Teachers have been blogging for years now about the power of social media and the importance of belonging to a PLN so I don’t expect this post to be a surprise to anyone but I would still like to recount yesterdays events.

Let me rewind a bit. This weekend our senior boys basketball team participated in a 16 team tournament at John McGregor Secondary School in Chatham. There were teams from all over the place – Windsor, Sarnia, Ridgetown.

I was unable to attend Friday night to reasons beyond my control but was anxious and excited to be there all day Saturday.

Until I got up.

MORE SNOW!

I’m sure I am not the only one tired of this winter’s weather already. My street was buried…again. I couldn’t see pavement from any viewpoint in the house. Just white blankets and hills. Immediately I checked my phone looking for a text message about the tournament being cancelled. Nothing. Next I checked my school email. Nothing.

“Maybe it’s too early” I thought although knowing the first game was only thirty minutes away. So I did what any coach would do and reached out to the bosses looking for an answer. My emails and text messages were eventually received but not before someone sent me a tweet first.

Has anyone heard about the bball tourny today? @TracyVDB @JMSS_Tweet @ICRPS_Sundevils 401 is closed – highway 40 is closed.

— Brian Aspinall (@mraspinall) January 25, 2014

@mraspinall @TracyVDB @JMSS_Tweet @ICRPS_Sundevils Trying to find out as well if Dave Allin tourney is on. No cancellation on radio.

— Martin Steele (@msteele14) January 25, 2014

This is not uncommon in today’s world. What makes this conversation unique is that I do not follow Martin, nor does he follow me. As we both searched the twittersphere for answers we bumped into each other.

@mraspinall @JMSS_Tweet @ICRPS_Sundevils Have you heard anything yet?

— Tracy VanDenBossche (@TracyVDB) January 25, 2014

@mraspinall @JMSS_Tweet @ICRPS_Sundevils I'm going to pop over and see what's going on – stay tuned 🙂

— Tracy VanDenBossche (@TracyVDB) January 25, 2014

Luckily my vice principal lives in the school’s area. Now her and I could have had this conversation via email or phone but since it was on twitter, everyone else could see, including Martin.

At this point I could tell my VP was ready to go and on her phone because the twitter account changed from personal to school.

@mraspinall I'm 2 minutes away so it's no big deal…driveway is shovelled and I already have my Tims 🙂

— ICRPS_Sundevils (@ICRPS_Sundevils) January 25, 2014

Turns out 9 of the 16 teams made the treacherous drive and were dedicated to a day of basketball.

Hey BBall players…game is a go at 11 at JMSS…spread the word #allintourney

— ICRPS_Sundevils (@ICRPS_Sundevils) January 25, 2014

@mraspinall Schedule pic.twitter.com/XC49gxJomg

— ICRPS_Sundevils (@ICRPS_Sundevils) January 25, 2014

The entire conversation above took place before I had received any kind of response on my cell phone or via email showing, yet again, why we must embrace these tools in education. Since most members of my basketball team follow on twitter, they would have seen the updates as well.

Congrats boys on the silver medal yesterday. Looking forward to the three games we have this week!