to trying things out but also to wade in and test the water. Our students are doing it without fear so we must be willing to get in there too. I would never have picked myself as being a tech person so you never know what will happen once you step in!
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI really agree. I have realised that I need to take it slow with Twitter. I have come to like TweetDeck as well. I am also trying to learn about hashtags right now. I would like to find some that are good for northern Europe.
Well, I wish you good luck and hope to connect with you soon again!
I have quite a lot of New Zealanders in my twitter stream and I'm sure that Kathleen does to. You can always just ask us to ask them to add you -- just send us an @reply when you are on twitter so we can do it for you.
ReplyDeletesue
ReplyDeletethanks will do.
:)
K
Hi Kathryn! Why not start a New Zealand educators Twitter chat yourself? You could use the hashtag #nzedchat - sounds like Sue would be willing to promote it for you.
ReplyDelete