Okay, So Twitter Away!

Back in October, I talked about starting up on Twitter. I was really excited to see what this new tech phenomenon was all about. Once on my page though, I kinda of didn't see the whole point. Who would want to read about what I was doing at any given point during the day? I tweeted a few times, but other than that not much; that is until FETC.

What made the difference? Talking with other educators and finding out how they use it. Because I had only subscribed to a few people and them to me, I don't think I was getting the full effect. Friday night at dinner with some other edubloggers (at the edubloggercon meet up at Front Row Friday's), the very first question I was asked was, "What is your Twitter user name?" Technication was how I was introduced. Then we got around to real first names. I was completely taken aback. Was I missing something?

Yes, was the answer, of course. All day Friday, subscribers were posting info about sessions, who was in what session, how their session was going, hoping out of one room to another if they heard another session was better. Now, I don't like skipping out on someone's session, but sometimes you end up in a session that is completely different than the session description, or you hear stuff you already know about. I was excited to see how others were using Twitter during the conference.

Then I received a bunch of recommendations for who I should follow. I went from 3 to I think about 19 and I have a bunch more following me now. And I have a great way to stay in contact with the awesome educators I met. I see how everyone is using it and just the other night, got great ideas from those posting. I found out the YouTube now has a channel with the White House and already four videos have been posted. I also found a great website about the Holocaust that will help out the 8th graders who just finished up "The Diary of Anne Frank". I also found Cool Web Tools for Schools, Using Flip Video in the Classroom, and 28 Interesting Ways to Use a Pocket Video Camera. Most of these came from Angela Maiers, who is constantly posting online resources, I don't know how she has the time to do it! Plus keep her blog up to date! She, along with Steve Dembo (Teach42) and Coolcatteacher, have great ideas to share.

I can strongly say my opinion of Twitter has changed and I will be trying to keep up as much as possible! Here are a few other blog posts you can check out, as well: Twitter and FETC 2009 - a new experience, and Chris Brogan about Twitter from Coolcatteacher
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