The document describes the author's experience using Twitter as a pre-service teacher and how they found it impractical at times but useful at other times. At first, the author had high expectations that Twitter would provide helpful resources from educators and organizations. However, most of what the author saw in their feed were hard to understand retweets. Following other pre-service teachers also did not provide much useful information beyond the course assignment. The author began to question Twitter's effectiveness until they started following the Alberta Teachers' Association, which posted many valuable resources. The author then became more active on Twitter by sharing these resources and saw how the platform could support professional development when used strategically.

1. - My experience using twitter as a pre-service
teacher, and how I found it impractical at time and
useful at other times.
- Robert Metcalfe.

2.  At the beginning of the module #2 lecture I had never
really used twitter before, and I had never truly had a
desire or reason to do so.
 Up until this point I had always been able to access
online resources quickly and efficiently using other
online means in order to supplement and support my
learning and professional development as a pre-service
teacher.

3.  So, I signed up for a Twitter account as an assignment
requirement for the module #2 PLN FlexLab, and I was
really looking forward to using Twitter to expand my
PLN and further support my professional development
as a pre-service teacher.

4.  After the module #2 interactive lecture I had really high
expectations for Twitter to help me develop my skills
and practice as a pre-service teacher. I expected…
 Awesome education vendor services.
 Updates and resources from fellow teachers and pre-service
teachers that I could learn from and apply to my professional
development.
 To be able to interact and make connections with other
professionals that may further my career as a teacher.
 Receive updates on new happenings and developments in the
field.

5.  When I signed up I
immediately started to
follow people and
organizations who I
thought could best benefit
my professional
development.
 One of these people was
Steven W. Anderson, who
looked like a great person
to follow.
◦ Professional in the field and
one of the top 50 innovators
in Education.
◦ This guy had to be
great, right?

6.  For the most part, what I found showing up on my Twitter feed was constant
retweets or thank you messages with little no context as to why these were
being tweeted. Literally a sea of blue indiscernible blue lettering flooded my
Twitter feed, which became really frustrating to sift through when I wanted to
check up on useful education information.
 Furthermore, of the educational information that he did post, it was for the most
part impractical toward my development as a pre-service teacher.

7.  I also thought that following
fellow pre-service teachers
in the field would be a great
idea to stay up to date on
topics relating to developing
professionally as a pre-
service teacher.
 Despite myself contributing
to my Twitter feed as much
as possible, my efforts were
necessarily returned. This is
considering that for the most
part the pre-service teachers
that were using
Twitter, were only using it
as a means to complete the
Module #2 FlexLab and
generally didn’t utilize it
much beyond that purpose.

8.  After these two experiences I found myself questioning the
effectiveness and the purpose of using Twitter as a PLN
resource. I found myself utilizing Twitter less and less.
 I found that I could find resources directly related to my
teaching needs elsewhere, without having to sift through
literally hundreds of tweets, which at most times had little
to no useful information at all, even if it was relatable to
what I was searching for.
 I realize that this isn’t the sole purpose of Twitter as a
PLN, but I began thinking that maybe I made the wrong
choice or if there were any other PLN resources like twitter
that could be less generalized and more targeted to my
interests and professional development.

9.  One of the very few resources
I actually did find helpful
seemed to beam with so much
useful information that it
outshone all the other people
and organization I had been
following up until that point.
 The Alberta Teachers’
Association were posting on
such awesome topics, and
provide up to date resources
on such great education
related topics such as…
◦ LGBTQ support resources.
◦ FNMI websites.
◦ Behaviour and classroom
management web resources.
◦ Various updates and postings on
professional development
seminars.

10.  At this juncture I found myself becoming much more active
using Twitter.
 I began retweeting ATA resources to share with other
colleagues, students, and professionals, and also started to see
how retweeting resources can get you more followers, who in
turn can assist your professional development as a teacher.
 In all, I am followed by six people and I follow 28 people.
 I realized I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Twitter and
how it works, but at the same time, over the course of this
semester, I have been able to see how Twitter can be a PLN tool
in coordination with other tools that can greatly support my
development as a pre-service teacher.
 I definitely plan on using Twitter for this purpose in the future.