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Monday, February 15, 2010

twitter handbook for teachers

Should teachers use twitter?  Here is a twitter handbook for teachers.   Check it out and see if you learn anything that you can use in the classroom.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/14062777/Twitter-Handbook-for-Teachers

5 comments:

Nick Provenzano said...

Very cool! I'm going to add a link to this page. Wonderful and very informative. Thanks for sharing.

Jen said...

I personally do not think that teachers should use Twitter. I think that it may be a decent way to communicate and share ideas for college age students and curriculum. However, I do not really think that Twitter should be introduced to the classroom or encouraged among teachers earlier than that. I feel as though more emphasis on technology in this way would not necessarily be beneficial to young students I think that the page you posted above is very interesting, says some great things and is informative.

katelyn said...

I was just reading through Jen's comment and I agree that teachers should not be using Twitter. I don't think Twitter should be reinforced within the classroom because a lot of inappropriate things take place on Twitter. I think there are better ways of communication and things would begin to become out of control in the classroom if the use of Twitter is encouraged for young students. It would be awesome way to communicate from teacher to teacher because they can share their lesson plans easily and effortlessly but that can also be done by googling lesson plans.

Mrs. Tenkely said...

Wow, I totally disagree with Jen and Katelyn's comments. I think that Twitter is a great tool in the classroom. I use Twitter with younger students (1st-5th grade) with a class Twitter account. Throughout the day my students can access our Twitter account and send out tweets about what is happening in the classroom. Parents and community members are able to have an upclose and personal view of the classroom and what their children are up to all day long. This keeps parents informed about what is happening in the classroom in a unique way. For example my students might tweet "Oh no, pop math quiz. Yikes!" or "We are reading chapter 3 of Junie B. has a peep in her pocket" When a student gets home parents aren't asking "What did you do today?" and getting a "nothing" response. Instead they can ask specific questions about the day. "How do you think you did on the math quiz? Were you nervous?"
You only follow those that you deem appropriate with the class account, there shouldn't be any inappropriate content in the Twitter stream. If you are concerned about who is following you, you can close your stream so that you have to approve who follows you.
This also has the ability to connect classes and students around the world. This has amazing implications!
The classroom only becomes out of control if the teacher is out of control. Pencils can be used as deadly weapons, paper can be used as paper airplanes. The only reason a classroom is ever out of control is when a teacher allows it. Twitter is no exception.
Googling lesson plans may give you some results, but if you Tweet asking for resources you are going to get lessons created by teachers who can answer questions, offer suggestions, and support.

Unknown said...

I agree with you Mrs. Tenkely. The comments from my University students are based on their K-12 experience as students and not as educators. Hopefully as the move into the teaching program and into the classroom they may find a use for the tools that I am trying to share with them. I am asking them for their opinions and I am grateful that they can hear from an expert educator such as yourself. Thanks for responding to them.