Expanding My PLN with Twitter!

I participated in an International Literacy Association (ILA) chat on January 11. The topic of this chat was exploring what is necessary to effectively implement early literacy instruction.  Overall, I had a very positive experience.  At first I was a little nervous because I do not use Twitter very often and this was my first Twitter chat; I wasn’t quite sure how everything would work.  However, as soon as I introduced myself and starting seeing other people join the chat, I felt more comfortable participating. It was fun that there were a lot of preservice teachers, and not just from University of Northern Iowa.  There were fellow students from different parts of the country who were also interested in expanding their personal learning networks while learning valuable information, which was inspiring and hopeful to see.  Even with all of the preservice teachers participating, I felt very supported from experienced teachers and educators.  The experienced teachers seemed excited that there were so many preservice teachers on this Twitter chat.  

Introducing myself to others to get started on the chat! 

Through the more experienced teachers, I was able to learn quite a bit from others.  I was able to discover ideas and books to read aloud.  I learned that some of my thinking is similar to others, but I still can expand my thinking so much more.  For example, I agreed with many people that it is so important for children to be exposed to a good vocabulary at a young age.  Additionally, it is so important for students to have access to various types of print.  I also agreed with many teachers that reading is a good way to use transition time in the classroom.  However, I also learned and realized that many teachers think it’s necessary to not just use transition time, but to also make sure the teacher is creating time in the classroom for students to be read to.  I agree that this is important, and now I can use this belief to help plan my days once I have my own classroom.  Making time for a read aloud is so important.  

This question really caused me to think how important it is to make time for reading!

Not only did I learn different ideas from teacher, but my PLN has already expanded even after one Twitter chat.  First of all, I had never heard of ILA before.  Now, I am following them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  I am seeing a lot of really good resources appear from these pages.  I am also more aware of chats that are happening and the interesting topics they cover.  I am now following ILA, and I have also started following specific educators and authors who were participating in the chat, such as educator Colby Sharp and The National Writing Project.