This is a lonely profession, even without a pandemic. Teachers who have a professional learning community to plan lessons, bounce ideas off, and review strategies are lucky but most of us labor alone at our desks. But there’s a vibrant community of teachers online that you can access around the clock for help on quite literally everything and anything.
If you don’t have a Twitter account, get one! It’s simple at twitter.com.
Who to follow?
- There are tons of teachers out there who are tweeting fascinating and exciting things – and a few tons of teachers who need help. Try searching for hashtags. Here’s a list to get you started:
- #edchat
- #elearning
- #pbl
- #pblchat
- #ntchat (for new teachers)
- #gbl (game based learning)
- #edtech
- #21stedchat
- #middleschool
- #inquiryed
- #scichat
- #scienceteacher
- #scied
- #iteachscience
- #scienceliteracy
Twitter Chats
Twitter chats are regularly scheduled meetups around specific topics. There are some that are very active and attract dozens of participants and hundreds (thousands) of lurkers every week. There are some that are just started or growing slowly. During the scheduled chat time, participants use a prescheduled hashtag to keep track of the conversation which sometimes moves very quickly.
Here are some popular Twitter chats for teachers:
- #edchat – meets Tuesdays at 12PM and 7PM est
- #edtechchat – meets Mondays at 8pm est
- #mschat – meets Thursdays at 8PM est
- #ntchat – for new teachers, meets first and third Wednesdays at 8PM est
- #scichat – hosted by The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education on Tuesdays at 9PM est
- #scitlap – science based weekly chat based on Teach Like a Pirate on Mondays at 9PM est.
- #NGSSchat – first and third Thursdays at 9PM est
Join in and make some connections!
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