Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Journal #2 - Join the flock

Ferguson, H. (2011). Join the flock. Learning and Leading37(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-june-july-2011.aspx





This article discusses how to use twitter to develop professional learning communities. In the beginning it does take some dedication by you/me the user to develop a network. However, once you’ve begun you can join the conversation. Or for others listen to the conversation. Either way having a professional learning network is a great way to amp up you teaching methods and knowledge.


Question 1: Why is Twitter scary?

Well, it can be intimidating to many because it is a fairly new tool to educators. As the saying goes, Change is scary. In the beginning using Twitter was intimidating because I didn’t know how to use it. It seemed as though there was an influx of information and I had no idea how to filter it. In addition, when you tweet you are exposing your thoughts and teaching style up for criticism.



Question 2: Does twitter have to be scary, can it be useful instead?


No, Twitter does not have to be scary. Once you have begun to follow people all you have to do is log in and read everything that comes through. You don’t ever have to say word.  However, once you become more comfortable you can start your maximum 140 word comment; keeping you safe from rambling on.

I imagine that once you get into the groove of it Twitter will be very useful. So long as you make time to find and follow people and groups with the same interest. So make it a point to find those special groups such as #edchat, and #spedchat. Furthermore, Twitter is a great way of getting feedback on ideas and finding new ideas from a broad group of people. 

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