If you can laugh at yourself, you’ll find this amusing. If you can’t laugh at yourself, then you’ll be offended and you’ll hate me and then you’ll unfollow me and then there will be a long-standing, unspoken feud between two people who have never met each other. If you feel that the latter will happen, don’t read any further and let’s stay connected because we have to play the follower game!
This is supposed to poke a little fun at the Twitter edu-chats that take place on a weekly basis. Mind you, I participate in these on a regular basis and I am guilty of some of the statements below.
I pretty much know that it is time to call it an evening and bow out of a Twitter edu-chat when I start seeing more than “the usual” proportion of edu-cliche tweets of the flavor below:
- “We should do what’s best for the Ss.”
- “Ts should be learners too!”
- “How do we expect Ss to learn if <strange, incomplete analogy>?”
- “… industrial era system of education … ”
- “As Ts we have to make sure every student <some heroic goal>.”
- “Homework! Rabble rabble!”
- “Tests! Rabble rabble!”
- “Standardized tests! Rabble rabble! Pitchforks! Torches!”
- “Grades! Averages! Rabble rabble!”
- “We have to give meaning, without meaning Ss don’t learn.”
- “Student learning has to be connected learning.”
- “Memorization is the devil!”
- “We should be measuring learning.”
- “… 21st century …”
- “… the game of school …”
- “… the real world …”
- “Agreed!”, “Me too!”, “Absolutely!”
I tend to be guilty of the “Rabble rabble!” type tweets. So when I catch myself rabbling, that’s my mental cue to call it quits for the night.
What about you? What are your cues?
When I first started chatting, getting the encouraging agreement was a huge refreshment after so much PD based on having things thrust upon Ts and you couldn’t say anything sensible without being shut down.
It’s wonderful to finally find a place where there are people who are likeminded and affirm that you are not a trouble maker just because you have practices and beliefs that are different than the status quo.
AND, I agree that eventually the appeal wears off!
Just like you humorously listed. ;~}
Still, having people who agree with you and be willing to share resources because they trust you and want to encourage you remains an attraction for chats.
I am finding that 20 minutes or so is about all I want to spend in a twitter chat. Just walk away, or go to sleep…..
Absolutely. Sometimes I play devil’s advocate by asking “How would you envision accomplishing,” or some action question. I love the chats best that give clear ideas for action steps that I can use to make life (either for me or someone else) better.
Yeah! I try to play devil’s advocate as well. But often I just end up making enemies with people because the (logical) argument that I pose ends up messing with people’s cognitive dissonance. 😀
Soooo … Did you just copy and paste from my Twitter feed? … Guilty as charged. Ha!
I do have a tendency to tweet some big idea edutalk blah-blahs, but I also like an edu-chat where there is more questioning and debates than agreements and pats on the back.
haha 🙂 #LivEdChat is one of the few chats that stays fresh. That’s why I make sure to build time for it into my schedule!
Love the post!
Hysterical! and a great representation of the late night educhat gone bad!