Twitter Chat Adventures!

I'm just a sucker for doing all the homework this week apparently. If I weren't such a procrastinator, I wouldn't have two blogs in one day. So this one is about my experience doing Twitter chats today. I chose two chats back to back (not recommended it was a lot). I used Participate Chats to make sure I could control the flow of the chat a little better. Sometimes it appeared to freeze up, so I'm not sure if that is typical or it was just my laptop.
The first chat I participated in was #TedEdchat. I really liked this chat. They post a TedTalk that the conversation is based on. This TedTalk was called "The Sweaty Teacher's Lament."  His message was all about how he was known as the "sweaty" teacher but only because he was busting his butt working so hard. Our conversation focused on student's perceptions of us as teachers and how we act to encourage students to feel safe and help them to learn best. The moderator on this chat was very "with it." Almost immediately after I answered the question, she replied with questions to help the conversation continue. Overall, the mood in this chat was very light, and it was a really good chat for inspiring us to begin the new school year. I was able to get some feedback from other teachers on interesting ways to use humor in my classroom. I also thought it was cool that the moderator requested help from other prominent twitter users to find resources. One idea I thought was cool was from a  tweeter who mentioned using Biology comic strips called "The Cell Biology Comic Strip" to teach concepts during a warm up. The moderator also recommended some other educators to follow, I will be following her as well because she was so helpful. Thanks @mrsJennaRodgers!
The second chat I participated in was #EdChat. This chat had a lot of participants. During the first chat, the moderator asked a question and you replied directly to the question using A1 or A2, etc, to indicate your answer to question 1 or question 2. For the EdChat, the moderator asked a question and it was kind of a free for all. It was a lot of answers all at once. The moderator did not engage as much with participants (of course that could have been because there were so many). The topic for this chat was how educators were going to change to better serve their students in the upcoming school year. Even though there were a lot of answers all at once, a lot of good ideas were shared as well as different resources. One teacher recommended using SeeSaw for interacting with parents instead of Remind. I will have to check it out because it sounded like it was a little more interactive than Remind. It looks as though it is more for displaying student work than giving reminders to parents.
This chat was a little more difficult to follow, even after the second and third questions had been posted, people were still answering question one and continuing those discussions. It was interesting, but I think I will get more out of Twitter Chats in the future by joining those with fewer participants. It was also frustrating during this chat because there were lots of users just posting random resources. I think they saw that it was a way to gain exposure for their product, so they took advantage. Some of the posts looked interesting but they had absolutely nothing to do with the discussion so it was a little distracting.

I am now following #ConnectedTL, #TOSAChat, and #weirdED they were recommended during the TedEd chat. They are all about ways to stay connected and create innovative learning experiences for students so I am excited to find out more.

My Personal Learning Network (Illustrated Edition)

Throughout the course with Dr. Diana Dell, we have been exploring what it means to have a Personal Learning Network (PLN), and how to create one. The course is coming to a close, so now I am able to look back on what I have created, and how it has and will help me in the upcoming school year. 

Below is an Infographic that shows what social media tools I have used to create my own PLN. When I started, my goals were to 1) find tools that were convenient for me to access and 2) find tools that gave me resources that would enhance Biology content and teach me how to better use technology in the classroom. I found that most of the tools or connections I chose were most easily accessible through my Iphone. Twitter, Pinterest, and Feedly all have apps that are easy to navigate on my phone. Blogger is not as easy, I didn't find an app for that, but you can access it through safari and it is just as straightforward to use as accessing it through a laptop. 

My second goal was to find tools that gave me resources and information that would enhance my knowledge of Biology and how to use tech in the classroom. 

My infographic below shows how each tool or "connection" allowed me to do that. Twitter is an unbelievable resource. At any time of the day, I am able to find resources for my students, new breakthroughs in the field of science, and constant encouragement from other educators (this has been particularly fun right now since the new school year is starting). What I like most about Twitter is that it is real-time content that I can use to peak my students' interests. What does Biology have to do with the Olympics? I am guaranteed to find an answer on Twitter and be able to incorporate it into my lessons. 

Pinterest allows me to find lesson plans, powerful images to enhance my lectures, and educator humor (which promptly becomes classroom decoration). I think Pinterest has been the best connection for finding lesson plans and collections of information for each particular unit. 

Feedly allows me to follow other educators for inspiration for my classroom and for improving my teaching methods. Additionally, I have followed many Biology-specific feeds that have allowed me to have access to cool ideas in the realm of science that I can bring back to my students. This also includes silly ideas and research as you can see below. 

Finally, Blogger has allowed me to publish my own ideas and resources so that I am adding value within my network. It is also convenient for following my classmates and observing all the ways in which we can use social media to benefit ourselves and our students. 

I've really enjoyed building my PLN. I find that Twitter and Pinterest are probably the connections that I will keep up with the most. They are easy to use and I like the fast pace of the information that is added on both sites. Feedly has some interesting blogs that I will continue to peruse, but I find that those are not updated very often. Blogging has been an interesting adventure, but I am not sure that it is something I will continue to do. I think a classroom blog could be fun, but I am not sure if I will have the time this year to keep up with it. I am going to introduce my students to the idea of a PLN because it can be just as powerful for them as it has been for me. I think it's very exciting how everyday I am able to find relevant information for my students from the field of Biology. I think it is important for our students to see that educators are excited to never stop learning. 

The infographic above below was created using Piktochart. I think this tool can be very valuable for use in the classroom, so I have included the tutorial below if you want to check it out!