PLN Twitter Reflection/Resources

One of the greatest benefits that the internet provides for educators is a platform for professional learning networks. Stating that PLNs are valuable to educators would be an understatement. In case you are not that familiar with PLNs please take a look at my October 10, 2013 blog: A Connected Educator/Ice Webinar which explains in depth PLNs. This blog is essentially part II of the aforementioned PLN blog in which I will reflect on my experience with my Twitter PLN. I will also provide two great resources that I have encountered on my Twitter PLN.

Twitter PLN Educational Chat Reflection

Image Source

On Twitter there are many educators and professionals within the education field that connect with each other and have conversations on matters that pertain to education. Every week on Twitter there are educational conversations which are known as #Educational Chats. Within these educational twitter chats one can find general education chats, or specific content educational chats that pertain to only social studies, science, technology, and many more. My EDUC 353 (Integrating technology in the classroom) professor from Dominican University, Professor Zumpano (add her to your PLN she is full of valuable educational resources), provided me with an informative link that illustrates that many diverse educational chats that occur on twitter every week. Check out the list Here! From the list I have engaged in #mschat (middle school chat), #6thchat (6^th grade chat), #tichat (technology integration chat), #flippedpd (flipped professional development chat), and #tlap (teach like a pirate chat).

On all, except #mschat, of those educational chats I engaged in the chat and even directed my message to specific educators but never once did I received a response to my questions. Therefore, just remember that although these educational chats can be valuable there will be times when the chat room is digitally overcrowded and as a result you may not experience an engaging experience. However, persistence is the key because I eventually incited a conversation with a fellow educator within #6thchat (6^th grade chat).

#6thChat #MSChat Experience

Image Source: Screenshot from my #6thchat on 10/31/13

On October 31, 2013 I was actively posting questions on #mschat and #6thchat such as “#6thchat I have a ? for all 6th grade teachers, what do student tend to lack from their 5th grade education when they transition to 6thgrade”- @DannyBRamirez (This is a link to my Twitter handle, add me to your Twitter PLN)

Image Source: Screenshot from my #mschat on 10/31/13 

Eventually a sixth grade teacher, @BlakeJaclyn responded and we engaged in an educational conversation based on my overarching question. Our conversation helped me gain profoundly valuable insights on the matter at hand. I feel that she was very knowledgeable and since I was very interested in the specificity of our conversation I kept asking question and she kept responding. After our conversation ended I added her to my PLN on Twitter and she reciprocated by adding me to hers. Overall, Twitter educational chats are certainly a valuable resource for educators and education professionals. There is no telling the insights one can gain from engaging in meaningful conversations with fellow educators as seen with my case.

*Above is a screenshot of my #6thChat #MSChat that I mentioned.*

Resources Shared on Twitter

As I stated, although fellow educators may not always engage in educational chats with you every time you participate in one, you can still take advantage of the valuable resources many share within these chats. While I was attempting to incite an educational conversation on #mschat I happened to come across two valuable resources from the same educator @Larryferlazzo

Image Source

One of the resources was an innovative project that his school did with their entire student body. In celebration of Halloween the school gave pumpkins to the students for them to decorate based on the class text instruction fiction literature that the students were reading. Then the pumpkins were displayed and the parents were invited so students could share their pumpkin which also provided a platform for teachers, students, and the parents to converse regarding the literature. @Larryferlazzo said that they called this “Pumpkin Palooza”. This seems like a great resource to me because I can integrate this project every year around Halloween in my classroom in order to actively engage students in literacy, and provide a meaningful experience for them to connect with the literature. The link regarding this resource is: http://leadlearner2012.blogspot.com/2013/10/pumpkin-palooza.html  

             

Image Source

The second resource which @Larryferlazzo also shared via #mschat was “Google Scholar Alerts”. Essentially this is a tool for educators to get alerts regarding scholarly articles that they choose to get updated on. As @Larryferlazzo mentioned this is a great resource because many educators write scholarly articles, as well as maintain updated with their own specific content regarding contemporary findings/studies that help them with their pedagogy. This seems like a great resource because I am always interested in new studies that elaborate on learning styles or on educational psychology. Instead of always checking for new scholarly articles I can have Google scholar update me and save time. The link for further elaboration on this resource is: http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2013/10/31/google-scholar-alerts-could-be-very-helpful-for-research/#.UnMYoQARPRs.twitter

*For more educational resources check out my blog Internet Educational Resources which is a list of twenty-one annotated internet educational resources.*