Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Tweet Your Butt Off: A Brief Reflection on Using Twitter

"We need technology in every classroom and in every student and teacher's hand, because it is the pen and paper of our time, and it is the lens through which we experience much of our world." 

-David Warlick

Technology has become the world’s most advanced way of communication and education. Since being enrolled in this education course, I have learned some of the ins and outs of how technology is used in our generation's education system. From the use of SMART boards to Animoto to Blogger to even Glogger; they are all very useful tools to creating a very successful classroom. One of the assignments I felt to be most unique and relevant to our growing generations was the Twitter assignment. 

Twitter is one of our generations most widely known social media sites. While social media usage in the classroom was very much frowned back in my days as a student; with the new and improved technology we have now teachers look to social media as a way to better interact with our students. Twitter is based on much more than keeping connected with friends. I learned that Twitter can connect you to educators all over the world. Through my "tweeting", I was able to see many different educators and their various teaching methods. One fellow tweeter I found very inspiring was a SMART Exemplary educator and Certified Trainer from Greensboro,NC named Kelly Hines. I found many of her tweets to be very instructional and empowering for students. She believed in challenging students so that they could learn at their highest ability.


Another educator  that motivated me to further my technology skills was a Tech Professional Development Trainer from Manhattan, KS named Cyndi Danner-Kuhn. Cyndi tweets was one of many that caught my eye at first glimpse. Her Twitter was consumed with embedded  links, videos, and photos. She was very passionate with her Technology and Key posts. From teaching her followers how to manage iPad videos to her Pinterest pins; she made the love for technology and education KNOWN!



Public City Schools teacher Crista Anderson was another educator/tweeter who caught my attention over the course of this class. Focusing on collaboration and challenging students, her posts really made me realize that it is important to incorporate student on student work. I really took a lot at her methods and have applied them to my classroom; for example having a central website for the class and parents to go to, to see what we are working on and for students to hold discussions on. She also inspire most of my reasoning behind my mobile technology blog.



I also found the ED 5O5 Facebook page and Twitter hash-tag very useful when working my way through this course. Being out of school so long, I was incredibly lost when I read how technology based this class was going to be. The Facebook page gave me the chance to really see my peers and get the help I needed. As an educator, we all know that sometimes the best way to learn is from our peers. HAHA! The Twitter hash-tag gave me  the chance to see what my peers thought about each blog without having to read each and every classmates blog. It also gave them the opportunity to see my point of view of each blog. Every blog required a Twitter post embedded at the end of it. Two of my favorite tweets were:

and 


I can defiantly see myself using my new found knowledge of Twitter in my classroom. I love the concept of the hash-tag. My assignment for the course of the upcoming year is to have students create a separate Twitter account where they can tweet about my classes and assignments they are having trouble with. It will give me a personal way to help them learn as well as interact with them. The #ED505UWARAY hash-tag was absolutely the most useful hash-tag I have used this semester. Mostly because it kept me so highly aware of what was going on within the class. That is what I want to give my students in my future classes.


Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. UnknownJuly 23, 2013 at 8:19 PM

    I agree with you technology has become an advance way of communicating and I excited about it. I so happy I had to have this class because it exposed me to a whole new world of technology. Oh! I think hash-tagging is awesome for teachers to keep up with their students and their assignments. You did a great job on you blog!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJuly 24, 2013 at 9:15 PM

    Last blog, YAY! I never thought about using twitter as class discussion board like we did on facebook for this class. Although, I found that very helpful on the college level, I am not sure how hopeful it would be in a 2nd grade classroom for me. Great blog and good luck with the rest of your degree!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)