Twitter: The Game Changer
It really bothered me that people said Twitter was life-changing. I had been on Twitter for over a year and it wasn't life-changing for me. Still, I kept hearing how amazing Twitter was and how important it is as an educator to be on Twitter so I slowly kept at it and THEN it happened.
The thing about Twitter is that I often come across someone's post and don't really understand it. When that happens, I make a mental note about the post, but then move on. Inevitably, this new information will come up again on Twitter, in a podcast, in conversation, or in a book and then I start to really take notice. My curiosity gets the best of me. For me, it started with #booksnaps. (created by Tara M. Martin) I saw a few examples, listened to a few tutorials and then I just decided one day to make one and take the risk and put it out there on Twitter.
Soon after creating #booksnaps, I started to read Renegade Leadership by Brad Gustafson. When I started this book, I already knew I would use #booksnaps and share my learning. This time I reached out to the author and what happened next was fascinating. I was able to interact with the author, meet new people, and learn so much more. Even MY thinking had influenced the author's thinking. How cool is that!
So, I'm there. Twitter is life changing. It's a game changer. Why? For me it's about learning. Learning is fun but it reaches new heights when you share and collaborate with others.
Here's what I did and what I plan to do for my next summer reads:
1. Take a picture of an except in a book that reached out to you.
2. Open the picture in Snapchat. Yes, Snapchat.
3. From there add the title and author.
4. You can type the quote as well next to the title and author or circle the quote using the drawing tools.
5. Add stickers or bitmojis. This part is really fun!
6. When ready, hit the save button. It will save to your camera roll.
7. Open Twitter, add a little more thinking in a tweet, add the hashtag #booksnaps and the author's Twitter handle and/or # for the book (i.e. #launchbook, #renlead) and attach the #booksnap you just made using the camera icon.
8. Hit the "tweet" button and send your thinking out to the world to see what happens. Sometimes nothing happens. Sometimes that tweet results in a new friend, new learning or constructive feedback. Who knows? Take the risk and see what happens.
After I finished the awesome book, Renegade Leadership by Brad Gustafson, I created a padlet of all my #booksnaps as a summary.
This global collaboration is missing in my classroom. Room 253 needs to reach out to others and launch our creations for the world to see. It's kind of exciting to see what's in store for us this fall. Stay tuned...
