Have you ever participated in a Twitter Chat? I’ll admit, it can be a bit bizarre at first. If a lot of people are participating, the comments can roll up very quickly and you might feel almost dizzy. But it can also be a very rewarding experience where you get to build understanding and share your thinking with teachers all over the country.
Last night I participated in a Twitter Chat with Pérsida and Bill Himmele, authors of Total Participation Techniques: Making Every Student an Active Learner. We all know how essential student engagement is to learning, and one of the suggestions the Himmeles make is to make use of rippling for total participation. This means that we give students a chance to process a question with a quick-draw or quick-write, then ask them to break into small groups to share their thinking, and finally move into whole-group responses.
It struck me that this strategy is exactly what was used to maximize participation in last night’s chat. Earlier in the week, the Himmeles posted an article about total participation techniques to get us thinking before the discussion. During the chat we shared thoughts and responded to the thinking of others (like small group), and finally we posted final understandings. These authors didn’t just talk the talk, they walked the walk.
I am constantly amazed by the power of technology to put me in touch with teachers far and wide, to get to know others and know you are not alone in life’s struggles (like participating in this challenge has done), and to grow both personally and professionally.
Last night I participated in a Twitter Chat with Pérsida and Bill Himmele, authors of Total Participation Techniques: Making Every Student an Active Learner. We all know how essential student engagement is to learning, and one of the suggestions the Himmeles make is to make use of rippling for total participation. This means that we give students a chance to process a question with a quick-draw or quick-write, then ask them to break into small groups to share their thinking, and finally move into whole-group responses.
It struck me that this strategy is exactly what was used to maximize participation in last night’s chat. Earlier in the week, the Himmeles posted an article about total participation techniques to get us thinking before the discussion. During the chat we shared thoughts and responded to the thinking of others (like small group), and finally we posted final understandings. These authors didn’t just talk the talk, they walked the walk.
I am constantly amazed by the power of technology to put me in touch with teachers far and wide, to get to know others and know you are not alone in life’s struggles (like participating in this challenge has done), and to grow both personally and professionally.
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