CPD with Twitter

I resisted Twitter for a long time. I didn't understand it and thought it was just about following celebs and daft 'hash tags'.  I am prone to waffling and couldn't understand how anyone could get their point across in 140 characters. I hadn't realsied that so much of the professional conversation on Twitter revolves around links to brilliant articles elsewhere on the internet. (Pinterest is brilliant for keeping these links in one place as a library to return to when you have plenty of reading time!)  

Follow Me!

A lovely friend of mine who I worked with in school kept telling me about how she uses it for  teaching, finding out about the latest developments and networking with other like-minded professionals. I decided to give it a go and I'm so glad I did. I set about following people in the educational know and I'm purely using it as a fact finding mission- no celebs or tweets about what I had for tea. Continuing Professional Development is something that I loved as a teacher, I was always developing my practice through courses, peer mentoring and coaching  and have missed this immensely since becoming a childminder. Twitter has helped to fill the gap. It's my new 'Digital Staffroom' and I can choose who I listen to! 

It's a brilliant resource and is truly inspirational. I love the idea that people are striving to be better at what they do by voluntarily taking charge of their own professional development. As a professional on Twitter, you can be in touch with colleagues from around the world and can ask questions, share resources, get involved in discussions. I follow a conversation which takes place every Tuesday evening called #EYTalking where professionals contribute to a discussion about Early Years practice- a different aspect each week.

I've learnt so much already and look forward to the opportunities ahead. If you're a teacher or Early Years Practitioner follow these guys- @batttuk (bring a teacher to twitter UK!) and have a good rummage around at who they are following and who follows them. Give yourself a few weeks to just read and figure it out and then you'll be ready to join in!