Dear Members,
We all love to attend great professional development when possible. Most of us have some type of PLC at our building. Many of us have peers that we bounce ideas off of and grow from these reflections.
But, some of us want more. In fact, if you are like me, you want inspiration on a weekly basis.
After a couple of years of trying Twitter Chats on, I have found that these are wonderful, quick bites of professional inspiration and growth. I attend as many as 4-5 each week, but attending one a week will surely get you started on a very unique journey if you give it a chance.
Did I mention that you can do the Twitter Chats in your PJs with your favorite drink or snack?
How does it work?
Twitter Chats are usually an hour long. There are chats to join almost every day of the week. Most are during “Prime Time” which is 7:00 your time.
There are many chats out there for various reasons and following many topics. For example, NCTE has a chat, which meets once a month. Our chat, called #SRLedChat meets the first Sunday of each month at 7 pm CDT.
To begin, you must first create a Twitter account. Simply go to Twitter.com and sign up! You will then be able to follow wonderful people in the education world. For example- here is a short list of great people to follow and their “handles.”
@SecondaryRead
@KellyGToGo- Kelly Gallagher
@NCTE
@PennyKittle
@IllinoisReads
@CTovani
@IlReadCouncil
@KyleneBeers
@ILAtoday
@BobProbst
Next, find a chat that you like. To do so, you will go to their title that begins with a #. It will take a little playing around, but once you find one or two that you like, they will surely advertise other chats for you to attend.
To start, I recommend that you look at the following chats. Simply go to the top search bar in Twitter and type the following in. You will see Tweets from the latest chat and you should be able to tell when the next chat might be.
#SRLedChat
#NCTEchat
#Masterychat
#Tlap
#Waledchat
#Betheone
#122edchat
#NYEDchat
#TeachWrite
I strongly suggest that when attending your first chat, you sit back and watch how it works. It can be fast and sometimes overwhelming, but it is well worth learning.
Once you are ready to jump in, you will notice that Twitter Chats have a format. It all begins will an introduction of the chat and will ask participants to say a little bit about themselves. After everyone says hi, the questions will begin. Most ask a question by beginning with the letter Q and a number. Below is an example:
Q1 What novel do you find gets the most interest in Middle School ELA classes? #SRLedChat
Then you will see participants answering the question in the following manner:
A1 I have found that Middle School students are very engaged in social justice books like The Hate You Give.
#SRLedChat
Notice that every time that you enter a Tweet, you will include the title of the chat with your tweet! This way, all that are attending the chat sees it and the chats are organized.
Like anything in life, if you try it, it will make more sense. Jumping in and getting the experience will not only make joining these chats easier, they will become fun and rewarding. A bonus to joining the chats is certainly the wonderful people that you meet. Your professional learning network will grow and you will talk to educators all around the world!
I hope you try this out! When you do, follow me at @LevineWrites and I will help you whenever I can.
Mark Levine
Secondary Reading League President
