Twitterverse for WHAP'pers

I recently discovered the great use of Twitter for personalized, focused professional development.  As someone who is usually curious of all things tech, I had signed on to Twitter for the first time in 2009 because I did NOT go to the AP Reading and had "extra" time on my hands.  It was just as Twitter was on the rise, and Time magazine had done a cover story.

June 15, 2009 Issue of Time Magazine: http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20090615,00.html

Coincidentally, my first tweet was on June 16, 2009 because I was suffering from some insomnia.   I was excited and brought the magazine to school to announce to my students -- "I'm on Twitter -- let's do something fun with it!"   One student audibly groaned, "Mrs. Lee, Twitter is for OLD people."  Well, that response deflated my enthusiasm, so after a few more tweets, and occasional ones over the next few years, and since I received no responses, I stopped.   There were a lot more things to take up my time, like my children and students, and other social media outlets like Facebook.

A few months ago, my Assistant Superintendent sent me an email saying that she saw that I had met the Boston Public School's Director of History & Social Studies.  What?  A picture of me floating in Twitterverse?  How did my Asst Super know?  Apparently, she's on Twitter, and connected to many great educators from the Boston area, and from those I started growing my own network.

Making new friends at #ncss14: Angela from Weston High! pic.twitter.com/hOzZO2wCjq
— Kerry Dunne (@dunneteach) November 22, 2014

Since then, I had discovered the excitement of being in the Educational Twitterverse -- the discovery of educational Twitter chats that are focused to my interests.  My favorites have been: #nt2t (new teachers to Twitter), #satchat (Saturday, general edu issues), #sschat (social studies chat), #tlap (teach like a pirate) and it's offshoot #sstlap (social studies teach like a pirate), #edchatma (ed chat for Massachusetts educators), slow chats with #asiaed, #africaed or #bookclubed, and my favorite which takes the place of coffee every morning, #BFC530 (Breakfast Club 5:30 am).  No, I don't do these weekly or I wouldn't have time for anything else, but in these social media circles I have found like-minded educators.  I started searching for other AP World teachers, and those who were on Twitter were primarily using it to tweet their classes.  Nothing wrong with that at all, but I wanted to share my enthusiasm for the other uses of Twitter that can connect teachers in a more global way. 

With this in mind, my WHAP friends, I bring you #whapchat that will be handled by @WhapchatTchr.   If you are interested at all, please visit some of the links below if you have never been involved in Twitterchats.  I still consider myself a newbie in this Twitterverse, but I'm learning new tidbits everyday, and feeling more and more comfortable with it.  I need to learn how to use Storify, for help in curating discussions once the new chat launches.

If you aren't interested at all, then you can stop here :)


1) Craig Kemp's quick guide to Twitter chats:  http://mrkempnz.com/2014/07/twitter-chats-the-ins-outs-and-my-top-8-chats.html

2) @Cybraryman has the best website on all things Twitter:
http://cybraryman.com/chats.html
He also curates a list of educational Twitter chats in a calendar that will organize by time zone within the continental US (it's not exhaustive, but couldn't find anything for APWH, thus the need for #whapchat):
https://sites.google.com/site/twittereducationchats/education-chat-calendar

3) Learning and Connecting through Twitterchats
http://teamingup4tech.blogspot.com/2014/09/learning-and-connecting-through.html?m=1

4) 10 Ways Teachers Can Make the Best of Twitter:
http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/12/10-ways-teachers-can-make-best-of.html


And anything you want to learn about Twitter -- Follow @TweechmeApp <-- this is where I learned almost everything I know about how to use Twitter for a personalized PLN experience.

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