Sharing ideas on Education, Leadership and Life



Friday, September 3, 2010

What I have Learned from Twitter

Over the last few months I have had many people comment about how much I am on Twitter. I think it especially freaks out my two teenage daughters. I am not sure if they are surprised since I am Orthodox Rabbi or if it is because many people think Twitter is about Justin Beeber or Britney Spears, and what would I be doing on Twitter. So I thought that I would blog about what I have learned from being on Twitter for almost four months.

1. It has made me a better educator- The amount of resources and ideas shared back in fourth in just four months is overwhelming. So much so that there are times I don’t know how I can keep up with it.

2. It has inspired me to push myself into areas that I would have never dreamed of. The whole concept of this blog came out of my experience on Twitter. I would have never thought about blogging before.

I don’t know if this should be number 3 so I will call it 2a- Encouragement- Through my PLN and my Twitter BFF’s I have been encouraged to blog more and tweet more about my views on life and education. Being an Orthodox Rabbi living in Memphis TN I don’t have much exposure to other educators from across the world and when people who have been doing this for much longer than I have comment about what I have to say it is encouraging.

4. The ability to constantly be learning from experts in the field.

If you look at my list we see the following Twitter has provided an opportunity for me to enhance my skills of being a lifelong learner, it has provided a safe environment for me to share ideas, it had inspired and encouraged me to push myself and take risks, and I have built up a network of friends (collaboration).

In essence twitter mirrors many of the skills that we want to provide for our students. We all know that experiencing learning is the goal so the next time someone asks me why I am on Twitter so much I will tell them so that I can experience the learning that I want to provide to my students.
Akevy

3 comments:

  1. Do not question your ability as a blogger. You are doing a great job of experiencing and sharing what many other educators need to do. Thanks for moving in a forward direction with your learning.Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Thanks for this blog post and sharing your views I am currently researching and writing about twitter and how it can be used in a pln. I found your reflections very useful
    Isobel

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  3. What I really appreciate about the people I meet online is their diversity. Although we have different faiths (some have no faith at all) and different political leanings we still have an incredibly strong tie that binds, a love for children.

    I would say that not only has my conversations made me a better teacher, but also a better person. I have met many people with disparate beliefs that I now consider friends. My world view has changed and my attitude towards others have also changed. I wonder how the other Baptists in my church would feel if they knew I (a deacon) carry on conversations with Muslims, Jews, and the occasional Buddhist (not to mention those with no faith!) and yet I have learned from all of them.

    I suppose in light of all this I would argue you have an obligation to continue blogging. Who knows what attitudes might change because of it?

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