Twitter has made me a Better Teacher

Yesterday I was able to attend the #TIE16 conference in Sioux Falls with nine pre-service math teachers.  The highlight of the day for me was to hear George Couros talk with us about having an innovator’s mindset, and then having him sign my copy of his book!  During his talk, he brought up using Twitter and convinced some of the teachers in the room to start using it.  Then in the afternoon, Couros did a talk on your digital footprint.  During the second presentation, he talked about things we should do on Twitter (use your real name for your handle, put up a profile picture, have a public profile, and include a professional description of yourself) and things we should not do (have an obscure handle, leave the egghead for your profile pic, and not give people an idea of who you are).

I already knew many of the things that Couros mentioned in his digital footprint talk, but it made me think a lot about what Twitter has done for me.

Twitter has:

·         Connected me with other educators across the world, including Couros;

·         Allowed me to stay up to date on the latest news in mathematics education;

·         Kept me informed on the latest technology in education;

·         Helped me find speakers for the science and math teacher conference I host each summer: and

·         Facilitated increasing my involvement in mathematics education through connecting with others in #MTBoS;

All of these things make me a better mathematics educator.  I utilize Twitter to learn mathematics and technology, which I then share with my students.  My courses change constantly because of Twitter, but they are changing for the better.

One thing that stood out to me at the conference was that I think I am delivering a good math technology course to my students. They were informed of many of the technologies that were shared at the conference. As pre-service teachers, they may have more knowledge of technology than some in-service teachers.

This blog post is dedicated to all of my Tweeps who have helped me grow, learn, and share on Twitter. I am better because of all of you!