In my recent blog post (Is it the WHAT or the HOW that matters most?)  I introduced TPACK. The creators of TPACK feel that teachers need to plan lessons from the sweet spot where technological, pedagogical and content knowledge overlap.  In their work, Mishra & Koehler (2009, p. 16) encourage teachers to repurpose technologies to make them more useful for our content and pedagogical needs. Most technologies at our disposal in the classroom were not developed with education in mind.  One such technology is Twitter.

As a social media platform, it can be an excellent way for people, including students, to stay connected. One exciting way that I have interacted on Twitter was through a Twitter Chat.  I joined the #TeacherMyth chat which I found on the schedule of education-related Twitter chats. The experience went mostly like this…

Step 1: Choose a chat experience and join in by introducing yourself.

Step 2:  Pay attention to the instructions they give.

Step 3: Each question is posted individually with time in between for conversation to happen.

Step 4:  Take part in the conversation when you feel comfortable.  Start by answering the questions but then consider replying to other peoples answers too.

I enjoyed the twitter chat but was overly nervous about how my responses would be received.  It was exhilarating when my post got liked and even retweeted!

Ever since the twitter chat I’ve been considering how this platform can be repurposed for my use in the future.  This quote keeps popping into my head, “Teachers need to develop a willingness to play with technologies and an openness to building new experiences for students so that fun, cool tools can be educational” (Mishra & Koehler, 2009, p. 18). I’m consciously open to the ways I can repurpose this tool in my classroom.

References:

Mishra, P. & Koehler, M.J. (2009, May). Learning and Leading with Technology. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ839143.pdf