I will be honest, I have barely looked at my Twitter account I made at the beginning of this class besides the night we participated in the SaskEdChat. During the SaskEdChat I definitely became more comfortable with the platform and learned my way around operating it, but I am still leary around going on it daily to look at my classmates’ tweets or posting my own. For my own mental health, I try to limit the amount of time I spend on social media because I can find it very triggering sometimes for my anxiety. The past week I have been dealing with some family issues so I kind of put this class on the back burner, including my blog and Twitter.
I understand the benefits of being active on Twitter as a teacher, including the professional networking opportunities and the sharing of resources with other teachers, I just need to commit to being more active. I enjoyed participating in the #SaskEdChat because it felt like a more “adult” version of a Mentimeter where everyone posted their responses to the questions simultaneously and could comment on or share others’ opinions.
I think Twitter could be used in the classroom in various ways, especially by modeling for students what good digital citizenship looks like. Social media is such a huge part of society nowadays and I think as part of our responsibility as teachers to prepare students for the real world, that should include teaching our students how to be responsible online and get the best out of their social media use.
Hi Raine, thank you for your post. I understand how you feel about Twitter as I felt similar in the fact that I was unfamiliar with the platform until the night of the #saskedchat. During the #saskedchat, I had the opportunity to explore Twitter and see the platform be used in a way for communication, resource sharing, and a professional development opportunity.
I think using Twitter is ways similar to #saskedchat for professional development through teaching would be a great way to continue to learn and grow in our teaching practices more often and directly learn about topics we are interested in rather than a couple times a year through our divisions.
I agree with your comment about using Twitter in ways similar to the #SaskEdChat because that sort of event is online so it can occur more often than a typical professional development opportunity!
Hey Raine,
I appreciate your thoughts on Twitter and social media. I completely understand the emotional toll social media puts on individuals to present the best version of themselves, especially in a professional capacity – you’re not alone. I like your comparison of the #SaskEdChat to a Mentimeter; what an accurate interpretation! I am curious whether you are more likely to use the Twitter Chat format or the Mentimeter in the classroom. As you mention promoting digital responsibility in your classroom.
Thanks for sharing!
Delaney
I think it depends on what age group I am teaching whether I’ll use a Twitter Chat format or Mentimeter. Of course, it would also depend on the consent of parents/guardians if they want their child to use a Twitter account, even if it is strictly for school.
Hi Raine,
I can relate to your thoughts on social media, it can be very detrimental to your mental health, it also triggers my anxiety as well.
Teaching students to use social media responsibly is a good idea, as no matter what we do social media is a big part of life and doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.