@grade1

Last week, I asked people about their opinion on if I should keep @grade1 as my Twitter handle now that I’m teaching a 1/2 split. I used a Tweetpoll to ask for feedback from others. The final results came through this morning: 65% of the voters think that I should keep @grade1 as my Twitter handle.

When I saw these results, I stared to think: is this what I wanted? Am I happy with remaining as @grade1? The truth is, I am. Over the past year, I have become @grade1. I now have over  1,000 parents and educators that follow me on Twitter, and all of them know me as @grade1. This does not make me any less of a Grade 2 teacher. I am definitely a primary teacher at heart, and @grade1 could easily be @grade1/2, @grade2, @aprimaryteacher, or any other combination of the above, and the name itself, does not change who I am or what I believe in.

As I was writing my blog post last week, I also thought to myself that this name issue is a good learning opportunity for my students too. When creating an online presence, we really do need to consider a lot of factors first. When I came up with @grade1 as a Twitter handle, I was merely considering using Twitter for an online agenda and nothing more. Now Twitter provides an awesome opportunity for me to connect with and learn from other amazing educators. My Twitter PLN (Professional Learning Network) is a very important one, and had I initially known the impact that Twitter would have, maybe @grade1 would have been @avivad or @avivadunsiger instead. I guess that hindsight is a wonderful thing.

While I do plan on remaining as @grade1, I will share this dilemma of mine with my students at a later time. They may be too young now to have a Twitter handle or a big online presence, but as they grow up, I hope that they’ll consider what I didn’t. Thank you all for helping me with this decision of mine, and I appreciate all of you supporting me regardless of my Twitter handle!

Aviva