I was reading Clay Burell’s blog the other day and came across a fun diversion. He’s decided to use his Tweet Cloud as a source for random “poetasting.”
For those of you who aren’t Tweeting yet, Twitter is a public instant messaging service that anyone can use to build networks of learners with shared interest. Networks then become a source for instant support and advice. I’ve become a big fan of Twitter because I’m connected to some really incredible educators who share resources with one another all the time.
Talk about ‘just in time” professional development.
Tweet Clouds are a visual representation of the words that appear the most frequently in the short instant messages that users share with their Twitter families. Large words are those words that appear the most frequently in one’s messages. As the frequency of a word decreases, so does it’s size in one’s Tweet Cloud.
Let’s see what my Tweet Cloud can reveal about who I am as an educator and a person. You can click on this link to enlarge the text if you need to:
I’m completely jazzed that the biggest word in my whole cloud is “kids.” It really shouldn’t be any other way, right?
I also like seeing the names of those who are influential to me repeating over and over: @cburell, @snbeach, @wfryer, @willrich45, @mrmayo, @metaweb20, @arthus, @kjarrett @pjhiggins @jutecht, @intrepidteacher etc….all thinkers who I enjoy learning from. Doesn’t this represent the true power of using Twitter to build a personal learning network?
And like Clay, there’s creepily accurate reflective elements throughout my Tweet Cloud:
From the guy who can’t keep up with all of his usernames and passwords:
21st account added.
From the guy who is working to let student voice shape his thinking about digital tools:
Amazing, @arthus!
From the guy whose classroom doesn’t look anything like it did at the beginning of his career:
Century changing, check classroom!
From the guy who is driven by interactions with other deep thinkers:
Collaborative commenting, content, conversations….completely cool.
From the guy who’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers with controversial thoughts:
Debate [is] definitely delicious.
From the guy who is pushing to see Web 2.0 tools become more common in his county’s classrooms:
From the guy who gets pretty much all of his professional development by reading blogs:
Enjoying favorite feeds. . .
From the guy who keeps finding new ways to use Google Tools in his work:
Getting Glad…Going Google, Great!
From the guy who loves having the ability to create content:
Make, Makes, Making
From the guy who loves the social nature of his middle grades students:
Middle—-Needs Networking!
From the guy who has worked to influence educational policy for a long time now:
Planning political post.
From the guy who believes in intellectual philanthropy and freely sharing the content he creates:
Posted presentation, project public!
From the guy who likes questions better than answers:
Quality Questions, Quick!
From the guy who believes in the power of professional learning communities:
Reading relationship resources.
From the guy who ends up in a thousand conversations about digital tools:
teaching teachers tech
From the guy who is constantly searching for time to reflect:
think…thinking….thought time today!
From the guy who is willing to give any digital tool a whirl:
Trying today’s tools.
And perhaps the phrasing that describes me the best:
Wonder…Wondering…Work…Working….WRITING!
