It’s fair to say that the periodic table design for sharing links, apps, people to follow and books to read has been a successful and popular formula for a great resource. Over the years since the first one was created, they’ve been shared the world over. They’ve helped educators connect with others, learn about tools that support learning and teaching, provided ideas for books to read to support professional learning – and more.
Recently, we created a periodic table featuring UK Primary educators to follow on Twitter which was very well received with thousands of views, likes and comments.
We hope the new EYFS table will prove just as useful!
What’s new this time?
Following some feedback, one thing that differs with this resource compared to the previous one is that we’ve taken more of an international perspective on those recommended. So on this table, we are pleased to include those working in EYFS from around the world, not just the UK.
How do you compile them?
As we shared when we created the UK Primary table, one of the most difficult parts of creating these types of resources is curating those people to follow. Sure, the building of the table and the design work takes time; however, curating it all takes the greatest amount of time. There are lots of factors to consider and the hard part of it is, whilst there are 82 spaces on the resource, you’re always going to miss somebody out or somebody is going to feel excluded or unhappy at their lack of inclusion.
The truth is that we make every endeavour to ensure that there is a broad cross-section of representation, from geography to gender to diversity; we go to great lengths to ensure that the accounts we recommend are representative, incorporate good contributors, share worthwhile content – and we do so whilst trying to ensure there are people included with both large and small followings.
Why wasn’t I included?
As with any resource such as this, there will always be some disappointment if you haven’t been included but feel that you should have been. Please do not see that as a reflection on what you do! We view the resource as a launchpad for educators to build, develop and extend their professional learning networks and hope that, should people engage with it, many of those who have been included will be part of your wider network and will end up connecting with you organically.
What do educators say?
As with all these resources, part of the curation and creation process involves connecting with those to provide balances and checks to ensure we are creating a representative resource. This time, we also reached out to some educators who are included in the table to find out their thoughts about being featured. One of those educators is Kim Peacock of Martongate Primary School, East Yorkshire. She shared:
“I can’t wait to share the periodic table of EYFS Educators on Twitter and back in school with my team, as there are so many wonderful practitioners included within it who have inspired, supported and challenged my thinking in recent months. They have helped me become the practitioner I am, and I look forward to making some new connections with faces who appear on it that I have not yet discovered. Our setting will proudly display it on our ‘We are practitioners’ board as a reminder and reference point to the fantastic diverse network of EYFS support on Twitter during the changes that are occurring in our sector.”
It is also worthy of note that in part, the reason why we created this EYFS resource was following several people (such as Tamsin Grimmer!) requesting that we make an EYFS-specific table.
Whilst Tamsin is included, another early supporter for this table was Aaron Bradbury-Coffey. When asked about the table and his thoughts, he shared:
This EYFS periodic table will help those new to social media or just looking to extend their EYFS knowledge to feel secure that there is a resource which has been checked to make sure that EYFS pedagogy and practice is as the forefront of our social media network. Twitter is a fantastic resource. It allows you to learn from a global perspective when it comes to the Early Years. You can connect with like-minded educators for sharing of resources, knowledge, and challenge when it is needed too. My advice to using the platform would be to engage, like and share. Don’t hold back. Enjoy the positive aspects of Twitter but also enjoy the challenge that comes with it too. Be brave, share your EYs voice as it’s an important one to share.
Clearly, we are all fans of this great social network and why wouldn’t we be? Twitter is the best staff room in the world, and we hope you find this resource useful in helping you connect with some great practitioners. Use it as a launchpad to not only support your professional learning but to help you connect with others beyond those included on the table.
And here it is!
Below you will find a high-resolution printable version of the table for your staff room noticeboard or digital signage. In addition, we have also created an interactive PDF version where you can click directly on anyone on the table and be taken directly to their profile page so you can follow them, check out their contributions and more.
If you like this resource, why not tweet about it and share it to your networks too? Click here to tweet the resource!
And while you’re at it, why not drop @ReallySchoolK, @NetSupportGroup and @ICTEvangelist a line to let them know your thoughts on it – we’d love to hear from you!