Twitter for Professional Development

The hashtags I have chosen to follow are #alg1chat #geomchat #hsmath #PBL #edtools and #topteaching. I teach high school mathematics specifically algebra 1 and geometry. Primarily I chose these to find math resources that I could use towards teaching. Also, our Freshman Academy administrator is pushing for us to work on revamping our lesson plans to be less traditional so I’m hoping to find some good Project Based Learning resources and ways to improve my teaching.

I really like the resources I could find under the subject specific hashtags #alg1chat and #geomchat. I feel like I get in a rut of using the same resources and these should help me to branch out and really include new examples and different types of problems. My first resource that I found under #alg1chat I found the following image:
https://twitter.com/KarenCampe/status/861214077993013248

This image is an example of always/sometimes/never problems. These types of questions really show an understanding of the concept because the student has to really think through the concept and when it can occur. I am always looking for ways to differentiate instruction in our Algebra 1 H class and I really feel as though these specific problems and ones like these could be very beneficial. The second resource I found was for a website called georigami. It uses origami to teach various geometry topics. It also gives videos and worksheets for each of the topics. My third resource I found was a under #topteaching. It is a blog post entitled “Changing Role of Substitute Teachers.” The author talks about how there is a shortage of substitutes in her district and that many substitutes may not be certified or even if they are it may not be in your subject. This is something I find as well. Our school will be issuing Chromebooks to all students in two years. With this roll out these devices these technology resources could definitely change the way things could be taught when I have to be out.

I am extremely excited about the use of Twitter as a form of professional development. I feel like my world has been completely opened to an extremely good resource. I am really excited to see how the subject specific hashtags are used during the school year. Most high school math teachers are going to follow the same progression through a course. I feel that when stumped on how to make a lesson better resources that would be tweeted out would work well for the lessons that would be taught at the time. Also, as stated above, our administrator is really pushing for more engaging lessons and the integration of PBL. I feel that many great resources for this could be easily found on Twitter.

Links for my found resources:
#alg1chat

https://twitter.com/KarenCampe/status/861214077993013248/photo/1

#geomchat

http://www.georigami.com/

#topteaching

http://spartansocialstudies.blogspot.com/2017/05/changing-role-of-substitute-teachers.html