Twenty Seven Interesting Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom By Tom Barrett
This was an excellent resource illustrating how Twitter can be used in the classroom. I never really thought about Twitter in the classroom; I succumbed to the critics and said there is too much danger using Twitter in the classroom, but this presentation really demonstrated ways to safely use Twitter. I certainly see with careful supervision Twitter can be useful. As an ESL teacher I could keep in touch with students on weekends and during break with “new” words or just exposing them to more meaningful communication! I especially liked:
· Gathering Real World Data – this is especially important for ESL Teachers when we try to make the communication meaningful. I thought about this being a place to practice and assess writing for students
· Producing a Tweet Dialogue is great – this can help with editing skills and peer-editing
· Collaboration – in one class or across countries – passing on the story, scavenger hunts, wordle..etc These are great ways to get students who hate to write to “journal” in Twitter
· Keep parents in the loop!
· Monitor the Learning Process – this is so true, there are various forms of assessment that can be accomplished through short comprehension checks
· Students can learn about culture and microblog with other schools across the ocean
· Anxiety goes down – as I read all of the 27 suggestions, I thought about students “learning” but also having fun and relating to their “real” world
The second article, Youth Voices, really excited me and exposed me to using microblogging in education. It is a current and collaborative curriculum that is described as “a meeting place where students share, distribute and discuss their digital work online.” Teachers register their class, students write and comment. There are topics such as Culture and Community, Religion and Beliefs, Nature and Environments, Arts and Humanities, Computers and Science, Careers and Money, and many more. When I peeked into some of the blogs I saw some amazing stuff. Students wrote about cooking, types of houses they wanted to live in, books, movies, haunted rooms, Korean Gardens, and Why are hybrids so expensive…just to name a few. These are real topics for those students, they are writing and editing, commenting and collaborating. As it is with Twitter, the connectivism in this really reduces the stress, and increases the enjoyment as well as increasing the learning.
I see the world of technology in the classroom so differently than I did one month ago. I see Twitter as a place teachers can get help, advice, and share ideas with other experienced teachers which is great for professional development. I also see Twitter and microblogging as great places to foster our students educational development. The irony is as we help our students learn by using technology we also benefit by gaining new ways of assessment, collaboration, and connecting with our students.
This was an excellent resource illustrating how Twitter can be used in the classroom. I never really thought about Twitter in the classroom; I succumbed to the critics and said there is too much danger using Twitter in the classroom, but this presentation really demonstrated ways to safely use Twitter. I certainly see with careful supervision Twitter can be useful. As an ESL teacher I could keep in touch with students on weekends and during break with “new” words or just exposing them to more meaningful communication! I especially liked:
· Gathering Real World Data – this is especially important for ESL Teachers when we try to make the communication meaningful. I thought about this being a place to practice and assess writing for students
· Producing a Tweet Dialogue is great – this can help with editing skills and peer-editing
· Collaboration – in one class or across countries – passing on the story, scavenger hunts, wordle..etc These are great ways to get students who hate to write to “journal” in Twitter
· Keep parents in the loop!
· Monitor the Learning Process – this is so true, there are various forms of assessment that can be accomplished through short comprehension checks
· Students can learn about culture and microblog with other schools across the ocean
· Anxiety goes down – as I read all of the 27 suggestions, I thought about students “learning” but also having fun and relating to their “real” world
The second article, Youth Voices, really excited me and exposed me to using microblogging in education. It is a current and collaborative curriculum that is described as “a meeting place where students share, distribute and discuss their digital work online.” Teachers register their class, students write and comment. There are topics such as Culture and Community, Religion and Beliefs, Nature and Environments, Arts and Humanities, Computers and Science, Careers and Money, and many more. When I peeked into some of the blogs I saw some amazing stuff. Students wrote about cooking, types of houses they wanted to live in, books, movies, haunted rooms, Korean Gardens, and Why are hybrids so expensive…just to name a few. These are real topics for those students, they are writing and editing, commenting and collaborating. As it is with Twitter, the connectivism in this really reduces the stress, and increases the enjoyment as well as increasing the learning.
I see the world of technology in the classroom so differently than I did one month ago. I see Twitter as a place teachers can get help, advice, and share ideas with other experienced teachers which is great for professional development. I also see Twitter and microblogging as great places to foster our students educational development. The irony is as we help our students learn by using technology we also benefit by gaining new ways of assessment, collaboration, and connecting with our students.
