Activity 8 - Professional Social Media Networks

Provide evidence of your professional involvement in social media networks.  Briefly discuss one or more platforms that you feel best support engagement with your professional development:

Twitter:
Twitter for me is a place for information rather than resources and that's why I love it!  I keep up to date with people far more knowledgeable than me, and read what's going on.  It's a great way to connect with people all over the world.  I follow a wide range of people with a wide range of views and areas of expertise.
For my class it's a great way to introduce social media and connections to them.

Facebook:
The two main groups I use on Facebook I find extremely helpful - each for their own reasons.
The Mindlab group has been a godsend at assignment time, and has been amazing to just have a conversation with people who are doing exactly what you are doing.  The NZ Teachers (Primary ) group is a great example of collaboration in our profession.  Of course it's not perfect, but the resources on there are often amazing and freely given up and ready for adaptation to suit.
The difficulties lie when the overshare happens.  We as teachers need to remember the rules we are teaching the children about only posting what we have permission for etc.

Pinterest:
I have probably spent more time on pinterest than any other site for my professional development.  I use it for both my personal and professional life.  I see it as a safe place to let children explore and pin ideas, and take control of some of their own learning, activities, displays and games.