Twitter

Twitteracy vs. Literacy

Literacy ain’t what it used to be.  All kidding aside, students in the 21st century classroom learn in an entirely different way.  Keeping the digital natives from getting restless is no easy task. Research shows when students are having fun,  learning must be taking place. With iPods, smartphones, and social media outlets, students are micro-blogging their fingertips off. Well, if you can’t stop them, join them!

What is Twitter exactly?  Watch this video, Twitter in Plain English.

Twitter in Plain English from 1BL videos on Vimeo.

I started using Twitter in 2009. Originally, I just wanted to send text message reminders and helpful website links to my students. @dixontweets became a fast and fun way to keep students (and parents) informed and focused.

After researching how other teachers are tweeting, I found innovative options for using Twitter to encourage literacy or should I say Twitteracy.

Twitteracy Applications

(1) Collaboration- Students can collaborate on projects by using Tweetworks. Tweetworks is a Twitter application that allows threaded conversations.
(2) Word Choice- To quote Shakespeare, “Brevity is soul of wit.” Teachers can have students tweet (in 140 characters or less) character descriptions, plot outlines, and themes of novels to demonstrate comprehension.
(3) Creative Writing- Create a Twitory, Twitter story, where students take turns tweeting, in 140 characters or less, to create an entire story.

So, why Twitter? Why not? Take a look at how other teachers are using Twitter in their classrooms.