I use Twitter for a lot of reasons, but the biggest one has been the connections I can make with other art teachers, both near and far. Creating a Professional Learning Network (PLN) has been invaluable in helping my teaching, picking up new ideas, and sharing some of my own.
If you’re thinking of starting on Twitter, or if you’re just not sure what to do, here are a few words of advice:
- Choose the right username–will it be your name, will it be about your school, or will it be something else entirely?
- Make sure you have a good bio–tell us you’re an art teacher!–and upload a picture. No one likes talking to that egg icon.
- Find the right people to follow. Find a twitter user you like and trust, and see who they are following. It’s probably a good list.
- Connect! Share some ideas, start some conversations, and put yourself out there. It will be worth it, I promise.
- Join a chat! #K12ArtChat is a great place to start. It’s worthwhile professional development, with and specific to art teachers.
I also recently gave a presentation entitled “Simplifying Your Digital Experience” with my art teaching heroes Jen Carlisle and Abby Schukei. You can see the slides from that presentation by clicking on the link below.
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