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Twitter in the Classroom?!

The more I delve into the world of social media and technology, the more I realize how much it can improve my classroom and also me as a teacher. At first, the thought of live tweeting from my Kindergarten classroom seemed silly. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that my students do amazing things throughout the day but often get no recognition for it. Twitter could serve as that form of recognition and also a way to share information about my classroom and our school.

Alan November and Brian Mull perfectly define Twitter as being "an organizational structure that makes it an effective tool for connecting with students and others online". Both authors go on to discuss how the use of a hashtag has changed the world. Just the other day, I used twitter hashtags to find out more about an educational program my school is considering. I was greeted with several thousand tweets about the program, many of which contained articles attached. Not only was I able to quickly find information, I was also able to hear from different educators around the world. The ability to connect is incredible. November and Mull used the example of Egypt and how during a crisis, the people of Egypt were able to connect and share information with the world by simply using a hashtag. I could see this method being successful within the classroom by creating a classroom hashtag or a school hashtag, thus connecting everyone in the building. If I incorporated a hashtag in my classroom, I would use #Kaitlin'sKinders.

Besides classroom use, Twitter can also be a great tool for professional development. The TwitterChat I attended served as a great form of professional development. The ability to collaborate and network with teachers all around the world is incredible. Twitter opens up doors that may have seemed shut forever. For example, when I began looking for an initial sound activity this afternoon, I did a Twitter search. Not only did I find several hundred tweets, I found a great idea for my activity for this week. Twitter is very attractive to someone like myself. It is my second year teaching and my first year back as a student, so I am always looking for fresh ideas and new perspectives. Twitter offers both. It also allows me to learn and grow as an educator in a setting that I am familiar with.

With all of the new technology and social media platforms today, it is easy to get caught up in it all. Twitter has given our world an organized platform in which we are able to find information, get real-time information, and also learn something new.

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  1. UnknownOctober 22, 2017 at 1:48 PM

    I like the way you mention that Twitter organizes a lot the information out there. I agree that it can be daunting to go through so much information, but Twitter can be a help in organizing it. New teachers, especially those who are regular Twitter users, can have immediate access to lesson planning and ideas in a way they never could and don't necessarily have to wait until "Professional Development Day" to find helpful or relevant information.

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