There is a saying that goes something like this - "It's not what you know, it's who you know." I can honestly say that over the last few days, I have experienced the Power of the Twitter Network at a level I never imagined.
On Friday, I wrote a blog entry about a state project I will soon be working on with fourth graders at my school. To help me with the project, I turned to my PLN. My Personal Learning Network consists of several components - blogging, Classroom 2.0, Library 2.0, and Twitter. I didn't think my network was that strong until I asked for help.
After writing the post, I posted a tweet trying to spread the word about the project. I didn't know it at the time, but things were about to really take off. A couple of people I follow, and who follow me, decided to jump in and spread the word to their networks as well. Jen Wagner sent me a tweet "@imcguy -- Just blasted your project idea to my 3 mailing lists. :) Be prepared to fill your quota quickly!! :)" Sue Waters wrote "@imcguy I've got a considerably larger twitter network so have forwarded the twitter on for you..." WOW!
About 5 hours later, I had over 30 comments on the blog post. At about this time, I think I had about a dozen states all set up. I decided to retweet the message because if many people on Twitter are like me, they are not on all the time. After sending the message again, I continued to get more responses. At last check, there are over 40 comments on the blog. I have a few replies on the post at Classroom 2.0 as well.
I can only take a little of the credit for this. The reason this has taken off (I think I have about half of the states covered) is because of the our network, more specifically the Twitter network. I'm sure there are a lot of educators out there who don't understand Web 2.0, much less Twitter. They don't realize the impact it can have on them professionally and how it can impact their students. I'm not one of those people anymore. I enjoy Twitter, but after this experience, I'm sold. I will never underestimate the power of my PLN. This just goes to show that there are a bunch of great minds who are willing to help teachers and students learn. Thank you!
I can't forget that we are only half way there. I still need your help gathering interested educators in more than 20 states. I may try my hand at setting up a Wiki with the contact info of the people involved. I have my own chart, but there are many blank spaces. Perhaps setting up the Wiki will allow interested people to fill in their information.
In the next few weeks, the fun will really begin when we start contacting these schools for interviews. I know the students are going to have a blast learning about other states using technology in ways they have never used it before.
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I too, think it's very touching how our TweetPeeps keep coming through for us. Sue and Jen are amazing and just a few clicks from them yielded a huge return for your students, and that's what it's all about! What states are you still needing? If you can post the states you still need, it might help those of us out here. I don't know too many people, my network is not as far reaching, but I'll be happy to do what I can.
~Lee