Standards

1. Ability to identify and evaluate technology resources and technical assistance (i.e., those available on-line and on-site within a school and district setting).
2. Ability to assess advantages and limitations of current and emerging technologies, on-line resources and software to facilitate teaching and student learning.
3. Ability to engage in professional growth and leadership activities, including modeling lifelong learning by participating in face to face and online learning communities to continuously improve professional practice using existing and emerging digital tools, resources, and current research that focuses on improved student learning, as well as promotes professional development of other educators.

Professional Development and Twitter

In Fall 2019, I was enrolled in ED 505 (Technology and Education). I had an assignment that involved the social media app Twitter. Twitter is a social media app where people can send and receive short messages called tweets. Before the course, I had a Twitter account, but I never did use it. During the course, I had assignments to complete on Twitter, such as sharing a tweet from a professional education organization, tweet about an academic topic, professional development opportunities, and upcoming conferences. 

Standards

1. Ability to identify and evaluate technology resources and technical assistance (i.e., those available on-line and on-site within a school and district setting).

            Twitter consists of many educational resources. When I was enrolled in ED 505, I used Twitter to find a variety of educational resources. I started following a group called WeAreTeachers. The group tweeted about strategies that teachers could use and also gave inspirational stories to motivate teachers.   WeAreTeachers was helpful to me because I did find a few math strategies to use in my classroom. Another group I started following was Education Week Teacher; that page provided me with stories from real teachers. The topics ranged from teaching strategies, testimonials from teachers, and education and student statistics. Education Week Teacher helped me with both reading and math strategies. I read a few tweets and found good strategies. I also learned about the latest educational news, such as new technology used in the classroom and new teaching styles. I also found that teachers that were on Twitter were useful as well.  Twitter has resources that helped me with my teaching. 

2.Ability to assess advantages and limitations of current and emerging technologies, on-line resources, and software to facilitate teaching and student learning. 

      Twitter has many advantages.  An advantage that Twitter has is people's ability to communicate from anywhere. It is very useful that a person can tweet learning strategies from where they are, and people from all over the world can see it instantly. Not only can people see the tweet but comment and share it with even more people. People can also send videos and broadcast live through Twitter.  For me, an advantage was seeing how teachers said their students responded to specific tactics. For example, I followed a third grade teacher, and she tweeted that she used book studies for the first time. She told the good and bad outcomes of the activity.  I used her information to develop a better way to have book studies. The only limitation I believe Twitter has is the amount of characters a person can tweet.  It was a few instances when I was replying to someone, and the computer stopped typing. That was because I used the maximum amount of characters.  I had to either shorten my tweet or write two tweets.

3.Ability to engage in professional growth and leadership activities, including modeling lifelong learning by participating in face to face and online learning communities to continuously improve professional practice using existing and emerging digital tools, resources, and current research that focuses on improved student learning, as well as promotes professional development of other educators.

       Through using Twitter, I have engaged and become members of a few groups and organizations. I believe that my teaching instruction improved because I took many teaching strategies from a variety of educational sights.  I also gain strategies from a few teacher's Twitter accounts such as  Ron Clark,  Kathleen Sokolowski, Dwayne Reed, and Ciji Thurman.  For example, Ron Clark's page gave me ideas on how to motivate and connect with students.  I started dancing more and being more energetic with my students and I can see a big difference in their behavior and motivation to learn. Kathleen Sokolowski's account, I found great resources about teaching reading and writing.  Such as ways to get students to write and how to make writing useful and fun for students.  I used her writing activities and my students loved every one of them. They are better writing now because of it. Ciki Thurma's account provided me with inspirational quotes and reading strategies.  I commented on their post by asking them questions and agreeing on what they tweeted. Some of them responded, and we had great conversations about education.  I have not stopped using Twitter. On my free time, I log in and try to find any resources that I can. I also ask certain Twitter accounts questions or ask for advice on a certain topic.  I believe that Twitter helped me to become a better teacher.