How has the SDAWP Twitter Fellow project changed the way you view and use Twitter?

I have to admit, my initial thoughts about Twitter were that people who tweeted had too much time on their hands, and those that followed them had even less. I mean, who really cared if you were heading to the kitchen, or what restaurant you went to? But I went to a retreat in Texas with the NWP that changed all that. Almost everyone in the room had a twitter account, and I discovered a whole new world of professional development. There are discussion threads within a conference that I wasn't even aware of and soon I discovered that within a short time you could post your thoughts, send links to information and tweet out a question and within seconds sometimes get a useful response.

After the conference my presence on Twitter became much less, but I would check in every once in awhile. Then when I began my blog last summer, I realized that I could tweet about my post and get even more exposure and feedback on the discussions. People may not respond to a blog with a comment, but they will tweet about it, our pass it on to others. So at least once or twice a week, I would check in and see what was going on. 

I learned about Digital Learnind Day through my twitter feed for example, and that had a huge impact on my classroom. We actively participated in the project, and on the day of the event, a representative from Congressman Hunter's office was in our classroom discussing the impact of digital writing in their office and I was on our twitter feed posting her comments and later she responded back with the a tweet from his office. So now I was hooked.

My next challenge was being asked if I wanted to the the Fellow of the Week. It forced me to think about additional ways we could use Twitter in the classroom. We discussed what to share from our classroom work, and I learned how to send pictures and we sent a lot of images of work out into the world. We were creating a dialogue project about the Hunger Games by having one character tweet another as an example of what they may have done during the Games if they had access to that type of communication. It just makes you get creative with your classroom work.

I am not sure where it will lead next. As we have only 9 weeks left in the school year, we usually end the year with some sort of memoir project, and I think it would be cool to have students summarize some great classroom moments in a tweet. We shall see what happens next!

Janet

I have been tweeting for 4 years now, it has been interesting to follow the evolution of it.  In the beginning there was a lot of "sitting on the couch" type tweets, it wasn't being used seriously by educators at the time but there was a small strong community that communicated through 140 characters.  At the time, I followed a few, and tweeted sparingly.
Our follow a fellow project has been a blast! Each week our new fellow of the week brings a new pespective, new ideas, and new sources. I have found new resources, and "discovered" new people.  Most importantly, I have contact with a wonderful and passionate group of SDAWP people on a daily basis.
Twitter is still a tough sell especially with people who are so tied to Facebook, they just "don't get it".  I sing the praises of it to whoever I can corner.  You have no idea of the variety of information "out there", information that you can filter through people you trust.  "We" are launching a SDCOE_Math on Monday and I will be launching Writing_Mathematics soon.  I'm not sure I would have had the confidence to do either one (I certainly would not have "fought" SDCOE_Math) without the experience with follow a fellow. 

Unlike most, I've always loved Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Heck, I sometimes even miss MySpace. Okay. Not really. But Twitter just might be the best and laziest way to say connected. I mean you only have to read a maximum of 140 character! I'M IN!! Truthfully, I'm just excited that I get away with spending more time on social media because I am "working", reading, and connecting for the sake of my classroom.  Twitter keeps me up to date on current articles and the happenings in SDAWP fellows' classrooms.  I've been exposed to resources, apps, and programs to help my students succeed.  Not to mention, I DO enjoy the occasional professional athlete tweet.  A teachers gotta have something to help destress at the end of the day! So, I challenge anyone (not just teachers) to sign up and start tweeting. You just never know what you'll learn in 140 characters. #sdgva #teachers