Twitter Teaching

I have joined Twitter for the first time this week!  After exploring and reading a few articles, I have learned how microblogging can be used in the language classroom AND for professional development. 

You Are Now Entering the Twitterverse

In just reading this one article I realized how many ways a teacher really can use Twitter to instruct students in a meaningful manner! Below I will describe some innovative ideas for Twitter use….

·         Twitter Characters – Students can create Twitter accounts for different characters in a book you are reading and have conversations with a partner (another character) about chosen/assigned topics; choose a scene to recreate in “tweet-speak”

·         Reading log/Book talks – Students can have discussions surrounding a book they are reading in class; post questions, reactions, comments to the text as they read; by using a specific hashtag in each tweet you can create your own class reading response thread

·         Scavenger Hunts - Tweet different "hunts" to your students; involve students finding unique facts within their reading assignment or searching around online for a factoid I set them after; it could be a contest and the first person to tweet you the answer wins

·         Resource Twitter Page – Post homework assignments, notes, reminders for students to look at while outside of the classroom; post helpful/extra links for students to explore or use to help them do assignments

·         Daily Words/Quotes – Post a new word (with definition?)and/or quote to Twitter each morning and students can explore them as much as they'd like

·         Retweeting – If you find something interesting that would be beneficial or relevant to what class is learning, retweet (share) it with your class OR to a specific student/s

I think these ideas are amazing and only the beginning of how Twitter can be integrated into instruction! These also can be adapted to almost any subject area.  I can particularly see myself using these types of activities in my future foreign language classroom!

Educational Twitter Chats Calendar

 

One of the ways that educators can benefit from using Twitter is to participate in any number of Twitter chats. Twitter chats are scheduled events or conversations that use a specific hashtag in an attempt to organize a conversation around a particular topic. If you're new to Twitter participating in ed chats can be a good way to connect with other educators that are interested in the same topics as you.

My First Social Networking Group

Classroom 2.0



After investigating several social networking services, I think Classroom 2.0 is a good place for me to start. It is a networking group for teachers interested in Web 2.0 and Social Media in education. What really appealed to me was the fact that it welcomed “beginners.”  This would be my first educational networking group and after perusing the site, I feel very comfortable to join and take advantage of the benefits of digital dialogue.   I think this website would be a good starting place to begin having digital conversations with other teachers.  I like how the forum posts are easy to search because of the “tags.”  It also gives a long list of discussions on specific topics categorized by tools, subjects, and areas on the left side of the homepage. I noticed topics that are relevant to me such as: blogging, social networking, foreign languages, elementary, secondary or high school, and MANY MORE. 

My Analogy of The Teacher Today….

Connectivism and Teaching

After reading this article about CONNECTIVISM it seems that my idea of learning and the role of being a teacher must be altered.  I think it is true that our world around us has changed immensely, especially with respect to the infinite amount of technology and information available to all human beings. However education (its structure/foundation) has been slow to change in order to adapt to the ways of today’s society.  The article states, “Learning is a process that occurs within nebulous environments of shifting core elements – not entirely under the control of the individual. Learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an organization or a database), is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing.” This means that because of the huge growth in knowledge that is occurring on a daily basis, a person can never know everything there is available to know.  What matters is the ability of the individual to be able to find and CONNECT with other people, networks, and technological sources in order to continue learning.  Then one person can share what they know with another person who knows other things, and so on and so on.  In the video, The Network is the Learning , Siemens says, “that particular network that I create is what enables me to continue to stay current…in my own field and just with the trends that are occurring in the rest of society as well.”  Additionally, the Connectivism article also states, “The pipe is more important than the content within the pipe. Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today. A real challenge for any learning theory is to actuate known knowledge at the point of application. When knowledge, however, is needed, but not known, the ability to plug into sources to meet the requirements becomes a vital skill. As knowledge continues to grow and evolve, access to what is needed is more important than what the learner currently possesses.”

Based on these ideas, a teacher today is like a tour guide of a college campus.  A tour guide shows people all of the important places on campus and gives information about where to go in order to complete certain tasks as well as which people/places will be able to help them with specific things.  In general, a tour guide briefly explains where to go to do certain things or where to go to find help while attending the school/ learning on campus.  This is exactly like a teacher of today’s society. A teacher introduces their students to the huge world of networks that are available to them in order to learn throughout their lifetime.  A goal of a teacher should be to promote lifelong learning.  Since the amount of known information increases daily, a teacher can never teach everything.  However they CAN show students how to connect with networks in a way to continue learning!  Teachers must be the connection to and tour guides of the networks available to students in the ever changing world we live in.  What we teach them today will not matter in the future.  But, if we teach them how to stay current through networks and technology, they will hopefully be able to learn what is needed in the future!

My Resources:

http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jan_05/article01.htm
Siemens, G.  (2005, January).  Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age.  International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, Retrieved November 20, 2005

The Impact of Social Media on Learning (3:18 minutes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grI_h88vs3g&feature=PlayList&p=3E43054A8703F57A&index=3 Retrieved January10, 2009.

The Network is the Learning (3:14 minutes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpbkdeyFxZw&feature=PlayList&p=3E43054A8703F57A&index=4 Retrieved January 10, 2009.