After class on Friday, there is something new and elusive about Twitter. I had always saw Twitter as the ultimate sign of narcissim and pretensiousness, but after listening to Antonia I can't deny the networking possibilities it offers. I honestly believe that I can never tweet and use Twitter to better myself as a teacher. Yet, i still have reservations. How reliable is the information? How do I know who to follow? How much time do I spend on Twitter?
So where do I go from here? I think the effectiveness lies in the next two weeks. For the next two weeks, ED 504 will force me to adapt to the social networking nuances of twitter including tweeting. I have begun to follow Diane Ravitch and two secondary English educators. Although the tweets come too fast and the articles are numerous, I think once I learn to navigate the cyber resources Twitter will become a reservior of information that I can easily access and understand like wikipedia. However, at this point in time, I still do not see myself using Twitter in the classroom because of my limited Twitter knowledge and its Ahab-like ability to cause mania and Pequodic destruction.
I am similarly kind of overwhelmed by the possibilities Twitter offers as a tool for professional development. I mean, I'm no longer skeptical that it is an amazing tool if used in the right way, but I am doubtful of my ability to I guess just GET IT.
ReplyDeleteUnrelatedly: dude. Do you work a Moby Dick reference into every post? I'm staying tuned!
Fair enough. And isn't DR a virtual WHIRLWIND on Twitter? LOVE following her.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you! I can't stand the pointless rambling on Twitter, and while I definitely see the benefits to the professional side of it, I still can't figure out how to find the best resources and avoid the random crap. And while it sounds great for teachers, I still can't see using it with students in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteP.S. It's been a few years since I've read Moby Dick, but I absolutely loved it! Great references!
I have had similar questions about the use of Twitter. The few streams I have added get updated so often I can't keep up! How do I know I'm getting access to the best resources without spending a lot of time using Twitter? I know everyone says you don't have to read everything, but I'm one of those people that actually has to read everything (like someone with OCD who just NEEDS to go back and step on a crack in the sidewalk, I would need to go back and find that one Tweet I missed). I guess I'll have to decide at some point whether or not Twitter is a good use of my time!
ReplyDeleteIf Twitter is likened to Ahab that would mean that it's got the potential to be deep and philosophical. But then again it would be a tragic hero, so we need to find its tragic flaw: vanity, maybe? Excessive spontaneous utterances lacking in substance?
ReplyDeleteIf anything I think that I would use Twitter in my classroom and have students send tweets as either quick daily assignments or to keep me updated on whats going on in group work (to make sure that everyone is engaged). Personally, I hate logging in to Twitter and would use it for no other reason. In fact, since we made our accounts in class and employed the uses of HootSuite, I have not been back on :)
I partially understand what you mean about the "tweets coming too fast," but like Kristin said in class--you don't have to look at them as they appear. They will always be there. In my experience, if someone tweets every 10 seconds, I end up unfollowing them. It's like spam on my twitter feed.
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