Mrs. Slaviero's Blog

Teaching in the 21st Century never ceases to amaze me.  As stated in a post last year, I utilize Twitter in my classroom  through a classroom Twitter account several times a week. I find it to be an incredible way to allow parents and our community to witness the work that goes in my History and Study Skills classes and to showcase school events and the amazing young people I teach.  While posting a reminder about our school football teams' games on Wednesday a top hashtag caught my eye: #AskAnArchivist was trending.  I follow the United States National Archives   on Twitter and their latest post advertised an hour-long session in which a team of Archivists would answer questions tagged with this hashtag. I had less than 45 minutes before this window of opportunity closed. My third hour class took advantage of this teachable moment and it turned out so well! Student Historian groups came up with questions they hoped to receive answers for, ...

Twitter has transformed my life as a teacher. The world has become much smaller and the role my students play within it has grown due to this social media outlet. Twitter is a terrific way for me to allow parents and the community to witness our learning in action. The teens in my classroom may not always connect with their parents about their day. Posting the successes and events happening in our room 2-3 days a week (on average) enables parents to have a starting point for conversations about the learning and thinking that occurs.  Twitter brings the world into our classroom. I have followed and been followed by leaders in Historical research, Authors, Educators, and educational organizations. My Student Historians and I have been assisted time and again by these experts and my students are excited to take part in these adventures. (So am I!) We've Tweeted to authors during Skype sessions, interacted with the National History Day Webmaster, been asked to Tweet our thoughts...