Teaching is hard. As a former school principal, working 19 years in the field I saw the struggle first hand that my new teachers experienced. As prepared as they were, with classroom pedagogy and strategies, it wasn’t enough. There was always another challenge that couldn’t be solved by referring back to their University course work. They needed more opportunities for support and mentorship.

UPDATE! After three months of chatting on FlipGrid, Aug.-Oct. 2017 we retired the chat due to lack of participation.

New Teacher Chat #ntchat is Born!

When I left the work as a principal to explore new careers in the education landscape, I jumped on social media for the first time in 2009 and joined Twitter. My first connection was Shelly Terrell, one of the founders of Edchat. We immediately connected, and have been friends for years. Seeing the success of Edchat  I wanted to find a Twitter chat that supported new teachers. Asking Shelly sadly she said there wasn’t such a chat but that I should design and launch one! So with a bit of trepidation and lots of background work (with Shelly!), on May 5th, 2010 New Teacher Chat and the #ntchat hashtag launched! The dream I had for the chat was to provide weekly mentoring and focus on the needs of new, and pre-service teachers world-wide. It was designed to be practitioner focused with supportive resources for all participants, particularly those new to the profession. We had a good run with over 7 years of sharing ideas, resources as well as concerns in our #ntchat Twitter community. After much success and international recognition, New Teacher Chat as a “regular weekly Twitter chat” was retired in January of 2017. Enter the New Teacher Chat Re-boot!

#ntchat Re-boot on Flipgrid!

 Leading and coordinating a chat takes loads of time and energy. So I’m excited to share that Christine Pinto, founder of #GAfE4Littles, an amazing new teacher here in So Cal has agreed to team up with me to put a new spin on New Teacher Chat #ntchat. By using Flipgrid in a Slow Flip Chat style (SUPER slow edition) #ntchat will be reborn in a way that is video conversation driven and collaborative. 

Each month Christine and I will share a new topic on FlipGrid and on the #ntchat hashtag. One new question from the topic will be posted to Flipgrid every Saturday morning (4 times a month) so you can kick back with your coffee or tea, take a peak at the convo then jump in. Flipgrid is a user-friendly tool which lets you record video responses to a topic. Since Flipgrid can be used on computer and mobile you can respond anywhere at anytime! One of the unique features is that you can REPLY to other people’s responses. This gives you the WHOLE WEEK to post a response to the question AND reply to other educators at your own pace!

The kick off of our New Teacher Chat #ntchat Re-Boot will be this Saturday, August 5th and the topic is Planning the First Days of School. A new question (Flipgrid refers to them as topics) will be posted to the grid below every Saturday, starting August 5th. Check this blog post or the #ntchat and #slowflipchat hashtags on Twitter for links to the new questions as they get posted. Are you in?

First Question will post this Saturday, August 5th!

We’re A Learning Community

This may be a new step for some of you. You might not be used to sharing your responses, and asking questions, on video. But truth be told, many of us share our lives daily on Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook. Why not here in this New Teacher Chat #FlipGrid learning community? A place where you can get actual feedback from others who are growing in their practice.

Video camera shy? Me too. 🙂 But once you start posting responses and replying to people, the recording won’t seem like such a big deal. You’ll start enjoying the interactions and contributing to others’ responses. It’ll be a fresh way to connect names, faces and voices to Twitter handles of educators in the #ntchat community. 

EVERYONE is Welcome

#Ntchat is NOT limited to new educators only. If you are an aspiring teacher or support new teachers, you are welcome to contribute to the chat and reply to participants. We can only get better together especially as mentors jump in to join us and share their gifts!

I’m excited to be on this #ntchat journey with you. Please invite your friends to join our New Teacher Chat Re-Boot and stay up to date by connecting with me on Twitter @teachwithsoul and/or by joining our New Teacher Chat Facebook Community. Can’t wait to “see” you on the Flip-side!

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