I'm a Better Teacher because of Twitter

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 regarding a Graphic Novel we will be reading soon, and shown our gratitude for the research an Archivist found on our behalf. This access to excellence will continue to impact these young people long after they graduate from 8th Grade. Practicing positive Digital Citizenship requires a commitment to modeling positive Digital Citizenship. Our classroom Twitter enables us to hone our digital and social media behaviors and skills frequently.

Twitter allows me to grow as an educator. I have learned about and participated in Genius Hour Twitter chats, discovered resources and best practices research, and found inspirational ideas for lesson plans and projects. My re tweets and blog posts have allowed me to reflect and hopefully help fellow educators, as well.

I'm grateful to the professional growth I've achieved because of Twitter.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Historical Perspective and Peel the Fruit Thinking Routine

Image
Practicing historical perspective is an essential social studies skill. Historical perspective is being able to step into a historic situation and examine the motivations, biases, and beliefs of a person or group of people. Students have to revert to the beliefs of a group of people even if those beliefs completely contradict the views we have today. They must weigh decisions based on the situation of the time, not necessarily how situations are viewed today. The C3 Framework for Social Studies states that "Historical understanding requires recognizing this multiplicity of points of view in the past, which makes it important to seek out a range of sources on any historical question rather than simply use those that are easiest to find. It also requires recognizing that perspectives change over time, so that historical understanding requires developing a sense of empathy with people in the past whose perspectives might be very different from those of today." http://www.so
Read more

Industrial Revolution Haiku

Students have been learning about the Industrial Revolution in the mid1800s and how it changed life in New England. Today students processed their learning by creating haiku poems on the subject. They were challenged to think about and evaluate this topic within the structure of a haiku, a 3 line poem with 17 total syllables--5 in the 1st and 3rd lines and 7 in the second line. The poems have been impressive and some will be posted here soon.
Read more

Name That Executive Role!

Image
Students today learned about the many roles of the head of the Executive Branch, the President of the United States. I found several images of former Presidents in these roles--can you guess which is which? Post your answers below or email them to me. Choices: Commander-In-Chief Chief Executive Political Party Head Chief Diplomat 1.  President Eisenhower 2. President George HW Bush (on the right side of the picture) 3. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt  4. President Reagan meeting with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (this one's a bit of a giveaway!)
Read more