If you haven't already read Twitter for the Classroom {Part 1}, it might be worth looking at! :)
But if you've read it and are ready for more info about this amazing little classroom tool, read on!
Our {Part 2} discussion topics:
- Why I Advocate for Twitter in the Classroom
- 5 Personal Success Stories from Using Twitter in the Classroom
Why I Advocate for Twitter in the Classroom
- Twitter is free to use. It doesn't cost anything to register or use on a computer. The only way it would cost money if you're using the texting feature is if you don't have a text messaging plan. The only way it would cost money if you're using it on an application (on a mobile device) is if you opt to purchase the app that costs money. There are plenty of free Twitter apps available!
- Twitter is easy to use. Everything is pretty self-explanatory, so even the students who aren't proficient in technology can muddle their way through Twitter. If a user is having a particularly hard time figuring Twitter out, he/she can explore the Twitter FAQ section.
- Because the limits are set extravagantly high (250 direct messages/day, 1,000 updates/day, and 2,000 followers before error messages occur), there's no way a teacher would ever "go over" the allotted limited, like what might happen if you're using a paid subscriber service through another company.
- Because the limits are so high, parents, grandparents, and other family members can follow the class Twitter with no repercussions. This helps entire families stay connected, even though they may be states away!
- Students who don't have the Internet at home can use a computer to set up his/her Twitter one time, and then he/she can access it via cell phone and text message or mobile device and app.
- Students or parents who are worried about getting tweets during school or sleep hours can manually set which times to allow Twitter to send updates.
- There are features to ensure that students who do not want to be contacted by people beyond the "approved followers list" will get the privacy they need.
- Because it's a social networking site, students can find each other on Twitter and collaborate online -- both for assignments in my class and for other classes!
- Because it's a social networking site, students can follow other educational Twitters or students from across the world to gain cultural, educational, or career insight.
- Students can easily reply to you. If you tweet something that doesn't make sense, a student can reply immediately and ask a question. When you tweet something that requires an answer, students can answer via reply tweet. (This has come in handy for me on several occasions!)
- Shy kids get a voice. A kid who might be too shy to ask/tell you something in class may have no problem voicing it online. (There is something about a keyboard and a screen that makes humans automatically become a little more courageous.)
- Today's society does not have a long attention span. Twitter's quick, 140-character messages are perfect for sending out small but important doses of information!
- There are several Twitter-based projects for classroom use that I think would work well to teach and engage students. {Learn more about those in Part 3!}
- Teachers can relay a wealth of information via text, picture, or video link. {Learn more about these in Part 3!}
- When I taught 8th grade, I had a young lady who was involved in pretty much every club, sport, and organization the school had to offer. Every Thursday night, I had a habit of tweeting a reminder to study for the vocab quiz that would take place the following day. At the end of the year, this student revealed to me that my Thursday night updates were very helpful to her. She would inevitably be on the bus, coming home from yet another after school, extra-curricular event, and her phone would buzz. It would be Twitter, sending her a message from with the reminder about the quiz. She would immediately study the words the rest of the way home...and she nearly always made an A or a B on the quizzes! I like that she was able to use our classroom updates as a reminder/calendar service of sorts.
- Also when I was teaching 8th grade, I had a boy who would sit in the back corner of the room and refuse to participate in anything. Most days, I had to wonder if he was even conscious. I'd learned a long time ago that asking him to sit up or participate would just lead to a verbal escapade...which would then lead to me sending him tot he office to calm down...he would get In-School Detention (which did nothing for him), and come back to class the same as ever. This was one of my "pick your battles" moments. My class was reading a novel, and although the novel was on his desk, I was pretty sure he wasn't listening or following along. One night I sent a tweet to the effect of, "if you're bored with the novel, hang on! Tomorrow's chapter gets exciting!" Class the next day came and went, and he never said a word. But that night, I tweeted to my students to ask them what they thought of that "exciting" chapter. He actually replied, "I don't like reading, but you were right. That chapter was good!" ...And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I teach. :) I would have never even know he was paying attention had he not sent me that message. It renewed my spirits and I was able to use Twitter to draw him into the classroom novel discussions.
- Also while teaching 8th grade, I had a parent who was very concerned about the well-being and success of her son. Her son rarely opened up to her, but she was desperate for a glimpse into his personal and school life. I helped her connect to the class Twitter, and she was able to see all of our state updates. Doing this helped ease the tension between her and her son because she no longer had to pry information out of him (about my class, anyway)!
- I was having trouble with my classes saying rude things. I genuinely believed those students meant no harm in saying what they did; they simply didn't know or didn't think about how bad the words sounded before letting it escape their lips. So I was on this kick about tweeting "life lessons" and "character motivations." One Tuesday night, I randomly tweeted that our first "Wednesday Challenge" would begin the next day. Their first challenge was to say something nice to every person they talked to that day. No students reply or mentioned it in class that morning. I spoke to a fellow teacher at the end of school, and she said one of her students (we'll call him "R") said something strange in class. He's normally a very quiet kid, but today, he was complimenting all the girls. The coworker asked, "what's gotten into you today, R?" He smiled and said, "It's part of Mrs. K's Wednesday Challenge!" ....Are you getting those "warm 'n fuzzies" yet???
- One evening, I tweeted something about challenging my students to do something nice for a stranger over the weekend., and included a #PayItForward hashtag. One of my kids replied, asking what "pay it forward" means. I got the opportunity to explain the concept. That term would probably have never come up in my day-to-day teaching, because, let's face it, I'm too swamped trying to cover the massive English objectives to be concerned with teaching my students the "pay it forward" concept in class. But social skills are an issue, and they need to be taught! So I was able to squeeze in that little "mini lesson" to all that followed the class Twitter. And even though I replied to that one student about the meaning of "pay it forward," all the other students could read the reply, so I felt like I was explaining it to them, too.
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