On the appointed day and time(Thursday nights), log into your Twitter account. If you haven't used Twitter often, the first step is to look on the upper right hand corner to locate the search box.

You locate the live Twitter chat by finding the hashtag. The hashtag for the EISD weekly chats will be #eaneschat. To find the chat, go to Twitter's search box and type in "#eaneschat".

NOTE: What is a hashtag? It is just an agreed-upon abbreviation for a chat or topic. When you click on anything with a # sign, it will show you all tweets about that subject. (For example, during the Olympics, you can click on #sochi2014 to see tweets about it).

After you search for the hashtag, you can see anyone's tweets that used that hashtag. When a "live" chat is going on, you can refresh the screen to see new tweets that have created with that hashtag. If you feel reluctant about chatting, this allows you to "lurk" and watch the chat.

NOTE: Sometimes people use a hashtag when the chat isn't "live." The reason? So they can communicate to others who use that hashtag, even when the live chat isn't happening.

Often, questions are posed in a Twitter chat. To answer the question, hit the reply button. Make sure when you reply, you add #eaneschat so that everyone in the chat can see your response.

NOTE: Sometimes in Twitter chats, questions are numbered like this: Q1, Q2. If you answer one of these, you can start your tweet with A1 (Answer 1 if you are answering question 1, etc.).

To follow a busy twitter chat, some people use other tools to help them follow it more easily. One easy one is Tweetchat.com. You can enter a hashtag and follow the tweets being made. (Other common tools are Tweetdeck or Hootsuite). These are all free websites that link to your twitter account.

A twitter chat is like a conversation in your PLC but it takes place online and you are participating with more people. You can say hello, suggest a good app that people might like to try, share a link, tell someone about a good book, or tell a joke just like you would in your own PLC group. You can always start with "Hello, I'm from...."

NOTE: In most Twitter edchats, there are organized questions you can also respond to. Every educator has ideas to share, so try chiming in.

To get started, you can follow many of our edtechs who are on Twitter. You can follow @eanesisd, or your school's Twitter account. See you on Thursday! @technolibrary and @mrhooker!