1 – Gather real-world data
Put a shout out to your Twitter network for them to tell you (and your students) something. This makes learning based on up-to-date information and real people (with a real story behind it!)
2 -Monitor the “Buzzwords”
First…Use twitterfall.com
Type in a keyword (“communism”, “appeasement”, “poverty” – whatever)
Then watch the results come pouring in using twitterfall!
Then…use twittermap.com which allows you to GeoTag users and their posts. You therefore get an idea of where certain topics are being discussed most…
3 – Summarise topics/views as tweets
First…Use historicaltweets.com
This gives some great ideas about how famous people might summarise their ideas/experiences as “Tweets” in 140 characters max!
Then…students do the same!
Produce a Tweet dialogue between two opposing characters (e.g. King Harold and William the Conqueror) about a key issue… Summarize a topic/concept/viewpoint as a tweet; each student should be given a different one to focus on.
4 – Really simple one – tweetstory
First…Choose your theme (Genre – Fairy Tale, Sports Story, Adventure etc.)
Give it a standard story opener and tweet this to your network. Ask network to continue the story in tweets, collaborating with the previous tweets and following them via twitterfall.com or a #tag.
Then…students follow via twitterfall, choose the best ones and edit them into a coherent story. (Great for editing skills, story structure etc.)
5 – Collate classroom views
Homework (or netbooks or ICT room):
First…set up new twitter account with name of topic or question.
EG: Students discussing current economic climate might be: SaveOrSpend
Ask pupils to tweet @SaveOrSpend which they think is the wisest thing to do with your hard earned cash, or Government taxes. Any topic that has an open question to ask..
Then the twitter account collates the classes tweets in a web page…Instant collaborative web page with contributors’ identities included.
6 - Let parents follow what you are up to
Set up a new Twitter account for your class – you will possibly want to ‘protect’ your updates. Invite parents to ‘follow’ you, and they can see what the class are up to from any computer (home, work, internet cafe…) at any time of the day or night. They might even tweet back now and again!
7 – Find out where people are
Put up a tweet asking people to give you their location.
Class first estimate distance from school, then use an atlas to gauge distance.
Then using Google Earth – can place mark where they are and find out distances.
Retweet results!
Benefits:
Gives class an immediate set of places and distances to research.
Interested to find out where people are and who they are!
8 – Short but sweet
Give children individually the twitter 140 characters rule – they have to write story introduction, character description or whole story.
Results can then be posted onto twitter or via blogs
In groups tell children they are to play pass it on – but must do this in only twitter ‘speak’ 140 characters.
They then add to it around the group and can be shared in same way!
9 – Twitter Poll
How do adult opinions differ from the views of the class?
Use a twitter poll to collect and graph opinions about a controversial issue.
http://twtpoll.com
10 – Word Morph
Student stuck trying to find a new or interesting word? Is the student’s writing clique or lacking descriptive language?
Use twitter to send out a word and have your network give the students synonym and other meanings, thereby testing the literacy strength of your PLN. Or have classrooms connect during writing workshops. Then have the students help each other create Wordle clouds of a word and the words that are synonyms, antonyms, and examples to foster stronger and more descriptive writing. The Wordle clouds become help posters during writing for the rest of the year.
11 - Come together
Find someone in another class, school, country who is interested in the same topic you are. Following each other on Twitter, share information, resources and ideas. Help each other find answers or even suggest questions.
Example – Rain Forest
- Primary class, primary teacher, class from special school, teacher (special), secondary class, secondary teacher and subject expert all linked via Twitter.
- Sharing resources/learning with others is easy and context specific.
- Primary/special pupils can tweet questions to secondary pupils who can either answer from prior knowledge or investigate. Subject expert able to make sure all is correct.
- Twitter quiz set by secondary pupils as plenary activity for special/primary pupils.
12 – Point of View and Character Development
Based on a novel or short story…
After a study of point of view and character development
Students become a character and create a twitter account ex: @janeeyre, @rochester. Students use their study of that character to create conversations around key events in the plot. Would be even more interesting to focus on events and situations that are omitted from the text, but referred to, so the students are creating their own fiction based on their knowledge of the writer, the time period, and the characters.
13 – GeoTweets
- Following in the footsteps of Tip #1 and #7.
- Introduce your class to the features of Google Earth by asking your Twitter network for a small piece of location info.
- Challenge your class to find the teachers who have replied.
- Try to gather some evidence that you have found them – name on football pitch, distinct shape of building – something to prove they have been found.
- Reply with this info.
- Use different Google Earth layers of information to help with the search.
- Gives a great real purpose to the use of Google Earth
14 – Global Assembly
- Ask you Twitter network to comment on local or national issues for a class or whole school assembly.
- In the past I have asked mine to comment on the question, “What does WATER means to them?” and “What does a new term mean to you?”
- With a global, if somewhat still limited, perspective we were able to talk about how world climate differences can influence such a commodity.
- Ask you network to comment on the issue you are discussing and to ensure they provide where they are.
15 – Word Play
Anagrams – post 8 letters and see how many new words can be formed?
- “What does it mean?”
- Use twtpoll.com to post definitions.
- Who can guess the correct meaning?
Post a Word and Guess…
- Synonyms?
- Antonyms?
- Homonyms?
16 – Twiddeo
Use http://betatwiddeo.com to upload videos from mobile phones to a twitter tag or account on a field trip or day out to the museum etc.
17 – Communicate with experts
There are loads of experts on Twitter these days, and some are willing to talk to the kids. Find an author, a scientist, a local historian…
NASA has many twitter streams, as do NASA Fellows (teachers who work on NASA projects.) They’re Twitter-friendly!
18 – Use a Twitter widget for instant webpage updates
Teachers are often locked into using particular website builders.
Adding a Twitter badge means being able to add instant web updates any time, anywhere.
These updates can be viewed by everyone who visits your website–even parents who’ve never heard of Twitter.
19 – Monitor the learning process
While they work on assignments, stimulate your students to tweet and reply about:
- stuff they learn
- difficulties they face
- tips they want to share
- great resources they find
In this way, Twitter replaces the students logbook.
It’s useful to the students: they become aware of their own learning process + it’s a way of collaborative learning. It’s useful to the teacher: each students learning process becomes visible and can be evaluated.
20 – How Probable?
When learning about probability and the language of chance in mathematics, use your Twitter network to offer a real world response to your questions.
- “What are the chances you will see a deer today?”
- “What are the chances it will snow where you are?”
- With a variety of people in different locations you will hopefully have a variety of different responses.
- I have used this successfully for a few years now in my maths lessons, and the different language used in replies provides a great teaching opportunity. From “50/50″ to “Buckley’s Mate” !
- Twitter replies could then be captured, added to a IWB notebook and placed on a probability scale or indeed a map of the origin, sparking further discussion about how this affects the probability of different events.
21 – Twalter-egos
Following a discussion with @tonycassidy on Enquiry in Geography, we thought about creating a fictional alter-ego in Twitter who would develop as a ‘character’ who had a back story. After this had been developed, they could be ‘introduced’ to classes, who could follow, and do activities based on past tweets. Created 3 characters. The most developed is @pensionerfrank. My farming character is being followed by Farmer’s Weekly. Blog post with details HERE.
22 – Scavenger Hunt
- Have students find websites, pictures, or other online documents that fit a certain criteria related to your subject area.(For example, if you are studying China, you could have students locate a map of China before PRC was formed or a narrative account of the Tiananmen Square incident.)
- Students then post links to Twitter, and once a resource has been posted, it can not be posted by another student/group.
- This could be used in conjunction with teaching research skills & information literacy and/or as a method for collecting resources.
23 – Track with Twitter
Twitter is the most brilliant trip-tracker. I used it last year on a 100km charity walk, so that those supporting and sponsoring could follow our journey, and am using it again for a school trip: twitter.com/hadrianswall09
It updates instantly, works from a mobile phone, and can also upload photographs that are geotagged, so parents of those pupils can be part of the trip, the rest of the school can watch developments, and those on the trip have a brilliant record of what they got up to!
24 – Teach bite-sized info
Twitter is perfect for teaching info which can be learned in any order and taught in small amounts.
Set up a Twitter account dedicated to teaching just one topic – No class interaction, no links, just pure information.
This could raise your profile as an expert in your field. Your students could be your class or anyone anywhere. Plus, they can follow you for life.
Examples / ideas for dedicated education Tweets:
- Medical terminology
- Advanced English words
- Shakespeare quotes
- @Frenchmot
- Preschool activities
- DIY tips
- @Cookbook
- Study tips
- Geography
- Gardening
- Singing
- Historical facts
- Trivia
- Whatever you know!
25 – Twitter as a Research Diary
If you are a researcher, you may use twitter as a research diary for your daily classroom findings through:
- sharing
- reflecting
- engaging
- inquiring
- reporting
By getting back to your tweets, you will definitely find invaluable accumulated materials, links, notes, and reflections that could contribute to your final research report. Invite your colleagues, other experts, or even your supervisors to check your progress of ‘what you are doing’ and to offer you instant advice & feedback if possible.
26 – Historical Figures
Invite your students or classes to generate a Twitter account for a historical figure.
For example Samuel Pepys has an account and has been explaining his experiences during the London fires. A hauntingly effective way of gaining insight.
This concept could be applied to any time period.
- What would an Egyptian Vizier report during the construction of the pyramids?
- A nobleman within the court of Henry VIII?
- Children during evacuation?
Historical recount published on the same date in history would be very powerful.
27 – Students tweeting current news events
Students use twitter to report real time ICT news events. As part of their A level coursework they have to assess the impact of ICT on society.
A teacher account – MrAICTTweetNews is followed but students who set up an account specifically for tweeting news accounts. They have to tweet at least once during a 7 day period, ensuring that no other pupil has tweeted the same topic. As they complete their coursework they review previous tweets.
Note: You can download this tips in a presentation file from here: http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_118cfb8msf8 and thanks to Tom Barrett and all other contributors for this great share!
