To Tweet, or Not To Tweet...

I have to say that after John's presentation on PLN's, my perspective on social networking sites, like twitter, has changed. At first I was so annoyed with the idea of twitter when it comes to strictly social use, because if I want to know what my friends are doing every minute of the day all I have to do is check facebook. I certainly don't need ANOTHER means by which to waste my time because I can come up with plenty of ways on my own. I also believe that as soon as I find myself compelled to see what random celebrities are up to on a day to day basis, that is about the time to get a real life. After hearing the presentation and reading some blogs and what not I see that twitter can actually be a great teaching resource. There have been many times where I would be looking for worksheets or a teaching idea/tip on the internet, but I would for the most part be searching aimlessly, not really sure where the look. Using tools like twitter and diigo I can have a lot of this information find me. I could see these sites being the greatest asset to me if I were to be teaching in a rural community where I was the only Math teacher on staff. Having a lack of colleagues to bounce ideas off of would no longer be a concern as I would have several people to discuss with. These people are obviously apart of these networking sites to be doing just that, discussing ideas, and I would never feel like I was bothering someone or wasting their time. The only problem I see with it is getting an account started and staying with it to reap the maximum benefit. The word is that these sites can take a little while before you really start to see them as worthwhile, so if I can just get over that hump I can look forward to seeing the benefit of my students having the most engaging, technologically up to date teacher they possibly can. I guess I have to say...tweet!