Sharing Good Practice
TWEETING TEACHERS IN THE MIDDLE EAST!
BY KATE JONES
M
ost people are aware of the
social media site Twitter.
What is not as well known
however is that teachers
around the globe are using Twitter for
their own professional development.
They are doing this by creating
a personalised PLN (Professional
Learning Network). If you are a teacher
based in the Middle East and you’d like
to tap into these brilliant professional
development opportunities that come
up on Twitter, then read on… Here’s my
advice on how using Twitter can impact
and even transform your teaching. If
you aren’t on or using Twitter, then
I encourage you to join up and reap
the benefits and take full advantage of
the opportunities Twitter can offer to
teachers.
Separate the professional
and personal online.
Of course, this is just my advice and not
a requirement but I recommend having
a professional Twitter account with the
aim of connecting with educators,
this will involve people from different
countries that you haven’t met before
- so take care sharing any personal
information or photos. When I joined
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Nov - Dec 2017
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Twitter with a teaching account my
purpose was to find out how Twitter
could help me develop as a teacher
and with the aim to learn. Two years
later those are still my aims but I also
use Twitter as a platform to share my
resources, ideas and blogs.
Who to follow?
There are lots of ways that you can
find educators to follow. To help get
you started I have provided a list
of 50 educators in the Middle East
that I recommend following. Follow
educators that you think you can learn
from. If you are looking for accounts
to engage and interact with, then I
strongly suggest having a profile photo
so others know your account is genuine
and not spam. Also, include a short bio
which could state your role, the school
or country you teach in - just enough
information to inform other educators
about yourself. Just as it is expected of
you, use the profiles, photos and links
to blogs of other educators to decide
if they would make a good part of your
PLN.
Class Time
Hashtags
A great way to engage and interact
with other Twitter users is by searching
various hashtags. A hashtag is a word
preceded by the # symbol. It can
include numbers but not punctuation
characters. A hashtag is used on
Twitter to group similar tweets into
topics which are then searchable.
Topics can be linked to events such as
CPD days or chats that take place on
Twitter at specific times.
One of the most popular hashtags
for educators in the MENA region
is #EdchatMENA. Other hashtags
include #UKEdchat, for keeping up
to date and informed with tea chers
and the education system in the UK.
#TeachandTweet
for
showcasing
the good practice taking place in
your classroom. #TeachMiddleEast
for tagging Teach Middle East
Magazine into your education related
posts. #PedgooFriday is one of my
favourite hashtags to search and
scroll through as it shows teachers
sharing their teaching highlights
of the week - a great place to gain
ideas and inspiration from others! If