I survived my first Twitter Chat!

After you co-author a book on the importance of reflective practice, you best believe you engage in it habitually. Therefore, this is a follow-up post to the confession I posted a few days ago about my lack of Twitter Chat experience.

So, I survived my first Twitter Chat experience. I got a lot of support from Cornelius Minor who created a podcast and shared a link (in the comments section of last Sunday’s post) about the basics of Twitter Chats. Deb Day left a comment explaining how to use TweetChat and TweetDeck simultaneously. About ten minutes prior to Monday night’s chat I signed up for TweetChat and figured it out in time for the #TCRWPCoaching Chat. Using the two resources together was helpful since the chat moved at lightening speed.

The topic of my first TweetChat was “How do we get students (and ourselves) ready for a productive and relaxing summer?” Cornelius moderated the chat and asked seven thought-provoking questions, which helped all of the attendees reflect on the year that was and think about the upcoming school year.

To begin:

• Some of my Tweeps (I never thought I’d use that word in a sentence I crafted!) greeted me at 8:30 p.m., which instantly made me feel welcome. Many thanks to @MaggieBRoberts, @azajacks, @teachkate, @mentortexts, & @MelanieSwider cheering me on!
• Being surrounded by like-minded educators from all over the country.

What went well:

• I had the chance to learn from other educators and to see what’s on other people’s minds right now.
• I retweeted quotes and resources from Ashley Blankenship, Mary T. Farreaz, Seymour Simon, and Shawn M. White.
• I learned about Toolkit Parties from Monique Knight.
• I responded to what other people Tweeted out.

Overwhelming aspects:

• The pace was ridiculously fast! An hour in my life hasn’t gone that fast in a LONG time. I couldn’t believe it when Cornelius started thanking everyone for participating at 9:30 p.m. Quite a few people told me it would move incredibly fast, but I didn’t realize just how fast it moved. My heart was racing afterwards and therefore I wasn’t able to turn in to go to sleep at my usual (insanely early) 10:00 p.m. In fact, I had to make myself a cup of herbal tea and sit on the couch in order to stop my mind from thinking about all of the incredible ideas people exchanged. (Now I understand why archives using Storify are so helpful! Click here to read the Storify from Monday’s chat.)
• I couldn’t answer all of the questions since I was so busy reading other people’s answers to the questions. This made me think it is often smarter to talk less and say more rather than to talk most and say less.

A few smart things I said:

• @teachkate Is there a way to roll out something like this for kids in the summertime, http://bit.ly/16YupF9 ? #tcrwpcoaching
• A3: I think it’s useful to do home visits over the summer. Talking w/families about literacy in their home breeds excitement. #tcrwpcoaching
• A5: I want to get better at helping Ts new to WW understand the basics w/o overwhelming them. There’s a lot to take in @ 1st. #tcrwpcoaching

Ridiculous tweets I wrote:

• The sky is an ominous gray-green, but I think it’s safe to be on the comp. for my first-ever chat! #tcrwpcoaching
  • We were under a tornado watch here in PA on Monday night. Under normal circumstances, my computer would’ve been off. However, I was a lady on a mission and therefore, even once I heard the thunder, I kept on Tweeting!
• @teachkate Along with #bachelorette. @MisterMinor, that’s pretty big!
  • This was in reference to the hash-tag for the Twitter Chat trending. I can’t believe I included a hash-tag for “The Bachelorette” in the same tweet as one about an educational discussion.
• @teachkate How ’bout lemonade stands with a space for book trades?
  • See the reference under the smarter things I said to understand why this idea might not be so practical.

Moving Forward:

• I found some new like-minded educators to follow on Twitter. You can find them by looking at my education or professional development lists.
• I will participate in other chats like this again even though I felt as though I was on an elliptical rider at level 10 for an hour trying to keep up last night. (Truth be told, I work-out on level three on a good day!)
• Other educators on Twitter were welcoming and supportive. I am grateful for the collegial atmosphere I found during this chat and look forward to more discussions about literacy in the months to come.

Need help with Twitter? The TCRWP staff created a document that will help you set up a Twitter account and learn how to take advantage of their Twitter chats and live tweeting. Click here to view it now.