Monday, October 10, 2016

PLN's: My experience with Twitter!

I had certainly heard of Twitter (mostly on NPR) and knew that one of my music colleagues loved it as a way of advertising her program.  She felt it gave parents a window into the great things going on in the classroom.  I knew about it, I just hadn't taken the time to find out more!

Now, I have a Twitter account @d90monamann and I am following a number of teachers in District 90, as well as music educators and educational organizations around the United States and beyond.  At first, I was a little surprised to find that there isn't more of a presence of Orff-Schulwerk teaching and learning on Twitter, but each time I found someone new to follow, it led to other followers, and gradually, I started finding my Orff-Schulwerk colleagues around the country!

One of the most useful educational resources I found on Twitter (to date!) is the American Orff-Schulwerk Association, the heart of my own Professional Learning Network.  You can find them at @ORFF1968  I did not find AOSA through someone else's post.  I had to go searching... But, the first name I saw is a friend from our Chicago chapter who is now serving on the National Board!  There are so many resources and ideas here, I won't want to 'miss out' on checking this weekly.

I also participated in my first Twitter chat on Monday, October 10th, at 7PM CST.  The reason I point out the CST is that the previous week, I logged in to the chat room at 8PM, only to find the chat ending -- it was 8PM EST.  So, check your time zone when you want to do a Twitter chat!  The chat was an interesting experience, but would have been better for me if it were more geared toward general music teachers, specifically Orff-Schulwerk teachers.  It was mostly band directors, and focused on the topic of whether students should be involved in setting their own goals.  This is an important consideration for band and orchestra directors who need their students to spend a good deal of time practicing outside of school, but the goals of general music teachers are different.

My First Twitter Chat on Setting Student Goals in Music
Still, when I go to the AOSA National Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey in November, I will start asking around about Twitter chats for Orff teachers.  I would love to participate in a discussion around issues in the general music classroom.


4 comments:

  1. Wow, Mona, different topics but your entire Twitter experience is very similar to mine!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy to hear you found content that was meaningful to you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree that it isn't easy to find colleagues, but once you do it's kinda cool!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm so glad to hear you found a great connection! Thanks for sharing your tip about the importance of looking at the time zone, I would have missed that too.

    ReplyDelete