At dismissal on Friday I went outside to the parent pickup area to give a resource to a new parent. I ran into 2 parents that I know but have not seen face-to-face since before winter break. They both told me that they feel like they talk to me every day and know in detail what is going on with the school counseling program because they follow me on Twitter. They thanked me for posting frequently with good tips for parents and Their feedback let me know it is worth the time to "Tweet" on a regular basis. I send links for parents, announcements about meetings and upcoming activities, and what themes are being covered in counseling lessons, among other things. For example, on Friday we have done a 5th grade level career day so I had tweeted about it and thanked our volunteers. I have many more parents following me than ever look at my school counseling page on the school's website. I use my Twitter account mainly for professional reasons and am always very aware that the Superintendent and School Board members are among my followers.
Staff follow me as well and frequently "Retweet" what I share. For example, if I am sharing what I am teaching in grade 3 the teachers will "retweet" it on their class Twitter feed. We also use a school district #APSSchoolCounselor to share with the other elementary counselors and @APSVirginia to share with our whole system. I also participate monthly in our district's Twitter chat and the following counseling chats: #escchat #scchat #sccrowd. I use Twitter as a major component of my personal learning network. I enjoy meeting counselors from around the country at conferences who participate in these chats.
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