I’ve read lots of blogs by my SBL colleagues and been in awe at what they’ve written and how they have managed to articulate the nuances of our profession and capture the craziness of our day to day roles. I’ve always thought I would be an avid blog reader rather than a blog writer. Recently, however on Twitter, I felt the need to respond to a question from @TheHopefulHT “Can you get some SBM/SBLs on here (Twitter) to share their Why for joining & their What for the impact it has professionally / personally? This could not be done in 140 characters, this time I wasn’t going to chicken out and respond with a direct message, yes the time had come to write a blog!
So why did I join the SBL twitter world? Simple answer following the success of the school’s and nursery’s twitter handles my Headteacher @StAnnesWSM wanted all members of the SLT to have a twitter handle and then regularly share updates on school life. The SLT’s enthusiasm and passion for sharing practice and ideas quickly spread and we now have teachers and learning mentors tweeting about life at St Anne’s but also about children’s mental health, research in action and spreading the enjoyment of learning and school life.
What has the impact been of twitter on me? MASSIVE! It’s my source for CPD (either informally or finding out about conferences and training whilst there are still discounts on early bird booking – SBL always seeking V4£!). As the lone SBL for my school I normally attend training on my own, but now there is pretty much always someone there I “know” from Twitterland. In reality they either freak me out by knowing my name before I’ve clocked who they are or and this is possible worse – I feel like I am a stalker when I start talking to them and freak them out by knowing their name and their latest blog and take on the role of crazed fan near in my opinion a celebrity SBL. (The thrill of having one of them retweet or like one of my tweets!)
It has also been virtual companionship during the long holidays and a reminder to have lunch (#SBMLunch) and I love the SBL specific humour and reality checks. I think I might explore this in another blog (eek get me!).
On a more serious note Twitter was the start of me believing and accepting the impact of my role in my school as well as local, regional and national networks and across the SBL profession. It was through Twitter, I accepted I should at least give it a go and apply for @ISBL_news Fellowship. I actually inadvertently sent a direct message to a whole group of esteemed Twitter SBL declaring my intention to apply, I had only meant to send it to one of them. At that point I appreciated how my Mum feels when she uses Facebook. Anyway talk about piling on to myself additional pressure to actually meet the high standards required for Fellowship. This is one of the reasons for a faceplant emoji, I use them a lot. And I use exclamation marks too much, sorry. I was overjoyed to accept ISBL Fellowship in October last year. Recently two Twitter SBL colleagues contacted me to check out the fellowship application process, so it sounds like Twitter is working its magic again.
Helen Burge
SBL, St Anne’s Church Academy
Waffles of a School Business Leader 