Social media- such a blessing and a curse! I love to keep up with what's happening in the lives of my college friends and what my favorite athletes have to say about important games. On a rough day, I love to take to Twitter and find something to laugh about. ***
A few years ago, when Twitter started going strong among educators, my colleagues and I were done with Twitter already. We had a difficult group of kids, and the only things posted on Twitter were humble brags.
"Look how great this lesson is!"
"My Ss did this amazing thing!"
"I love it when my students bring me gifts and treats!" (*note- I don't expect gifts from students. That's another post for another time, and yes, I do have a story about this! It's a doozy!)
We were struggling though. At our team meetings, we thought a much better idea was to let down our guards and post #reality pictures of what went on in our classrooms. The students sleeping. The messes left behind. The student who always did her make-up during class. The student who wouldn't do assignments but constantly ripped and folded paper into his own version of origami. The student who cried and threw his iPad if he got a Kahoot question wrong.
We had fun making tongue-in-cheek comments and sending each other pictures, but of course we never posted them. It was almost therapeutic to be able to say to each other, "My classroom does not run perfectly. It's actually kind of messy and situations come up that my education classes or 19 years of experience haven't prepared me for. I don't have all the answers."
We did end up posting many positive tweets about our students, and we did work really well together as a team.
My take-away from that year- be open and honest about what goes on in your classroom. It will create stronger bonds with your teammates. It will take away pressure to be Twitter-perfect. It will encourage others to take risks and know it's ok to fail.
***If you are not following @Lawrence_KS_PD, you are missing out! For a laugh-until-you-cry- and-can barely-speak-story, check out one of my all-time favorite threads: https://twitter.com/LawrenceKS_PD/status/1101211158642675712
paper roll credits to: image via Peakpx
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