Sharing Good Practice
CONNECT WITH FELLOW EDUCATORS , JOIN THE TWITTER CONVERSATION WITH # TEACHUAECHAT
BY KATE JONES
has been a wide variety of topics to appeal to every educator , something that will interest and support all teachers in the classroom .
Twitter has quite surprisingly become an incredibly popular , easily accessible and instantaneous form of effective professional development tool for educators around the world . If you ’ re not using Twitter for professional development - to network , share , learn and be inspired then you are certainly missing out . Sign up today ! If you are already part of the ‘ Edu Twitter ’ then you can engage and interact with other teachers across the Middle East easily , by using and following the hashtag - # TeachUAEchat .
Hashtags are words or phrases ( with no spaces ) with ‘#’ in front of them . The symbol # is most commonly known as the hash , number sign or pound sign . If you are looking for something specific you can search the hashtag or if you want to share something with a wider audience than your followers , then including a hashtag is a good idea . A Twitter chat is where a group of people on Twitter , at a designated time , will discuss a specific topic and communicate with one another using the hashtag . Anyone can get involved in a Twitter chat , it ’ s not an exclusive or selective club , all you need to do is have a Twitter account and make sure your tweets include the hashtag . share what ’ s happening in their classrooms with the world . Initially when I launched this hashtag I asked educators to include it in their tweets , if they were tweeting anything of value linked to education . This hashtag was quickly used by many senior leaders and teachers based in the Middle East . After the success and popularity of the hashtag I decided to launch a Twitter chat , using the same hashtag .
Some popular examples of my other Twitter Chats include ; # UKEdchat , # PedagooFriday and # Bettchat . Since relocating to the United Arab Emirates , I haven ’ t participated in the British Twitter chats due to the time difference , they often take place too late in the evening . I took to Twitter to ask online educators , when would be the most appropriate time to host the chat and it was agreed # TeachUAEchat , would take place every fortnight on a Wednesday evening at 8pm , UAE time for one hour .
A Twitter chat always requires a theme or topic and a host . Previous topics have included using technology in the classroom , discussing teacher work load and wellbeing , educational research and developing literacy across the curriculum . There are a series of questions and educators respond , sharing their views , ideas and experiences from the classroom . There
I have hosted many of the chats but I have been very fortunate to have some of the world ’ s leading experts in education agree to guest host the chats as well . Guest hosts have included edtech expert Mark Anderson @ ICTEvangelist , former Headteacher and author Tom Sherrington @ teacherhead , Senior Associate at the Education Endowment Foundation and author Alex Quigley @ HuntingEnglish , Lecturer in Psychology and Learning Scientist Dr Caroline Kuepper-Tetzel @ pimpmymemory and British Olympic swimmer James Goddard @ JamesGoddard83 hosted a very special chat focusing on the importance of swimming and sport within schools . Future guest hosts include Ross Morrison McGill also known as @ TeacherToolkit , American educator and blogger Blake Harvard @ effortfuleduktr and expert in leadership Jill Berry @ jillberry102 - very exciting indeed . In addition to this superb range of international guest hosts , there is also a lineup of educators from across the Middle East region that have enthusiastically volunteered to present . Future topics will include ; innovation , leadership and what it means to be a values driven school .
If you would like to guest host # TeachUAEchat , then contact me via my Twitter account @ 87history .
I decided to create a hashtag that could easily bring together teachers from across the United Arab Emirates and the region , to showcase and
16 |
Sep - Oct 2018
| |
Class Time
I am Head of History and qualified Lead Practitioner at Brighton College Al Ain . In August 2016 , after six years teaching in the UK , I relocated to the UAE to teach and live in the region . I am a blogger sharing teaching and learning ideas for every classroom via my website Lovetoteach87 . com and you can follow my Twitter account @ 87History