Poll for Wednesday 26th September

This poll closes at 8.30 on Tuesday 25th September.

What do you want to talk about?

We were delighted to see so many teachers taking part in our first #niedchat of 2012-13 last Wednesday night. If you were one of them we hope you found the discussion interesting, engaging and maybe even inspiring!

I order for the weekly chat to remain relevant and useful to teachers we are always looking for topic suggestions. You can make a suggestion via the link below.

http://twtpoll.com/2mv0zk

NIedchat is back...and we want you to join us!

Niedchat is back on Wednesday 5th September and we want you to join the growing community of teachers who are sharing good practice on Twitter.

What is #NIedchat

#NIedchat is a weekly chat for teachers in Northern Ireland which takes place at 8.30 each Wednesday evening on Twitter.

What do we talk about?

Participants in #NIedchat choose the topic for discussion each week. You can see an archive of all our previous chat topics by visiting our wiki.

Who runs #Niedchat?

#NIedchat is run by the teachers who take part in the discussions. We are not linked to any education bodies - it is truly for teachers, by teachers.

Why are we doing this?

We are doing this because we've found that Twitter is possibly the most effective tool for sharing ideas and learning from other teachers. Think of it like a staffroom chat only you are talking to teachers from across Northern Ireland and further afield. We have successfully developed a supportive community of innovative teachers who are keen to learn from each other and become the best teachers that they possibly can be.

Who can take part?

The chat is for teachers in Northern Ireland but we have attracted interest from teachers throughout Ireland, the UK and even from across the Atlantic. If you have an interest in the topic we are discussing then you are welcome to take part.

How to take part.

Simply search '#Niedchat' in Twitter and you can follow the stream of Tweets from our community of teachers. At the beginning of each weekly chat the host will ask chat participants to introduce themselves. We would encourage you to take the plunge and dive straight in although we know that a lot of people new to Twitter prefer to watch at first. If you prefer just to watch the chat without contributing your own thoughts (what the Twitter community calls 'lurking' - not a nice word I know!) you can let us know you are there by retweeting tweets that you find interesting or helpful.

Never taken part in a Twitter chat before? Here's how:

What is a 'beermeet'?

#NIbeermeet
Friday 24th August @7.30
The John Hewitt Bar, Belfast.

Beermeets are an opportunity for teachers to meet socially for a chat. There is no agenda, no running order, no minutes and no apologies.

The first beermeet organised by the #niedchat community is happening on Friday 24th August @ 7.30 in the John Hewitt Bar, Belfast.

All are welcome :)

End of Term Review

In order for #Niedchat to improve we would welcome some feedback .

If you have taken part in or followed our discussions this year please take 5 minutes to complete this survey.

Facebook and Twitter in the Classroom

It was fitting that in the week of Twitter’s 5^th Birthday the NIedchat community were asking whether or not schools could ignore Social Networking sites for much longer.

It was plainly evident that the vast majority of the teachers who took part in the discussion felt that schools should be trying to utilise the huge potential of social media – probably not surprising since the participants are all avid users of social media – however here was a belief that social networking sites have become uch an integral part of the world we live in now that it does not make sense to exclude them form the classroom.

A number of teachers shared how they were using Twitter.

https://twitter.com/#!/Hotspurclass12 via @simcloughlin

https://twitter.com/#!/MrsBellsClass via @7MJ

This idea came from Trevor Connolly. He is using Twitter as part of a literacy initiative. His students are sharing articles they are reading using the hashtag #read1thing (http://chirpstory.com/li/5462)

Trevor has share the instruction document below.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OiY0zVrOCJ_S_-qL1wpScG7VQBXQD2hLMXdzIFci-Hk/edit

The poll this week threw up some interesting results. Of the participants who responded most stared that their schools do not use Social Networking sites in an official capacity. Also, the poll suggests that teachers would like to use Twitter in the classroom but are less sure about using facebook. You can view the poll results by clicking on the link below.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewanalytics?formkey=dE5TeU9rWFNpcXdMUm9TQWUxc2poVUE6MQ

Selected Tweets

If we're not meeting our students at least halfway in the world they live in, the world they communicate in -then we

may give up. @dmurray742

syded0

Schools should have an official FB & TW account because if they don't, students might do it themselves @johnmayo

Other Links

Using Facebook in Education - via @dmchugh675

http://www.facebook.com/education?sk=app_4949752878

An alternative to Twitter suggest by @AnGaeilgeoir1 via @mapsman

http://todaysmeet.com/

Teaching with Twitter - via @catherinecronin

http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.co.nz/2009/01/teaching-with-twitter.html

http://blog.reyjunco.com/twitter-101-best-practices-in-using-twitter-in-the-classroom-infographic

Interesting ways to use Twitter in the Classroom

https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_118cfb8msf8

Tweet of the Week

To ignore Twitter & Facebook gives students the impression that what happens in schools does not happen in real life.

@mynameisdermot

"We are the people we've been waiting for"

There was a celebratory mood in the camp last Wednesday night as we basked in the enduring glow of what was an amazing event - TMBelfast2012. It was obvious from the big turnout in the chat that the TeachMeet the previous Friday had certainly served one of it's purposes, namely to "get the word out there" that we exist!


It's pretty hard to write a blog post about the discussion, I thought it would be better to let a number of the "#niedchatterers" speak for themselves.


On the buzz:

"We are the people we have been waiting for!" @he4therw4t5on

"...because of Twitter it felt like we were in a room with friends despite many of us meeting for the first time" @dmurray742 

On the learning

"I loved meeting others with similar ideas - great shared enthusiasm." @hezmar

"Presenters made it look easy, good ambiance, no competitiveness - really good!" @medv2

"Great to see what's being done elsewhere and get new ideas" @s1taylor1

 "Though the session was fantastic. The enthusiasm you guys have for teaching is inspiring." @jonnyholmes86

The way forward

"We need a poster like "Your Country Needs You!" - get those great teachers out there to come and share the wealth." dwatson802

What was plain to see in the discussion is that TMBelfast has created a real buzz and it is now imperative that the momentum is not wasted Plans are afoot for TMBelfast2 and there were murmurings of TMNorthWest too... more on that at a later date I'm sure. 


A big congrats then to the organizers of TMBelfast - Barry, Amanda, Daithi, Corrine and Heather. Great work guys and judging by the tweets this week it is already having an impact in the classroom.

You can watch all the presentations from TMBelfast here

Tweet of the week


Seriously...could you look past @johnmayo 's comment about the format of TMBelfast? 


The question was asked by @dmurray742 

"What did you think about the 2 and 7 minute presentation slots?"

John's answer:

"The format was like a hockey skirt - long enough to cover everything, short enough to keep interest!"