Major Twittage

I guess I have Jeff and Liz to thank for my new web fix. After growing increasingly tired of a stale and constantly changing (for the worse) facebook, I was hungry for a new social network. Although I haven't yet completely broken away from facebook (but I do feel the end is near), I see more utility and have more fun using Twitter.

I registered for a twitter account over a year ago when I read a newspaper article about it. I thought it could be fun, but honestly it was confusing. What did the @ mean? Why were there all sorts of variations of the word 'twitter' (tweet, twit, twitterati, ptwitty, etc.) that I didn't understand. Side note: I have now learned that 'ptwitty' is actually p. diddy's (formerly Puff Daddy, of course) twitter name for himself. I think that says quite a bit about his personality, if you ask me.

Needless to say, I was not impressed. I was unfulfilled by following a handful of celebrities and news corporations (although I do still follow a few: I must get my smut somewhere). However, over the past couple of weeks, my eyes have been open to a new use for twitter - professional development.

I admit, it did take some commitment. I had to make the step to go out and find educational twitters and sort through which ones would be useful to my teaching needs. However, once I had followed a handful of great educators, the world of twitter opened up before me. I sorted through who they were following, who they mentioned in their tweets (or twits... or as Rainn Wilson puts it 'twats') or who my lovely friend Mr. Tweet recommended for me.

Now, everyday when I log on, I have at least 10 wonderful ideas for lesson plans or ideas about technology to use in the classroom. In addition, I get anecdotes from actual classroom teachers or tech coordinators about what works and what doesn't or what they like and what they don't like. Also, I get interesting quotes or ideas for classroom posters.

In the interest of twitter, which is all about sharing, here are some of my favorite twitter-ers (or twits or twitters - I'm still not clear on this...)

kerrygallivan - always has links to great tech articles
educationweek - great ideas/articles
WWIItoday - a great 'this day in history' for World War II
futureofedu - classroom teacher using technology in classroom
DetentionSlip - wacky education news
russeltarr - lots of great ideas/quotes

And there there are of course, the somewhat less useful, but still fun people to follow:

lancearmstrong - a twitter staple
the_real_shaq - HIGHLY recommended
perezhilton - this is pretty much necessary for me
rainnwilson - of dwight schrutte fame
PTIshow - great ESPN twitterers

So, if you were frustrated by twitter the first time around, I encourage you to take another look and follow some educators. Doing so can turn a potentially 'indulgent' tool into something that actually has some value. And, personally, I think it's important that we don't fall into the trap of assuming that a technology is bad or useless simply because not everyone using it is using it to its potential. For instance, I think all of us would cite the internet as a useful technological tool, but lord knows there are a ton of people using the web for what many of us would consider 'non-productive' means. You can change the reputation of something by using it in positive way.

Alright, I'll shut up now.