Twitter Challenge

I saw the idea of a 30 Day Twitter Challenge this summer at ISTE in Philly. I loved the idea and immediately wanted to bring it to my coworkers, but was a little hesitant. First of all, we have so much on our plates already, why should I expect people to add something else to their to-do list? Second, I barely know some of the STEM teachers, so what would they say when I asked them to participate in something like this...especially for 30 days? Then I heard a keynote speaker at a conference say that teachers are negative in nature and always look for reasons why they can't do something rather than look for ways to actually do that same thing. This really resonated with me because I do that sometimes, and I think it may be human nature, to some extent. It is WAY easier to come up with a quick reason why something won't work for you, your students, or your school than it is to look for a way to make it work and then actually work hard to make it happen. Although I do see this happen with others sometimes, I don't believe that the people I work with are inclined to take the easy way out. I have seen a ton of changes in our department over my 14 years here and that is because of everyone's willingness to try new things. I was motivated to prove him wrong.

Because of this I decided to put this out there and hope everyone would come along for the ride. I feel like if someone really wants to find a way to put professional development in their own hands, this challenge will help them do it. I'm also hoping to learn a lot from people who participate. One of the reasons I was hesitant is that I'm not a Twitter expert, even though I've gotten a lot from it. Twitter has opened up opportunities for me that I would have never thought possible, from finding awesome conferences to attend, to being asked to present at a national conference, to making connections and friends. All of that is nothing compared to the ideas I've found and used in my classroom for my students. Still, I have a lot to learn too.

Like most of my good ideas, I have stolen this from someone else. I won't know how many people, if any, will participate until tomorrow night, but I have a feeling that there will be a handful. I promise to commit a lot of time and energy to make this worth their time...our students deserve it!