Slice of Life - Twitter

I've been participating in Slice of Life, started by Two Writing Teachers. I love the challenge of composing a piece of writing at least once a week about life or teaching. 

 

 

     I almost had my second straight week of Slice of Life writer's block, but then I thought back over my week and the word TWITTER popped into my mind!  Then I read a post by Niki Ohs Barnes, which sealed the deal that I would write about it. Several amazing things happened this week because of Twitter, and I shared them in my Celebration Saturday post, but I want to reflect on it a little more.

 

     I joined Twitter maybe a year or two ago.  How do I check that?  I don't even know.  I'm not sure which workshop or person made me want to join.  My best guess would be Franki Sibberson or Donalyn Miller at a Dublin Literacy Conference.  I entered into the world slowly, mostly following people at first and then daring to tweet out a few thoughts or links I found interesting.  I started to join #titletalk and #sharpschu book club talks, overwhelmed during my first few.  However, slowly but surely, I found my footing, and I don't tweet nearly as much as some tweeps, but when I do join in, I find nothing but positivity.

 

     Just recently several things made me thankful for Twitter.  After tweeting earlier in the fall that my students were enjoying the read aloud Rump:  The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff, she tweeted, offering to Skype.  Of course I took her up on that!  We Skyped on Friday, and it was awesome.  I also tweeted that I loved Ame Dyckman's new picture book, Tea Party Rules, and sent my students book goodies.  @kbport714 sent a package of copies of Tuck Everlasting and some teaching materials because of a tweet.  I was able to connect with Aaron Becker after reading Journey, and he made my class an incredible video.  Mr. Schu included in a portion of that video in a recent blog post on Watch.Connect.Read.  Book giveaways, insightful conversations about books and teaching, and support for fellow tweeps abound on Twitter.  I enjoyed all the Donalyn Miller love that abounded on Twitter yesterday for her book's birthday, Reading in the Wild.  Paul Hankins even suggested we start #WildReaders and post selfies of ourselves with her book.  Of course, I jumped right on that!  Margie Myers-Culver (@Loveofxena) is amazing on Twitter, and she collects tweets in a weekly Twitterville Talk on her blog.

     I loved meeting all my Twitter friends at #nErDcampBC last summer.  It was surreal!  And I loved that we could continue to talk afterward on Twitter. 

 

     I could go on and on, but I'm going to let Niki Ohs Barnes (@daydreamreader) continue the conversation.  Go to her blog post at Daydream Reader to hear what she says about Twitter!