I’m listening to my Voxer app on the phone, and I hear my friends joyously celebrating their NCTE conference experiences. I finally met my Good-to-Great friends from Twitter’s #g2great chats of the last 6 months! A fabulous light turned on in my brain, and in my heart — meeting my virtual-to-real-life pals! Dr. Mary Howard, Amy Brennan, Jeanne-Marie Mazzaferro, Jenn Hayhurst, and Jill DeRosa presented “Making Powerful Connections Across the Twitterverse: Using Social Media to Become Agents of Change” on Friday morning. I had traveled 10 hours to hear this session, and support the people who lit my fire — the biggest professional change in my life to date.  They were fabulous! 

The ladies began the session by introducing themselves and their roles as leaders in their school systems.  As tech-savvy people, they explained how they began using Twitter and Voxer, as well as other media, to work together across the country in the best interests of the students.  This “grassroots support system,” described in the NCTE program, is a never-ending journey of inspiration and motivation for the teachers who use it.  Kylene Beers spoke about Twitter over two years ago as wonderful (and free!) PD for teachers.  I joined Twitter then, and found that she was right. Last fall, I learned about Voxer from my daughter. Many teachers I follow on Twitter were using Voxer for their PLNs and team meetings. Later, the Good-to-Great team allowed me to join them in the learning and sharing of best literacy practices. My life has transformed! Truly, the reason I feel like I’m a “connected” educator now is that these “agents of change” changed me!

During the question-and-answer part of the session, I looked to my left and saw a young teacher using Twitter on his phone. He looked a little confused, so I went over to sit by him. He asked me, “How does this work, exactly? What do I do?” I was happy to show him how easy it was to find a #g2great chat (Thursday nights at 8:30 pm) and we traded Twitter handles. I told him of the last series of topics discussed during the chats, and his face started to light up (I KNEW that feeling!). I got such a warm-fuzzy feeling that I was the fan-turned-ambassador of the #g2great community.

Now I’m rereading the NCTE book, and I am so excited to be a part of the “ideas that flourish into tangible results.”

Join the chat! #g2great on Thursday evenings at 8:30 pm EST. I look forward to meeting you there!

PS: Thank you to Dr. Mary Howard, Amy Brennan, Jenn Hayhurst, Jill DeRosa, Jeanne-Marie Mazzaferro, Dani Burtsfield, Justin Dolcimascolo, Kari Yates, Erica Pecorale, Lisa Eickholdt, Kathryn Hoffmann-Thompson, Joan Moser, Julieanne Harmatz, and all the other “Good-to-Greaters,” for your friendship and support. I’m so glad we are REAL friends now!