I am one of the moderators of the west coast edition of #satchat (along with @burgess_shelley, @drjolly and @DCulberhouse), originally started by @ScottRRocco @bcurrie5 and @wkrakower. Every Saturday at 7:30 EST and PST educational leaders join us for discussions about learning, leading, and living in these educational times.
Today I am reflecting on the power of this form of professional collaboration. No matter what the topic is, at the end of the #satchat hour I am invigorated. I often have a stronger, clear focus on my own educational philosophy and vision. I always have more ideas than I ever thought possible. I usually have new colleagues with whom I want to connect, building my PLN and the external resources available to me in the future. I have many liked tweets to refer back to, for website, blog, and book references as well as memorable quotes or ideas.

It is amazing to me how much I can learn about myself during these chats. I engaged in discussions I have never considered before. It is powerful to see how others respond to our questions and to each person’s individual answers. You never know who you will make a personal connection with during a chat, or what comment will spark great debate, controversy, or complete agreement. I can almost provide a 100% guarantee, however, that you will leave each and every #satchat excited by the amazing educators on twitter, engaged in new learning, and interested to share ideas with others. Professional collaboration can take many forms these days. While a twitter chat is just one form, and may not be right for everyone, I hope that all of my professional colleagues create opportunities for authentic, meaningful collaboration to occur. What have you collaborated about lately?

So Many Hashtags, So Little Time