In the next few moments — more than likely — I will officially type my 9,000 twitter……okay, probably unofficially because I delete some and also was @jlwagner for a while before I moved to Jen Wagner. So to do a true reflection — I decided to count days instead of twits — and reflect a bit.
For those who don’t know the backstory — @ijohnpederson introduced me to twitter at the NECC 2007 conference in Atlanta. I pretty much spent my entire conference sitting in the bloggers cafe and at one point @ryanbretag twittered out he was chatting with me. Within moments — honestly, not more than 2 minutes, @markwagner comes dashing up to meet @ryanbretag because of that twitter. And I saw how twitter connects people……and as someone who enjoys hooking others up, at that moment I was hooked myself.
So the reflection……after less than 1,000 days…….. or 9,000ish tweets….
Twitter — the slot machine of my edtech life. Each day I sit down and pull the handle and wonder what will happen. At times, JACKPOT and at other times I sit there and wait for that “win” that will make all the wasted moments fade away because of that moment of “WOW”.
Twitter — the bridge that connects me (a former preschool teacher who touched a computer and who’s life changed almost immediately) to people all around the world who amaze me with their knowledge, their choice of words, and their continual push for excellence. They inspire me to “climb every mountain…ford every stream.” Yet, accept me where I am.
Twitter — the mirror of reflection as I watch adults do what they advise their students not to. I cringe when I see “who are your twitter followers” or “how many days have I been on twitter” (BTW — I used wolfram/alpha to calculate mine — no password needed) or anything else that makes you log in with a password in order to get your twitter statistics.
Twitter – the chain of links, where I have made friendships that have endured much, that I have lost friendships that seemed rock-solid due to misunderstandings and unfair knee-jerk judgements. Where there are friends who I have never met yet know if I needed help, help would be provided. Where I have rejoiced with good news and cried over sad. We have heard of babies born, engagements celebrated, new jobs accepted, old jobs left, sickness, hurt, and sadly….even death.
Twitter — the timepiece of the last two years. Where I can record happiness and sadness. Successes and failures. Things I am very proud of and moments that make me cringe. Some twitters are embossed on my heart, my brain, and smiles — even on my posts. I have lost more time thinking of twitter yet saved more time because I have been on twitter. It is the oxymoron of my life.
Twitter — the watering hole of influence, judgments, suggestions, criticism, ideas, laughter, correction, guidance, sifter of thoughts, measure of success, and lantern of things to come. Though I do not agree with all….and all do not agree with me….I continually learn, am stretched, and have a much more improved vocabulary than before.
Twitter — I had no idea on June 25, 2007 just exactly what impact it would have had on my life. At times, I would like to go back to June 25 and say “ahhh John, don’t think so, but thanks….but I think I will pass.” Yet, on the other hand……there are friendships, knowledge, ideas, and more which I would have missed out if I had not tried twitter. However, I still wonder the ramifications it will have over time.
But all in all…..with the good….and with the bad……twitter is now a part of my life……and I can 85% say that that is a pretty good thing.
Smiles
Jen
I’m a couple of months after you in my join date (although to be fair I didn’t really start using it much until the following summer), and about 6000 tweets behind, and I echo your reflections and your experience.
I was actually thinking yesterday (surprising!) about how mu Twitter experience evolved. During my first few months I made friends and talked about lives, worlds, and kids. It wasn’t until the months prior to the NCEA convention when I started to use Twitter as a networking device with other teachers. Since that time Twitter has become an essential element of my PLN (before that I didn’t even know I had a PLN…or what a PLN was!). I would list it as one of the five essential tools of my professional life.
Two recent occurrences brought this home to me. I recently gave a presentation on developing PLNs, and of course I included Twitter. During this talk I had to contradict my comments from a workshop a year before where I said that Twitter was a diversion suited for a certain personality type and that there was no real need for teachers to use it. Now I feel that every teacher who wants to grow professionally needs to have some participation.
The other was my annoyance at some of the tweets in my follow feed (I use lists on my pc, but my Blackberry app only lets me see my entire follow list). I realized that many of these chit-chats were my initial path into Twitter. I also realized that I had not talked to many of these people in months. Clearly over time my needs have changed, and I hope have grown.
Keep tweeting Jen, and we’ll keep following (and occasionally responding).