Over the summer I found out I was admitted to the EdTech Cohort here at Brock University's Education Department, and we were given two tasks for the summer: create a Twitter and a Blog account. Throughout the summer I saw this as a bit of an annoyance truthfully because I had never looked at Twitter before, or followed Blog's. I was aware of them, but admittedly did not really understand what all the fuss was about. I have always been keen to follow technology and its advances, however I saw Blogs as an outlet for someone to go on a random tangent, and Twitter as an extension of Facebook status updates of "I drank tea today and walked the dog".
Now rather annoyingly I am eating my own words over these misconceptions. I now have Tweet Deck installed which is a constant fixture on my laptop, and am amazed how excited I am whenever I hear that little sound effect go off indicating a new tweet! But what I am even more amazed at is how much incredible information, literature, resources, and fantastic ideas I am now privy to. There is no way I would have found on my own some of these great sites, articles, blogs, and other fellow educators tweeting and blogging. Now I understand the true value Twitter and Blogs hold, and that is an accessible network of educators sharing and collaborating their amazing depth of knowledge and experience with one another. I think it's fantastic! In only a week I am now following - and being followed by!!; other educators I have never met, in other parts of the country and continent. (Just yesterday another educator referenced a Tweet of mine about the new LeapPad in his blog!) As a teacher in training I find it so inspiring to see such a wonderful network of teachers, all of whom are so readily available and willing to share and collaborate their great ideas. This selflessness is so refreshing after so many years of having it drilled into us on individual performance and merit.
I am reminded of when I use to teach and coach snowboarding. Those first few lessons, and years for that matter - were difficult and nerve wracking! This was attributable to having little experience, knowledge and application, understanding of games, as well as learning styles. However, as the years went on (I taught for 7 seasons) I gained so much experience - which you do not credit yourself with or realize until other instructors start looking to you for tips, tricks, and ideas. Without being fully aware of it, over those years I had been learning from my mistakes, watching other instructors and their techniques carefully so as to apply in my own lessons, spent time on sessions learning from more experienced coaches, and through sheer volume of hours spent teaching and watching so many unique individuals learn, try, fail, and succeed; was I able to compile my own bank of experience and knowledge that I was looked upon to lead sessions to help other instructors and coaches. What this speaks to me is the message and buzzwords I have been hearing for the past week - if teachers are to succeed then we must collaborate - is 100% true!
My point is that if we are able to do and achieve greater things, goals, and ultimately greater success in the classroom for students through collaboration - then whatever tools we can use to make that a reality we must fully embrace and exploit. And in today's world - those tools include Twitter and Blogging! I am now thankful that I did not miss out any longer on being privy to such a valuable network of people and knowledge, and am curious and excited about what the next bit of new and inspiring information I read about will be.
I've been similarly amazed at how quickly twitter has gone from something immediately warranting a condescending eye-roll to an endless source of knowledge and collaboration. But what interests me is that this change was entirely in us; Twitter has had this function all along, we've only just been shown it. Now we get to go out and show everyone else!
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