Using Twitter

After 4 days of school, we have 20 followers!

To encourage students to tell their family members to follow us, I am sending home a "feather" thank you for following us gift! I hope it will get more to join!

I also made a How-To set up a twitter acct! This way parents and teachers can follow the steps to join our account! Many who said "I don't have a twitter acct" now are following us!!

I was annoyed by the image of Justin Bever asking me to follow him. So today I chose to follow Mo Willem's Pigeon and Eric Carle. Now other book authors and characters are suggesting we follow them, instead of Justin Bever! Much better!! I think I'll let the class write (or tweet) who they think we should follow before picking anymore to follow.

I was able to post at least 1 tweet at the end of each day. So far, 47 tweets sent!

Now I want to research how other teachers use twitter.

Here's a video I found:
http://www.good.is/posts/twitter-in-the-classroom-watch-this-teacher-engage-shy-students-in-learning-history

I like how he says that twitter is "a paperless way to share your thoughts".

This link: http://fluency21.com/blog/2013/06/18/60-ways-to-use-twitter-in-the-classroom-by-category/ lists 60 ways to use twitter in the classroom:

1. Silencing blurters: For students who have trouble with disruptive blurting, allow them to instantly tweet their blurts silently instead of out loud. (maybe this would be something to try for students like Matt!!)
2. Parent communication: Parents can sign up to receive tweets from teachers, learning about activities, tests, projects, and more. (Doing this!!)
3. Twitter recaps: At the end of the day, teachers can summarize what has been learned in the classroom, encouraging reflection and discussion between students. (Doing this but want to eventually have this be student-created and written)
4. Classroom connections: Classrooms around the world can collaborate using Twitter as a communication tool. (Not sure about "around the world" but would like to connect with Nick's room and maybe friends at Westgate or Stenwood!)
5. Collating classroom views: Students can share their opinions on issues or any open questions, and they can be organized using Twitter. (would like to do this related to books we are reading, stories we are writing and our math thinking.)
6. Following historical figures: There are many Twitter accounts set up that share the lives and personalities of historical figures, and students can follow them for fun and learning. (I wonder if their are any that relate to VA History??)
7. School trip tracking: Whether it’s a field trip or a long journey, students can log and track their progress on a school trip using Twitter. (I will have to do this when we go to Jamestown and our other trips!)
8. Reading assignment summaries: Students can build 140-character summaries based on reading assignments, forcing a focus on quality. (Maybe I can assign this after they read the online SS textbook??)

This link has a cool Bloom's chart showing ways to use twitter to match Bloom's Taxonomy! http://www.edudemic.com/2013/06/22-effective-ways-to-use-twitter-in-the-classroom-2/

I think twitter will be a useful addition to my teaching resources!!