Why More Music Educators Need to Be on Twitter

This really applies to all educators, but it often seems that music educators need an extra nudge to interact with people outside our specialty.  It's not intentional. High school and college years were spent practicing, rehearsing, performing, and repeating the process. Then we started our jobs and found that we were the only music educator in the building or district. In grade level or department meetings we work with the PE and Art teachers (who should also hop on board the Twitter train!) or spend time alone in our rooms. Even when we teach in a larger district, we're still often the only music specialist within a building or are a part of a department of two or three.

Thankfully many have banded together (pun completely intended) and created some amazingly helpful groups on Facebook.  These groups have been an outstanding resource, but in them, we're only talking to each other.

Important conversations are happening surrounding education at every hour of the day on Twitter and music educators need expand their Professional Learning Network (PLN) to be a part of more of them.  Here's why:

• PD you actually want on YOUR schedule
• We need to keep learning, but often the opportunities provided for us are not always relevant to our classes. How much time have you spent in PD and thought of all the things you could actually be accomplishing?  Twitter offers you a chance to learn both from and with the experts in things you're interested in! Read an article at lunch. Join a chat in the evening. Ask a question, tag a few people, and see what kind of responses you get. 
• Education Trends
• Don't let the next direction in education take you by surprise.  That direction is already being actively discussed and implemented by educators on Twitter.  Chances are, there's even a regular chat or hashtag to follow. Moving towards Standards Based rather than traditional grades? There's a chat for that! Project Based Learning being encouraged? There's a chat for that too!  Want to just talk music ed in real-time? There's a chat for that!
• Advocacy
• There are conversations happening at the local, state, national, and even global level at all hours of the day on Twitter.  These discussions center around everything from teaching practice to learning philosophies to educational policy and just about anything else in between!  Not only can we learn a great deal from our non-music colleagues but we can share a great deal too (how many other teachers regularly see far more than 30 kids simultaneously without major chaos?). Things that seem common place for us may be totally eye opening for another teacher or administrator.  Our perspective is a unique one and we cannot get angry about being left out of the conversation if we never try to join in the first place.  
• Inspiration
• There are always rough days.  My PLN provides regular inspiration and motivation. Sometimes it's a relevant quote. Sometimes it's a positive post about things their students are doing. Sometimes it's a blog post. Sometimes it's a great article. Sometimes it's a great chat with passionate educators. Sometimes it's ALL of those things. And since it's on your schedule, you can find the inspiration you need when you need it.

Want to give it a try?  Great!  Here are a few quick steps to getting going.  There are many much more detailed tutorials that can be found with a quick Google search or you can hit up a session at your next conference or EdCamp.

1. Create an account that actually uses most of, if not your full name.
• Remember you want to connect to people on Twitter.
2. Fill in some profile information.
• People will connect based on who you are and what your interests are.
3. De-Egg!
• Having an actual profile picture will make you more accessible and help people to know you're not a spam-bot.
4. Check out this chat schedule and follow along with something that interests you!
• #Musedchat is held on Monday nights at 8PM EST
• You don't have to be super active yet, just introduce yourself and watch.
5. Follow some of the people in the chat and then follow who they follow.
• Read through the profiles of others and find some who you think you can learn from.
• Try Twitter lists to connect:
• Click here for my list of Music Educators.
• Click here for my list of Classes/Ensembles.

Are you an established Tweeter? How has Twitter influenced your practice? And please share your handles in the comments so that we can find each other!