Let's make some points tonight.
Twitter is a great place to come together, share ideas, and get incredibly frustrated with strangers. So tonight I'll be the Cool Dad (tm) and say, "I'd rather you do it here at home where it's safe." Then hand you an eight ball.
Ill present us with some topics edutwitter loves to talk about. I'd like you to pick a side and defend it. But not to the death. Not even to the pain. Rather, can we try to defend our position to the understanding?
Here's what I mean- I'll give you a topic that's so much fun, like homework. But rather than argue pro/con, because that's easy and boring, I'd like you to find gray areas. People love to say twitter doesn't allow for subtlety because of the character counts, and I think with some creativity, patience, and proper word choice, we can totally be subtle. So if I do present you with something like, "Homework- Go!" I'd prefer not to see, "Sucks! Next!" Because we all know that teaching is a lot of gray area. We can't say we want to be flexible to student needs and then plant our feet in the sand and our fingers in our ears. Present a real idea, and try to do it without linking to someone else. Stand on your feet, make your case as you see it, as you've thought about it, and absorb the ideas of others.
Like most #WeirdEd chats, I believe the real value comes in the tweets between the Q and the A. I try to encourage side conversations because that's where the depth happens and the relationships get built. I don't want people to be able to do #WeirdEd, watch a show, and do two other chats. That means I've written a bad topic and we as a chat aren't engaging enough with each other. Yes, I want the chat to be the center of your twitterverse for an hour hashtag blessed hashtag modest.
You'll still label your answers as a way to keep things slightly organized, but I won't really be asking questions. And maybe at the end I'll ask if anyone's mind was changed or moved by a conversation they had. A little reflection never hurts.
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