I originally created a Twitter account several years ago. I never used it for anything and forgot my username and password. This go round I'm hoping to explore twitter and find out how I might be able to incorporate it into my library life. For now I'm going to go for Option One, but maybe as I learn I'll delve into Option Two.
To start I went to #tlchat and watched Jennifer LaGarde's "Best Part of My Day" video. So I've already learned that Twitter can contain videos. I thought it was just short thoughts that people had and wanted to share. I was also able to read the incredible story of Dita Kraus: The librarian of Auschwitz. I had no idea that such information could be found on Twitter.
Next I took a look at #edchat. The first post that caught my eye was a quote from Angela Maiers, "If you don't first secure students' hearts, you don't have a shot at their brains." I love that this quote supports what I have always believed - having a connection, a bond, with your students, increases their likelihood of learning from you. As I continued to scroll through the posts on this page I was impressed by the number of inspirational things that people have to say. As I write this on a Sunday night, I am feeling motivated for the start of my work week.
Reading Polly's article on Twitter caused me to think more about what I could learn from others by following them. I really had no idea that Twitter could be utilized in this fashion. I'm a member of a Breakout EDU group, the Future Ready Librarians group, and School Librarian's Workshop on Facebook and get lots of great ideas on there, but hadn't considered Twitter as a resource for information and ideas.
As I read about live Twitter chats, I decided that they might not be something I'm ready to check out. Having all of the information coming at me at once doesn't sound like it would fit with my learning style. I could however see myself going back later to read the archived information at my leisure. I'll go back again to The Honest-to-Goodness Beginner's Guide to Twitter for Teachers to follow a couple of the live chat options, or at least look at the archived information.
I followed this with reading The Beginner's Guide to Hashtags. I was surprised to see that the hashtags on Facebook actually will take you to more posts on the subject. I thought people just added those for fun. Maybe because I have teenage children, but I don't feel comfortable with using hashtags. It seems they are for the "young" crowd. It might take an adjustment, and trying not to feel self-conscious before I'd be able to make use of them myself.
It was interesting to see that there's a way to get CTLE hours for webinars. I sign up for them quite often and will have to look more into whether or not the ones I have been doing qualify for the hours.
After looking through many of the resources I think I'll stick with Option 1 for now and follow others on Twitter without creating my own account. I started an Instagram account recently and haven't used that much at all so maybe I'm not quite ready to dive headlong into too many areas of social media. I will look back at this info later when I feel more ready to pursue it.
To start I went to #tlchat and watched Jennifer LaGarde's "Best Part of My Day" video. So I've already learned that Twitter can contain videos. I thought it was just short thoughts that people had and wanted to share. I was also able to read the incredible story of Dita Kraus: The librarian of Auschwitz. I had no idea that such information could be found on Twitter.
Next I took a look at #edchat. The first post that caught my eye was a quote from Angela Maiers, "If you don't first secure students' hearts, you don't have a shot at their brains." I love that this quote supports what I have always believed - having a connection, a bond, with your students, increases their likelihood of learning from you. As I continued to scroll through the posts on this page I was impressed by the number of inspirational things that people have to say. As I write this on a Sunday night, I am feeling motivated for the start of my work week.
Reading Polly's article on Twitter caused me to think more about what I could learn from others by following them. I really had no idea that Twitter could be utilized in this fashion. I'm a member of a Breakout EDU group, the Future Ready Librarians group, and School Librarian's Workshop on Facebook and get lots of great ideas on there, but hadn't considered Twitter as a resource for information and ideas.
As I read about live Twitter chats, I decided that they might not be something I'm ready to check out. Having all of the information coming at me at once doesn't sound like it would fit with my learning style. I could however see myself going back later to read the archived information at my leisure. I'll go back again to The Honest-to-Goodness Beginner's Guide to Twitter for Teachers to follow a couple of the live chat options, or at least look at the archived information.
I followed this with reading The Beginner's Guide to Hashtags. I was surprised to see that the hashtags on Facebook actually will take you to more posts on the subject. I thought people just added those for fun. Maybe because I have teenage children, but I don't feel comfortable with using hashtags. It seems they are for the "young" crowd. It might take an adjustment, and trying not to feel self-conscious before I'd be able to make use of them myself.
It was interesting to see that there's a way to get CTLE hours for webinars. I sign up for them quite often and will have to look more into whether or not the ones I have been doing qualify for the hours.
After looking through many of the resources I think I'll stick with Option 1 for now and follow others on Twitter without creating my own account. I started an Instagram account recently and haven't used that much at all so maybe I'm not quite ready to dive headlong into too many areas of social media. I will look back at this info later when I feel more ready to pursue it.
Wonderful post! Just the type of experience I was hoping people would have by dipping into twitter! Thanks for sharing your experience and the interesting things you found. And don't let your teens intimidate you about hashtags, they're not just for the young. And besidse, they don't have to know. :)
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