Educators
increasingly recognize the power of using Twitter for professional learning. Let’s
not overlook how superintendents and principals can use Twitter to give digital
shout outs.
1. Shout Out tweets tell people that
their work matters.
Teachers work incredibly hard, but often are underappreciated. Use Twitter as
another means of acknowledging and celebrating teachers’ work, letting them
know that they are significant and appreciated.
2. Shout Out tweets provide other
teachers great ideas.
Use Twitter to provide great ideas for projects or lessons to other teachers in
your school or district. Highlighting projects and lessons that relate closely
to the instructional vision of your school or district generates momentum as
you collaborate to realize your shared instructional vision.
3. Shout Out tweets provide inspiration. Use Twitter to send the message to
teachers that they can implement similar lessons. The message is that a teacher
down the hall or across town can implement a particular approach and they
can too.
4. Shout Out tweets help build a sense
of shared vision. So
often teachers within a district or even within the same school lack a sense of
common purpose. Shout out tweets that relate to your school or district’s
instructional vision help people make connections between their work and the
work of others in their school or district.
My tweets often
relate to our district’s vision for transformative learning. The tweets
highlight students
·
making
a difference locally, nationally, or globally as they learn the content and skills
of the curriculum;
·
creating
a product, performance or exhibition for an audience beyond their teacher;
·
collaborating
with peers, parents, outside experts, and/or other adults in addition to the
teacher; and
·
using
technology to improve the quality and amplify the impact of their work.
Share slidedecks of tweets at School Board meetings, parent events, or faculty meetings in order to provide
additional acknowledgement, celebration, and inspiration. As you share a slidedeck, comment on what you have observed and how it connects to the shared vision of the school or district.
Avoid featuring students in tweets who do not have a media release form on file authorizing the release of their photograph.
So,
superintendents and principals, keep on using Twitter to connect with your
personal learning network, but don’t underestimate the power of Twitter for
giving digital shout outs.
