Educator Collaboration

Professional Development in education has been a hot topic since I entered the field of education over ten years ago. No matter how many different sessions I attended, it seemed as though something was lacking. 

During the last few months I have taken a hiatus from blogging and from attending professional development. Instead I have focused on growing my online collaborations with educators from around the United States and the world. And I have never felt so inspired as a teacher. 

Through the use of social media applications, such as Twitter, I have been able to follow educators discussing discipline in the classroom in a time-sensitive, real way. I have been fortunate enough to gain creative ideas for not only my classroom, but also other teachers in the building as well. While I wouldn't go as far as to say I've made new friends, I have definitely found educators that I look forward to reading their posts every day and even multiple times a day. 

If you haven't been accepting of the Twitter hype up until now, I would highly recommend you create an account today. The great thing about Twitter is that you can be the back row teacher who observes everything going on, or you can choose to be the front row activists who interjects during every other idea. Either way you will gain so much from the collaborative educational community which is taking to social media networks. 

For those who are interested in starting out but don't know what to do, may I suggest you set up an account and then start by simply "Discovering" #edchat. Through #edchat you will discover educators who inspire other educators, who are diverse in their ideas, and who are ready to learn from your experiences. 

I only wish I could get PD credit for all of the hours I spend on Twitter these days! 

@jessawarner