"We are the generation of Social Media, Our biggest Revolution is a Tweet of 141 Characters.” — @sandrachami
Prior to taking my internet for educators course, I didn't have a twitter account. Many people my age are all about social media and many people assume that I would have every single social media platform. I had Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Tik Tok, and YouTube accounts prior to taking this course.
When I first got the twitter account, I honestly didn't know how it worked. One of my first thoughts about this platform was that it wasn't overly user friendly. I've used other social media platforms for years and I found them easy to use since I spent far too much time than I'd like to admit on them. Maybe that caused a bias in me ;). Anyways, over time, Twitter became a little easier to navigate. I did use YouTube videos and Google to help me out a little bit. The biggest thing I needed to remember to do was to use the @ symbol when looking for users. When I started, I didn't add it so when I searched for someone, no search result showed up. Secondly, I assumed that comments worked like they did on Facebook so I tried clicking the comment button but they didn't come up. After a quick google search, I realized that you had to click the timestamp in order to view them.
Twitter uses hashtags which I am familiar with from Instagram. The homepage is similar to Facebook which is what I am more familiar with. I started following educators that were suggested by Dr. Nantais and my colleagues in my #I4Ed course so that I could see how educators use it. As I started to play around with the platform, I realized that it was easier to use than I first thought!
From a professional standpoint, this platform is a great place to follow other educators and find out what they are doing in their classroom. Some users share what they sell on teachers pay teachers which could be beneficial to use in my own classroom. Additionally, teachers will share things they advocate for. For example, Kirsten Thompson, the coordinator of ICT for Mountainview School Division advocates for digital equity here in Manitoba. I have learned how a few different teachers run their classroom which have given me a few ideas. At this point, I have only had twitter for a month and a half so I'm not sure if I am going to keep my twitter account long-term. I would like to keep exploring it before making an official decision about whether or not my account will be my professional teacher account. I am still learning about the intricacies of the platform. In my upcoming placement, I would like to consult with teachers in the field about the use of social in their classrooms to see what other teachers are comfortable with/use.
At this point in my life, I have not created my own professional teacher pages on mainstream media. I do need to start thinking about this more often as I hope to have my own classroom this upcoming fall. On my own personal pages, I follow a few educators which has immersed me in the possibilities that social media can bring. Prior to taking this course, I had considered getting an Instagram account. I've had a few conversations with friends who have children in our school system and that is what the teacher's have tended to use in their child's classroom. I would most likely make a private account where I could post pictures of class activities but also share pictures of students doing classroom activities or a piece of their work through the message center. This will help me students families know how their child is doing in school and celebrate their accomplishments.
Although the future of my twitter account is in limbo so to speak, it was worth the time and effort invested into learning about how it works. It allowed me to understand my comfort level with Twitter and figure out if it is a practical social media platform for my future. Feel free to share about your experiences with social media platforms at a professional level in the comments below.
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