twitter advice

  1. Don't be afraid to jump in. You may have to tweet at a different time to get a response from more people. Coupled with that, don't take silence personally. The time of day and frequency and visibility of your tweeting do matter.

  2. If you aren't going to jump right in, it's more than okay to lurk.

  3. Don't be afraid to ask questions! Think about what we tell our kids -- asking questions is the only way to learn. It's pretty much the heart of what we do. Ask questions, and make jokes.

  4. Make a single friend to start with.

  5. Don't worry - it takes a while to engage and have a community. It doesn't happen immediately. But once you do, it's so worth it. So try it out for a while... a week or two. Then decide if this really isn't for you.

  6. Don't feel bad if someone doesn't respond to your tweet. It's easy, if someone is following a lot of people, to miss a tweet and it happens a lot. Don't read into that. 
     
  7. Don't read every tweet. Seriously. Not everything is going to be relevant or interesting or funny to you. 

  8. There is a lot of joking around and funny banter -- about school and not about school. Have fun with it. You don't have to tweet about math exclusively. In fact, you shouldn't tweet about math exclusively. 

  9. Share things you do in class whether you think they are awesome or not. Share your mistakes and what didn't work. Share ideas, not just links to posts. 

  10. It's okay to disappear for a while, but just make sure it isn't for too long. We'll miss you! (But try to give it a chance and be around for the first week or two!)

  11. Try not to feel intimidated or awkward. Picture everyone in their underwear. (And since you don't know them, this could be a positive thing if you imagine just right!) Everyone is around to talk to each other. It feels weird to talk to strangers, but once you get over that, it will be amazing. 

  12. Be goofy and have fun with it. You don't always have to talk about math and teaching. Throw out a link to an awesome youtube video, or jump in a conversation about how you miss the tv show My So-Called Life.