As I mentioned in my second blog post, one of the best takeaways from the BLC conference was the group of amazing teachers that I connected with. My most meaningful connection was entirely online with a primary tech integrator named Traci Piltz. It went a little something like this…
We direct messaged a bit that night and she connected me with a HUGE amount of other Grade 2 teachers and tech integrators.. but the best thing she did for me was tell me that in August, Michelle Kosieniak would be starting up #2ndchat (a twitter chat for Grade 2 teachers).
I joined in to the twitter chat and felt instantly inspired! Ideas were being shared, connections were being made, I was growing my PLN, and I was taking part in some professional development. DING. That’s when my twitter inbox lit up with a notification. Michelle messaged me asking to guest-host the following week’s twitter chat. I felt honoured, excited, nervous, worried, eager, and special… all in the same millisecond!
I spent the week going back and forth with Michelle (my wonderful twitter chat mentor and regular #2ndchat host), asking questions about how often I should be posting about/tagging people/”advertising” the chat during the week, how to make the slides with the questions, the timing of the chat itself, if I should share the questions ahead of time… the list went on and on (special shout out to Michelle for coaching me and always answering my DMs). She was extremely helpful and shared a tool with me for creating the question slides.
I created my question slides using the Buncee app on my phone (and of course added in my Bitmoji).
I was all prepared and ready to go. Then it started. I had serious butterflies/nerves that no one would join in and that it would be an ultimate twitter chat fail…. BUT THEN, the introductions were happening and the conversation was flowing. I almost forgot to post question 2 because we had so many amazing responses continuing to pop up from Q1! The chat went on for it’s regular 30 minutes… but then after I formally “signed off” for the night, our #2ndchat Tweeps kept the conversation going for almost another 30 minutes!
I felt like I was floating on cloud 9! Before the chat, I told myself I would go to sleep when it was done, but here I am (an hour later) looking at resources that were shared and writing this blog post to document the amazing-ness that I am currently feeling.
With all of this excitement, I want to clearly make note of the big takeaways from this post…
- Connect with other teachers! Near, far, in person, online! Look what it did for me!!
- BE BRAVE! Join in on a twitter chat or even host a twitter chat. I know we are looking for another guest host for #2ndchat!
- Buncee is a neat tool for creating visuals… I will continue to play with this app
- Tonight was amazing. If you missed it, check out this Wakelet to see what we chatted about & shared.
Hope you decide to join in on #2ndchat on Wednesdays at 9pm (EST). Even if I am not guest hosting, I will definitely be participating! We learn better together.
Lianna,
Being a part of your Twitter chat and reading your reflection of your experience, two things stand out to me. 1. You continue to grow by trying new things outside of your comfort zone. This broadens your learning and experience that makes you a caring and meaningful educator. 2. You have become very reflective, and your ability to unmask your vulnerability is natural and without frills. Your dedication to your teaching and ongoing learning is highly evident. I would love to know where this will take you next? Possible ways to incorporate this experience for you to your lil’ ones in the classroom? Maybe through their blogfolios eventually? Chelsea
Hi Chelsea,
Thank you for the comment. Since this post, I have taken my next step with Twitter in the classroom by working with my students to create a Twitter account for each class. I reflected on this process a little in my my most recent post (https://liannakrantzberg.edublogs.org/2019/10/08/gra-class-twitter-reflections-oh-my/).
My experience being part of #2ndchat and guest hosting made me feel confident in diving right into a slow chat on Twitter with my students (#mtgr2 – a slow chat where Grade 2 students share their thinking in Math… you should check it out!) the same day we created our classroom account. My next steps are to join in on the weekly Global Read Aloud Twitter chats with my students and to participate in some workshops about online safety and digital citizenship with Brigitte (our fantastic Librarian at OJCS). I do believe that introducing my students to Twitter and allowing them to become globally connected learners is a stepping stone to creating their own personal online presence with individual student bogfolios (..eventually..stay tuned!).
-Lianna