Last week, I stumbled on an
article by edu-tech blogger Laura Walker on the reasons why teachers should be on Twitter. She lists everything from professional development to keeping up with the latest news coverage and sharpening communications skills (write it in 140 characters and you can write anything…). I couldn’t agree more: Teachers ought to tweet. Why? Well, for many of the reasons Walker lays out, but I have a few more ideas of my own to add.
- Student Engagement. Contrary to what you might think, there is no age prerequisite for using Twitter. In fact, young people (ages 12-17 and 18-24 year-old, in particular)are Twitter’s fastest growing audience segment. Why not use Twitter to as a teaching tool? Every classroom has a shy student—the one who doesn’t want to be called on, or thinks her question is too stupid to bring up. Teachers could leverage Twitter in their everyday teaching to reach those students in the classroom, or even after hours, when students are attending to homework. Likewise, using Twitter in the classroom can encourage student collaboration or foster a sense of school community.
- Documenting a Lesson. Ever heard of live-tweeting at a conference or event? Normally this means tweeting relevant facts, or interesting sound bites from a live event for the benefit of those “followers” who can’t be there themselves. In other words, note-taking for the masses. I can’t imagine this same concept wouldn’t have some utility in a classroom—both for teachers and students alike. For teachers, it’s could be a built-in feedback mechanism on their lessons. For students, it’s another way to take (and share)
