Twitter has been an interesting
experience for me. At first, I was very reluctant to get stated with Twitter. I
am not much into social media, and the thought of making comments on material
in a public arena made me a bit uncomfortable. It was not until I entered my
first Twitter Chat that I began to feel a little more comfortable and realize
that the chats were really just people like me out there trying to find common
ground and encourage each other. The first chat I entered was the BC ED chat.
There were a series of standard questions like: “What is your definition of
wellness?” “How have your first two weeks of school been?” and “What are some
strategies that work best for you when starting a new week?” I really
appreciated the other people’s answer to the question: “What are some
strategies that work best for you when starting a new week?” There were many varied
answers like humor, prayer, alone time, small acts of kindness and planning to
prepare for the week ahead. Although many of these ideas may seem basis and
ordinary, it really helped me to hear them again and add them into the start of
my week. Adding my observation hours into an already busy week of classes, I needed
some good advice on how to start out my weeks. I had participated in this chat
on a Sunday night, so the timing was perfect as I was just starting out a new
week. I looked forward to putting some of these ideas like prayer and small
acts of kindness into action in that week. I really felt starting off the new
week with these strategies helped encourage feel more organized that week. There
was also comfort knowing that others struggle as a new week begins too.
AIso, I was slow in the beginning
following different educational experts and history gurus until I got the hang
of how Twitter really worked. However, one history page that I begin following
was FCO Historian which is the Foreign and Commonwealth Historian. In addition
to posting places that you can visit that centers around history like museum,
or historic homes, this twitter page also posts random history facts. One fact
that caught my attention was the statement that not all people believed that WWII
was unavoidable. The statement intrigued me, so I clicked on it. When you click
on the fact, it takes you to an article that will give you more information on
that statement. The article elaborated on the statement that many people felt
that WWII could have been avoided. I retweeted this statement so that others
would see it too and then go to the article to learn about the people who felt
that WWII could have been avoided.
One educational expert that I am
following is Alfie Kohn. In several of my education classes we have read
articles and watched his videos. As I have read his articles, I have agreed
with most of Kohn’s observations on education, so I was excited to find and
begin following him. One recent tweet of Kohn’s that I “liked” was where he
talked about how students mindlessly follow directions because they are
conditioned to do so. He said students will automatically ask what they should
do next, rather than think about the situation, and just do what make senses to
do next. In my current observation, in a middle school social studies class, I
have seen this same situation occur. The students will finish the assignment
the teacher has asked them to do and then they ask, “what should we do when we finish
the assignment?” Instead of taking a breather and sitting quietly at their
desk, or pulling out a book and reading, the students feel like they need to have
a direction from the teacher. After reading this tweet by Kohn and seeing this
similar situation happen the last few days in my observation classroom, I realized
how students do feel like their time always has to be organized for them and how
this thought deters them from thinking on their own and acting without
direction on what to do next.
I look forward to continuing my
journey through Twitter and all the new things I will learn and can pass on to
others.
