Thing 17: Twitter in the Classroom

After reading information about and experimenting with Twitter, I have discovered it can have many uses in the classroom. One simple application would be to create a class twitter page where the teacher, students, and parents could share information about homework and school events. If I could get all my parents on board, I would save so much time writing and copying information to share with them. Twitter would be a great way to share links to sites like littlebirdtales.com where students create and store projects.

While researching Twitter in the classroom, I came across a teacher's post who stated he used Twitter to record "aha" moments and great questions his students ask throughout the day. This would be a great idea for all grade levels. I think Twitter would be a great way for students to answer bellringer and essential questions. As with any written form of communication, Twitter would allow those students who do not like speaking in front of others to share their thoughts. Once more, Twitter could be used as a tool to connect students to others from all over the world. The Kindergarten Twitter Project lists many examples of using Twitter in this fashion. I especially liked this site because I could use it with my students.

Also, Twitter would be a great way for teachers and principals to quickly share information with one another. Twitter could also be used during professional development to acquire feedback.

Thing 3: Twitter

I recently subscribed to Twitter and am finding it quite interesting. It is a great way for professionals to share and find information. While working on this task, I had to make myself stop reading. While searching for WVTIS, I came along this tweet:

https://sites.google.com/site/richardbyrnepdsite/website-creation-tools

The article descibes 10 various web platforms teachers can use to create websites for their classroom. I had not heard about most of the sites, so this article was very informing and certainly worth the read.

I am now following 5 technology experts. One person in particular I chose was Bill Gates as he has received a lot of publicity for his work in education reform.

I decided to search topics such as SmartBoard, Special Education, and Autism. I found a few interesting people and am eager to view their information. Many of the special education tweets are empowering articles. Great reads!!