I’ve been creating my periodic tables in one way, shape or form for a number of years now. If I reflect back on their popularity and the way in which they have provided an introduction to a variety of things such as iOS apps, apps for AR/VR, people to follow on social media and books to read, I’m really proud of the impact that they have had. I always find it a lovely moment when people share photos of the tables having been printed out and shared in staff rooms or on digital display boards or by those presenting and sharing the work at events or in training sessions.
How do you compile them?
One of the most difficult parts of creating one of these tables, surprisingly, isn’t the actual making of them – that isn’t too difficult at all, albeit time-consuming. The most significant amount of time actually comes in curating the content to include – and none more so when recommending people to follow on social media.
There are a number of things to consider, and these go to my thinking when compiling the names together.
What factors do you consider?
Firstly, and most importantly, the question I ask is: is this person worth following?
Some of the things I take into account are:
- Are they contributing to education?
- Are they sharing worthwhile content?
- Do they challenge and/or share in respectful ways?
I always feel these things are super important. I’ve always shared that Twitter is the best staffroom in the world and so, when I’m looking for people to include in a resource such as this, I look for the hallmarks of someone who behaves in a collegiate fashion.
What about diversity?
Diversity is something that both I and my colleagues at NetSupport and ReallySchool are exceedingly passionate about.
To that end, the table we share today has broad representation that exceeds the diversity seen in our schools to better reflect society, such as in the inclusion of those from diverse backgrounds. For example, almost 40% of those on the resource come from a BAME background. We have also ensured that members of the LGBTQ community are represented – all while ensuring a strong balance of those educators who do contribute on Twitter and meet the factors outlined above.
We have also connected with members of our PLN and Twitter community (such as representatives from BAMEEd), to make sure our resource has diversity right at the heart of what we are trying to achieve.
Why wasn’t I included?
As with any resource such as this, there will always be some disappointment if you haven’t been included. Whilst inclusion is important, it is also essential to recognise people of all voices and so those featured in this table do not all have large followings. This is important because it is not the size of your follower number that is most significant but what and how you share. We are all equal in that regard.
With there being only 82 spaces on the table, it is inevitable that not everyone can be included. Some people may even be disappointed. What we hope however is that by checking out and following some of these respectful, innovative, interesting, collaborative, creative and passionate educators, you’ll be able to connect with and learn from and about more educators to add to your PLN.
And here it is!
So here is the resource, we hope you find it a useful resource. If you’d like an interactive version of the table where you can click on each of the people on the table which will take you to their Twitter profile, please use the download button below.
To sum up
It would be remiss of me to not say thank you to the individuals (in particular, ReallySchool’s Kat Cauchi), who have helped and made this resource possible and so my thanks go to Kat, Bukky Yusuf, Jamie Lamb and Amelia Henly for feeding into the creation of this resource. Thank you.
I hope you find it useful.