How Twitter Chats Contributed to My Professional Development

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Hello my friends and welcome back to Shep's World where I discuss my thoughts and personal development as an educator.  Lately I have been reflecting on the role of professional development on me as a classroom teacher. Many times professional development that is provided by our schools is less than ideal due to poor planning, lack of teacher buy in, or a variety of other issues. Not that I blame the school/district for these issues due to the fact that a one size fits all pathway to professional development is an unreasonable expectation for something that REALLY needs to be a very personal journey of self discovery for the individual teacher; however, if the schools didn't try to provide the PD in the first place how many teachers would simply not attempt it at all? My guess is honestly depressing and what is most depressing about it is that prior to this year I would have been that teacher that avoided PD if given the opportunity.

So what changed? Honestly what changed for me is the way I look at professional development due to people like Amy Presley, Michael Matera, Quinn Rollins, Dave Burgess, and many many more who I have failed to mention. What these people have taught me is that professional development is an adventure of self discovery for the educator so that they can be the teacher that they want to be. In Dave Burgess's book Teach like a Pirate, he asks the question "if your kids didn't have to be in your room would you be teaching to an empty classroom?" This question really got me thinking and has made me want to change course nearly halfway through my career. Professional development should be a kind of engaging choose your own adventure for the educator. 

This year I had the fortune of going to METC18 and I got to witness a lot of great presentations and technology (little does my wife know that I am about to spend $500 on a 360 degree video camera and a green screen kit). This was an amazing opportunity for me to grow as an educator and witness the great things that other people are doing AND it is expensive. Going to these types of conferences are an excellent opportunity but there is a cost to go and not every teacher is going to have the luxury to attend every conference they would love to go to. So what is a poor teacher with a limited amount of money and time to do? For me this is where I really benefited from participating in Twitter chats. I wrote a blog a little while ago called Professional Development in 140 Characters or Less where I went into detail about how I began my PD journey using Twitter and today this blog is kind of like my followup. I said earlier that PD should really be a self exploration and intentional development as an educator and by participating in Twitter chats you can do just that and surround yourself with people who have a similar vision to what you have. By participating in a Twitter chat you aren't just participating in as Amy Presley said to me "neverending professional development" but you are also building your PLN (personal/professional learning network).

I have had the opportunity to participate in several chats and I have discovered that they are all different.  I participated in a chat in #moedchat that focused on how we were using technology in the classroom and various educational practices.  I participated in a chat on #sschat that focused on what it means to be civically engaged. I really enjoyed that chat especially due to the fact that it was about creating what Dave Burgess calls LCL's or life changing lessons. I also participated in a chat on #edtech4good that focused on how edtech companies can help teachers provide students with the resources to help students. As you can obviously see there is a huge variety just here and the amount of different Twitter chats available daily is really overwhelming but this is a fantastic opportunity. You can develop the vision of the type of teacher you want to be and then narrow your scope and become active in the groups that you are interested in. As you slowly become an active participant your PLN will start to grow. My favorite part about this experience has been the complete absence of negativity. To be blunt educators who tend to be very negative or complacent don't take the time to search out this amazing opportunity and therefore (for better or worse depending on your perspective) their influence is absent.

There were some challenges to getting involved on the Twitter chats and a little bit of a learning curve for example Twitter chats move very very quickly and you will need to have some things to keep up. I found that even using tools like Tweetdeck and Participate you still needed to be prepared and paying attention. In fact when I am participating in a Twitter chat I am using Tweetdeck and Participate simultaneously on my computer while also using my standard twitter feed on my phone in case I need to quickly access my photos. It is really an exercise in multitasking. The timeframe is a double edged sword. Most Twitter chats that I have participated in range between 30 minutes to an hour (dating myself here but it's kind of the Dominoes of PD). This means you don't have a whole lot of time and you may very well miss questions or what people are saying while you are rushing to put in your two cents worth. Fortunately you are able to scroll back through the feed and review at your own pace and on your own time. Another thing that is worth noting is that not all chats are the same. Although the timing is going to be very similar the content of the discussion is not. An excellent example of this is how in the #sschat we discussed very specific course related content relating to civic engagement. The chat had a serious tone without being too rigid and the educators were there to handle business. In #dojochat I participated in a chat centered around avoiding teacher burnout. The tone was MUCH more laidback and reminiscent of hanging out with some friends at a coffee shop. The tone of the conversation was much more personal and tongue in cheek than it was on the #sschat. so essentially different chats are going to provide different experiences.

Another thing I would recommend is observing a chat because they have their own etiquette. I believe that it is important that you understand and abide by the format of the Twitter chats, for example, the chats I participated all followed the Q/A format which expects your to write A1 if you are answering question #1 etc. After learning about the format I found that it became a lot easier to understand what was going on and I was better able to follow the flow of the discussion. I found it confusing actually when people failed to address which question they were responding to due to the fact that the chat all happens quite quickly. Perhaps even publishing the questions ahead of time may make it easier to encourage more conversation for each question. Twitter chats are also a great opportunity for modeling and practicing digital citizenship and am considering hosting a Twitter chat for my students to participate in as my comfort level with Twitter continues to improve. 

Participating in Twitter chats is an excellent opportunity for individualized professional development. In order to get the most out of the experience I believe you really must look at it as a choose your own adventure. I feel that it greatly contributes to developing a growth mindset and is an asset not only to you the educator but also to your students who ultimately will be the ones benefiting from your professional growth. However to get the most out of it really does require some effort on your part. With so many Twitter chats out there don't just dive in (I know it seems contrary to what I said in my other blog if you read it) but take a little bit of time to develop your vision of who you want to be as an educator and then seek out people and Twitter chats that will help you along your chosen pathway. There is a lot of stuff out there and it is tempting to want to taste it all like standing in line at your favorite all you can eat buffet. I would caution you to avoid that in order to avoid becoming quickly overwhelmed and deviating too quickly from your vision and try to remember that having a vision without a plan is just daydreaming. Once your have an idea you need to start moving towards it.

Resources to get your started:

How to Do a "Twitter Chat"

How to Join a Twitter Chat