In their first years, nondual teacher work hard to build supportive relationships with other teachers. More new teachers are using Twitter to both network and tweet with more experienced teachers and coaches. Twitter provides a direct source of professional support and an online learning community for new teachers who lack mentoring support and coaching in their school districts.
An online community like Twitter is important for the new and beginning teacher who is just learning how to balance classroom management with effective instruction. Building trust with an online networking community of teachers on Twitter takes consistent time and effort. Many times, new teachers are often insecure or scared to ask for direct help and support from other teachers or even from their mentors for fear that they will show a weakness in managing a classroom.
New Teachers Tweeting Create a Supportive Learning Community.
In the beginning, new teachers lurk as they try and seek a connection with other teachers and build a circle of followers that can quickly expand over time. One way teachers can receive lesson planning and classroom management support is by following tweets of other teachers. Over time, it is possible to get to know, trust and follow these more experienced teachers on a regular basis. When new teachers follow other teachers and come to understand how Twitter is structured, they can then make short and direct requests from other teachers and coaches, who can then direct them to further teaching resources.
By tweeting, new teachers can also feel a sense of belonging in an online community. Since teachers on Twitter usually exchange information rather quickly, new teachers will find that it’s just a matter of tweeting the right information and communicating what they need.
New Teachers Tweet Professional Development Support and Advice
Beyond lesson planning and classroom management concerns, many new teachers are surprised to learn how much professional advice and support they can get in a short period of time using Twitter. Among many other resources, they can find out about leadership programs and how to use technology more effectively in their classrooms.
By using Twitter, new and beginning teachers can create supportive learning communities that will provide them with professional advice and support. Many otherwise may not have access to this, due to limited mentoring support in their school districts. All new teachers are learners, so it makes sense for them to acquire professional support and advice in a variety of ways, including using Twitter.
