The three educators are among a growing number in the Philadelphia region who are using Twitter, the social-networking and micro-blogging service, to enhance their teaching, often on their own time.
"For me, Twitter has been a way to connect with a lot of other educators around the country and even around the world," Aungst said. "It's been a way for me to extend the conversation about education and practice in the classroom beyond my immediate circle of people in my district."
Some educators use Twitter - through which users "tweet" messages limited to 140 characters - to connect their students with the outside world. Others use it to share resources and ideas with other teachers.
For teachers who spend much of their days as the only adult inside classrooms, Twitter - along with other social-networking websites - can provide a unique platform for conversation.
Teachers have traditionally networked through conferences. A drawback from those meetings, said Bill Brannick, principal at Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast Catholic High Schools in Drexel Hill, is that once they are over, the connections often disappear.
"The thing about Twitter is, it is a continuous source of self-directed professional development," Brannick said. He said he often follows up on tweets by having more extensive conversations. "It's almost a gateway to deeper and richer communication and enrichment."
Ann Leaness, a technology teacher at Martin Luther King High School in Philadelphia, said Twitter had opened her world.
"It's like professional development at your fingertips," Leaness said. "You can learn whatever you want from experts all over the world."
