Blog #6 - Twitter Chat

          As a future English teacher, connecting with practicing English teachers is a valuable asset to continue my professional development. For my development, I signed up for Twitter and have since contributed to two different chats based on education and English in the public systems. The particular Twitter chat I will focus on in this blog post is #engchat. The topic of this week’s chat was "students as connected learners."

     While participating in #engchat, there were three main conversations which dominated this weeks’ chat. The first thing I noticed as a prevalent topic was how much teachers affect students. The second "hot topic" to make an appearance is the amount of outside sources which affect the students. Finally, the last conversation to come onto the scene was what media mediums are available for students.

     While participating in #engchat, there were three things that I learned that today’s teachers are using in their classroom. Quite a bit of the teachers utilized blogging in a variety of ways. Some teachers were tweeting different ways student blogging is a great educational tool. Blogging in place of journals was just one way that teachers utilize blogging. Some of the teachers use other Google based products, such as hangouts, docs, etc, for many different classroom functions. I did not talk with them to figure out how they use the hangouts and docs, along with the other Google products, in their classroom, yet I am curious to find ways to implement Google into my classroom. The teachers also attempt to incorporate technology in profitable ways. They did this through the Google based products and the blogs in their classrooms.

     As I was reading the Tweets in #engchat, some of the teachers were Tweeting different websites, articles, and blogs which they thought would contribute and further the conversation for the rest of the hour. The first one I found to be interesting was Creativity Crisis. Work roles in the classroom was the second link I found to be an inspiration to my classroom. Finally, Connecting Creativity is the last link from the chat that stuck out to me during this week’s chat.
     In moderation, like everything in this world, Twitter chats do have value for educators. The reason I say moderation is that there is a line as to just the right amount of exposure in Twitter chats and going overboard in over exposure. I am enjoying using Twitter so far, I hope I am able to continue to enjoy my exploration of what it takes to teach by communicating with other teachers who are living and teaching in the public systems today.