Using Twitter is a brilliant way for teachers to connect to their students, classroom parents, and the global community. If you are a teacher, you can use Twitter in a variety of ways, from staying updated on new trends in education to encouraging idea sharing in the classroom. The following list of tips can help you get the most out of your Twitter experience.

1. Create an Interesting Profile Use keyword rich language to describe your interests and your profession. This will help other like-minded users find and follow you more easily.

2. Choose a Professional Photo You have an opportunity to add an image of yourself to your profile. The advantage of adding a photo is that people tend to follow those to whom they can put a face. Choose a photo that represents your very best professional self.

3. Search for Others to Follow After you create your Twitter account, the next step is to find people with similar interests and goals to follow. Searching relevant keywords will make this task easier. Once you find a few people to follow, look at their followers and you will likely find more people to follow! And of course don't forget to follow @PlanbookEdu

4. Use Hashtags Hashtags are category codes used within the Twitter community to simplify the process of following posts on specific topics. Each hashtag begins with the # symbol. The #edtech tag is often used by educators and technology professionals to mark their Twitter posts.

5. Stay Professional As with all social networking communities, there is a degree of anonymity that may prompt some individuals to lower their professional standards. Rather than reply negatively to a post you don’t like, simply stop following the poster.

6. Get Ideas from Twitter Get the most out of Twitter by following other educators who are implementing cutting-edge teaching ideas in their classrooms.

7. Tweet and Retweet While it is great to Twitter about your own projects and ideas, it is also important to pass other good ideas along. Pass along posts that inspire you by using the RT code for retweet and giving credit to the original poster. You may just find that this increases your chances for getting retweets as well.

8. Invite Students to Tweet The ideas of how to engage students via Twitter are endless. Some teachers have started collaborative stories with their students via Twitter. Other teachers encourage students to express their thoughts and feelings about subject matters like poetry and literature via tweets.

9. Add Value through Links Share the goodness you find online by posting links to websites and news stories that may be of interest to those following you.

10. Be Careful What Information You Post Use good judgment when referring to students, and be certain not to accidentally give out sensitive, personal information within your tweets. Twitter is an intriguing social networking venue that can bring a medley of benefits to the educator. Whether you want to involve your students in a creative writing project or connect with other educators, Twitter is an excellent platform with endless possibilities!