The #flipclass chat has been about learning and building community for a long time now, and I am so proud of the community we've built. But because the hectic day-to-day grind of teaching, we can lose track of people who came by to talk and kind of have drifted away in the past few months/years. This is not really any different than losing track of friends from high school or college, and I'm sure people get busy and forget, but I get concerned for teachers who disappear down the Not Being Around On Twitter rabbit hole.
I know how critical this community has been for my teaching health, and I also know that I tend to get into the "go-go-go" mindset during the school year. I have the tendency to withdraw and cut myself off from the group of people who bring life to my practice. And if that's my personal tendency, I'm sure it's the case for others as well.
So I'd like to propose taking one day a week (I'm choosing Fridays arbitrarily, mostly because today is Friday, and because Follow Friday is already a thing) for all of us to send out a few tweets to people we haven't seen around in awhile, just checking in with them.
Maybe this will become a thing; maybe not. Maybe it will make a difference to a few educators. I hope so. I know that this is what people in intentional community do-- they check in with each other, see how their friends/colleagues are doing, and maybe even bring them a piece of blueberry cake or something.
So let's knock on some Twitter Doors and bring over some snacks. I think we'll all be better off for it.