Teachers Learn Twitter with Student Help

As part of our afternoon of professional development for our Ames Teacher Leaders on Tuesday, March 1st, we had a session on using Twitter as a professional learning tool.  By allowing educators to reach out to others around the world, share ideas, and ask questions, Twitter is a very powerful tool for continued professional growth.  Although we have a fair number of teachers already using Twitter for this purpose, we wanted to ensure that this became another tool in all teacher leader’s tool boxes. #AmesCSDchat - Teacher Leader Edition was born.

As we were planning the day, we knew that there were going to be a wide spectrum of skill sets, so we decided to bring in some extra help. High school students volunteered to help our teacher leaders Twitter newbies. Using students in professional development also allowed us to keep the afternoon student-centered while simultaneously reminding teachers to use all of their resources, including current students, for support when implementing new technology in the classroom.

In education, there are Twitter “chats” - or groups of people who log-on at a specific time to discuss a shared interest (see a list of chats here).  In Ames, we have our own monthly education chat using the hashtag #AmesCSDchat where we discuss topics that our own teachers picked. These chats are ways that we can carry conversations beyond the school and involve many other voices as well as to improve our own understanding and awareness of the various topics we face as educators.  

This Twitter chat served as both an introduction to the format and an opportunity for teacher leaders to synthesize their learning from previous sessions. The questions included an opportunity for teachers to share the positives from their classrooms (#eduwins), to discuss the PLC flowchart, and to share goals for continued learning around the gradual release of responsibility. By the end of the chat, both experienced and new Twitter users were engaging in great conversations that they continued outside of the session.

The next #AmesCSDchat will be held on Tuesday, March 22 at 8pm. Join us to discuss topics submitted by Ames elementary teachers. If you have an idea for a future session, please contact @donovanscience or email patrick.donovan@ames.k12.ia.us.

No matter the chat topic, Twitter is a great place that teacher leaders can go for continued professional growth. We can ask questions, get feedback, and discover resources.  We can share out great examples of student learning and allow parents or community members to understand what we are doing in our schools.  We can take the lead by telling our own story rather than letting the media tell it for us - with one #AmesCSD voice.