Educational Twitter Chat Participation

This week I participated in a live educational chat on twitter to expand my PLN. In case you didn't read my previous blog posts, a PLN is a Professional Learning Network many educators have one. For more details you are more then welcome to look back at my past posts. The educational chat I participated in is not the only one there is many out there and I definitely recommend checking some out. Previous to this week I never had participated in one of these chats and wasn’t sure what to expect. I can happily say however that I enjoyed my experience and would participate again. I enjoyed reading many of the replies to questions asked within the hour to see views of different people mainly in the education field. . I  participated in a chat that had the hashtag ”#iaedchat” and was hosted by Andrea Townsley. It took place on Sunday December 2nd at 8pm. From what I could find this chat occurs weekley at the same time and has been going on since 2013. Back in 2013 it was started by administrators from across the state of Iowa and now has multiple moderators.

This week the chat had 6 main questions asked which various educators responded to. The main topic was of course education and what is going on in schools. Here are just a few of the questions asked should schools block certain websites from school devices? Should the traditional school calendar be replaced or modified? Should the pledge of allegiance be recited daily in schools? Along with all these questions anyone participating also had a bit of time to ask any questions they personally wanted feedback on. I didn’t ask any of my own questions as I had none at the time but enjoyed reading other peoples questions and the responses some of them received.

I participated in this chat in multiple ways, I read what many people had to say about the different questions asked and I made some tweets using the hashtag. I began by introducing myself, then posted my opinion on the blocking of many websites in school and I replied to a comment someone made about cursive writing. After the hour passed and all questions had been asked I made a tweet thanking everyone that participated including the host for participating and allowing me to too.I told them I really enjoyed reading what they all had to say and look forward to possibly participating again in a different weeks discussion.

Yes at first I didn’t know what to expect going into this chat and wasn’t all that excited but I’m very happy I participated. Entering in I wasn’t that surprised about anything other then how quickly the discussion occurred. I had to refresh my page so many times to see new tweets entering the thread every minute. Keeping up with all the responses was definitely a challenge at first I thought but then I just tried to focus on the questions and responses that interested me. Specifically I was interested in what people had to say about cursive being taught and if school should be all year or stay the same as it currently is. To effectively participate I used the resource of being able to  have two tabs open on my computer one for my main twitter home page and one for the hashtags thread. This made it easy to make tweets myself and reply to others with the hashtag. Looking back at the hour I unfortunately didn’t come across any resources that people posted links to and I wish I would have so that I could possibly have found and possibly used in my future.

In conclusion, I enjoyed my experience and would like to participate in a Twitter chat again in the future. By doing so I will gain more knowledge about the field I am going into in my future and I expand my PLN. These both will occur more and more through multiple chats and other resources on the internet. They can only help me learn and become a better future educator. If you would like to see the tweet thread that this educational chat occured you can view it here if you have a twitter account. Below is some screenshots of my posts in the thread.

PLN: Proffesional Learning Network

This week in my educational Media Theory class we discussed Professional Learning Networks, also known as a PLN. We were assigned to make a mind map which is our PLN. PLN's are used to show how you receive information in the world and who you connect with. Connections are very important for any person in this world including those that would like to become educators like me and for much other future careers. My personal learning network shows colleagues I have, social networks I use, resources, and clubs & organizations I am apart of. Every part of my PLN helps me in a different way, the resources mentioned are some of those that I have available on the University of Wisconsin Platteville college campus. The resources available here extend much more than mentioned. Within my clubs and organizations, I'm in, they allow me to gain more knowledge and skills to help me become a more well-rounded person. Social networks are the largest part of my PLN, each one I use in a couple of different ways. Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram are all more for my social usages and staying connected with friends. Pinterest I use to pin ideas that I like and possibly find things I want to make in my future. My blog and Twitter currently is mainly used to follow educators, post about what I'm doing during my years in school and see what others are doing. Each part of my PLN represents different ways I may connect with people in this always changing world. I created my PLN on the website Popplet. Popplet is good to use for organizing things and ideas visually. I found it easy to use and inset my images into easily. Below you can see my own PLN.

Mindsets with Teaching and Technology

In teaching 2010 this week, I was asked to write an essay about my understanding of mindsets and changes that become from having them. My full essay can be found here and is influenced by what I read and listened about in class during the past week. Summarizing my paper I talk about how well students learning can be influenced by their teacher's mindsets. I reflect on my own mindset and what I plan to do as a teacher in my future. Everyone has different mindsets and they affect how you learn best and view different things. Whatever mindset it is that you have might just be by nature based on how you grew up. To see more of a visual representation of different mindsets you can see an infographic I made on the website piktochart below.

About Me

Hello Everyone!
My name is Chelsea I am currently studying Early Elementary Education at the University of Wisconsin Platteville. I hope one day I am able to teach first or second grade, assisting in a first-grade classroom is what made me want to become a teacher. This blog will consist of posts involving assignments I do to further my knowledge of elements for my future career. Through this blog, I hope to connect with other future educators.