After boldly joining the social networking site which is familiar to many of my students but somehow foreign to me, I began to discover the use of hashtags and how to follow a Twitterchat. I will admit, this was no easy task at first but I slowly became comfortable with the 100 messages a minute scrolling by my eyes. It is a bit overwhelming and once I finally found a place to jump in, I felt that my topic was already antiquated in the tweeting world. So I stuck to the broader question of incorporating technology into the ESL classroom. To my surprise, I got a number of responses and one user who was very active in the chat forwarded me to a bunch of other users who would be able to help me best. I was given multiple usernames and linked to their many different sites across the web. I felt welcomed into the chat and the world of educational technology. I even got a private message from another teacher who was interested in the same topic and shared his findings thus far.
Clearly, Twitter is incredibly beneficial for professional development because it provides access to resources and users relating to any subject matter needed. Rather than weeding through a Google search of poorly designed websites and irrelevant forums, my fellow Twitter users performed an informed search on exactly what I asked them for. For example, one website which I found helpful included a visual dictionary for ESL students, just one resource that I don't think I would have found as easily or as quickly on my own. I will certainly continue to use Twitter, even if only once in awhile to answer pertinent questions that I stumble upon throughout teaching. I know I can rest assured that no matter my challenge, my followers will be there to offer advice and make suggestions to collectively advance as fellow professionals.
Glad you enjoyed your chat and found helpful people. As you mentioned it is a good networking tool to use from time to time to get a quick answer from other teachers.
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