#engchat

#engchat

Community, Conversation, and Collaboration

for English teachers

by Meenoo Rami

A conversation took place around dinnertime on January 10.

@AndersonGL was in Chicago, @feministteacher was in New York, and @mrchase was in Philadelphia. All participants were educators engaged in a reflective dialogue about practice. A weekly Twitter chat, #engchat, served as the virtual space for a evening conversation about using feminist and LGBT texts in high school English classes.

English teachers from K-16 to come together Mondays nights (7pm EST) via Twitter using the #engchat hashtag to discuss a pre-announced topic. A guest moderator who brings passion and curiosity to a topic usually hosts the fast-paced conversation. Participants from around the country can ask questions, share experiences, and trade resources through the chat.

It is difficult to say whether #engchat is providing valuable professional development to self-motivated educators who choose to participate in the weekly conversations, but there is a palpable (if even possible online?) sense of community, collegiality, and collaboration. This sense of community extends beyond Monday nights. Regular users of the #engchat hashtag post links, share resources, ask questions, and receive feedback throughout the week from other English teachers.

The evolution of #engchat has been incredible. More than 3500 users have sent out more than 10,000 Tweets and shared more than 5000 links. When I started #engchat in August 2010, however, I had no idea if it would even work. As a high school English teacher, who had recently discovered the power of connectivity through social media, I was looking for a community of English teachers on Twitter much like the English CompanionNing created by Jim Burke. While English Companion Ning provides the space to post questions and seek resources, I knew that the instantaneous feedback one might receive from colleagues on Twitter would reveal a more powerful conversation and provide support to both new and experienced teachers.

Through the New Teacher Camp in Philadelphia, I participated in #edchat on Twitter and started to notice subject area chats starting up. The thought of creating a weekly Twitter chat for English teachers excited me, but I soon began to doubt myself. How would this work? Can I take on more than one initiative in my life right now? How can one even limit English teachers to just 140 characters? Would this even be a meaningful experience for English teachers?

My reluctance began to fade when I was in middle of the Summer Invitational Institute with the Philadelphia Writing Project. All of the discourse of taking risks in our teaching practices and seeing ourselves as teacher-leaders gave me confidence. I finally decided to start a Twitter chat—#engchat—for English teachers around the country. I settled on Monday nights at 7:00 EST as the designated weekly time to “meet” with other outstanding English teachers on Twitter.

I quickly realized that leading an engaging discussion every week would be a challenge. I started reaching out to other English educators on Twitter to see if they would agree to guest moderate the discussion, and I would fill in the weeks when I could not secure a moderator. This distribution of leadership for #engchat made it a richer discussion for all involved.

The first individual who really embraced the idea of #engchat and aided its growth was Jim Burke. He immediately agreed to host #engchat even though he had never participated in such a discussion via Twitter before, and he was willing to learn alongside other participants. Soon, others came on board, and a number of guest moderators from all regions of the country have guided the discussion: @SarahWessling from Iowa, @Writer (Penny Kittle) from New Hampshire, @hickstro (Troy Hicks) from Michigan, @AndreaZellner from Michigan, @poh (Paul Oh) from California, @cakeypal (Kathee Godfrey) from California, and@feministteacher (Ileana Jimenez) from New York.

A cadre of successful moderators have elevated our collective thinking about our practice in the classroom, about the tools and strategies we choose to use with our students, about the larger societal forces that shape our work with students. Those who cannot always find time on Mondays to join #engchat, can find our archives at http://engchat.pbworks.com. Cindy Minnich, Capital Area Writing Project teacher consultant, has been an invaluable partner in supporting my work with #engchat. She has archived weekly discussions and maintained a wiki as well.

Starting #engchat in the current context of a school district where Twitter is blocked in schools has not come without challenges. I have worked and lived in the dichotomy of benefiting from social media tools on the web but being limited in my use of these tools with my students. By creating a community of English teachers on Twitter, I have done my small part to help teachers who are just now discovering the power of this powerful medium. I continue to grapple several questions regarding the use of #engchat: How do I share the value of #engchat with others who are not regular users of social media tools on the web? While is easy to say that educators make connections through #engchat, what is important about those connections? Lastly, is #engchat encouraging deeper discussion and reflection outside of the one hour discussion amongst the users? Before and after posts by guest moderators and participants show personal connection and reflection on the part of the participants. Join in on the connection and reflection and share your thoughts about role of Twitter chats in lives of teachers and practitioners.

Meenoo Rami is a high school English teacher at Franklin Learning Center in Philadelphia PA. Meenoo joined PhilWP as a teacher consultant in 2010.

Meenoo originally submitted this piece as part of National Writing Project's Digital Is… collection. The original piece can be found at digitalis.nwp.org/resource/1802.

Connect with Meeno on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mrami2.

Follow and participate in #engchat via Twitter each Monday evening starting at 7:00 EST.