Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Utilizing Twitter In the Classroom

How You Can use Twitter as a Creative Learning Tool in the Classroom

Many people out there are not fans of social media because they believe that these platforms have them put more information out there than what they want people to know, and some can be tricky to use. However younger generations can not get enough time of being on social media and know the tricks and the ways of almost every platform of social media that is out there. So why not as educators use these social media platforms as tools in the classroom to help students learn and achieve? 
Let's be hones they are probably trying or figuring out different ways in which they can "sneakily" get on Facebook to check what notifications they got in the last ten minutes. Instead of yelling at them and most likely getting no where and putting your lesson behind even more, let's go through the different ways you can utilize social media platform Twitter in the classroom. Ever have those students who forget to write assignments down in their planners? Why not "tweet" out what the homework is every night so students can easily get access to it, and not get a grade for not doing their homework. This not only allows you to limit the amount of E-mails you get a day but can help aid the students when questions arise for a quick response, and the cool part of that is that other students can comment back and answer the question for the student who asked! Which saves you time and helps you work on getting next week's lesson plans finished.
Another cool aspect about Twitter in the classroom is that you can have each of your classes create a class account and have the students help in deciding who to follow, trend information pertaining to your class, and even create some class hash tags that will you can have the students follow and use on their own personal account. This allows students the freedom to see what is going on in the class, community,and world just at the touch of their fingertips. 
Another great aspect of using Twitter in the classroom is when you want to "brag" about how awesome your students are. It is social media! You can do that and why your at it why not show off to your school board at the next meeting how you are incorporating technology into the classroom by using something your students are already familiar with. 
I can honestly say it wasn't until my last two years of college that I really began to use Twitter, I was very close-minded about using it because I had nothing that I thought was worth "Tweeting" about. However one professor showed us all the ways of Twitter and how we can use it continuously throughout our lives in and out of the classroom effectively. Take it from me, your gonna need practice but when it comes down to it, this is only SOME of the numerous benefits of utilizing Twitter in the classroom.
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