PLN on Twitter: A Whole New World

Finding My Footing

                                                           

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When I tell you that I was so scared to do this assignment-it is an understatement. Now, I have been on 

social media for 15 years (Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook) but probably touched Twitter a total of 10 

times (and it was really only to enter a contest). I knew in the back of my head that it couldn't be so bad 

but I automatically thought the worst-what if I do not find a chat? What is a chat? How do these hashtags 

work? So to say I was overthinking it was also an understatement. 

What is a PLN?

A PLN is well known throughout the education world as a social media tool to communicate with 

educators all around the world. Here is a more in depth explanation of a PLN, but overall it is like this 

circle of educators that are really comfortable with each other by collaborating and sharing ideas via 

social media. I didn't know that the educational pages that I follow on Instagram and Facebook are also a 

part of this connected network of educators-they are always so willing to give all the Teachers Pay Teachers 

resources that have decorated so many bulletins boards for my school. (As a SECA-bulletins boards are a 

part of my job and I am pretty good at them haha).

My PLN Experience on Twitter

         

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I tried 2 other chats to join with one of my classmates for this assignment. Neither of the chats were live 

when we jumped on Twitter. Twitter is overwhelming in my opinion because I have no clue what I am 

doing so this was pretty frustrating. Thankfully, I was able to join one on Monday night #ILEDCHAT. 

This chat said that it was "Ted Lasso" themed-this was also freaking me out because I had NO CLUE who 

Ted Lasso was. As people began to chat to the themed questions, my classmate and I were frantically 

Googling who Ted Lasso was. Once I started to see how other people in the chat were responding-in Gifs 

and pictures, I started to feel more comfortable. Honestly, I was pretty entertained in this chat. It was 

funny and part motivational. People were expressing how their school year, what motivations quote or 

word to use in their classroom and even to choose between a lion or panda for favorite animal. I chose a 

panda of course because who doesn't like pandas, right? Most answers and tweets were using Ted Lasso 

for everything. Here are some of my tweets and interactions:

All above images are personal screenshots of my personal Twitter

My Reflection 

Now that I have participated in my very first Twitter chat, I can say that I was overthinking the whole 

thing and that there is definitely a benefit to exploring these PLNs.  So many of these new pages that I 

follow have a plethora of awesome resources, especially in the SPED world. I think that the more I 

research Twitter and its functions, the more I will see from the eyes of other educators from all around the 

world.  Sometimes, I wish there was no social media because I miss the old days of just talking in person 

or on the phone but this assignment made me realize how to appreciate social media for the good that it 

can bring. Am I a pro-tweeter? Absolutely not. Did I get some cool resources from this assignment and 

explore other people's pages with other views on education. One other takeaway I found was that Twitter 

chats FLY! That hour felt like minutes in Twitter world.

Some New SPED and EDU Accounts I Have Discovered:

Teacher2teacher

TCEA

Mashup Math

ErinFBSPED

Annie Drager

Niles West SPED

Dubai Center for Special Needs

Seattle SPED

UIC SPED

Baltimore Office of SPED

Innovations in SPED technology

SPEDNESA

SPEDcial relief

QLD of Special ED

Alyssa Rush

Education Week

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