Tweet, Tweet.....It's here, what are we going to do with it?

Students are using Twitter, so who is ready to join them and use Twitter as a learning tool?    twitter.com  Twitter is a tool that you can use with your students to engage and motivate them, or your students can just use it at lunch or home in a non-eductional setting.  (we all know that they are probably using it right under our noses anyway).  So, are you ready to jump on the Twitter bandwagon and find ways to use it in your class?

My recommendation is to start small.  Join Twitter and follow some people.  You can follow me by searching lberg6.  Ask your co-workers what their Twitter handle is and follow them.  Read their tweets and get familiar with how tweeks look. When you are feeling comfortable with what the tweets look and sound like you can put your first tweet out there.

Always go to the experts for advise and information.....your students.  They can show you how to do anything you want on Twitter.  Also, let them brainstorm on how you could use Twitter in your classroom.  There are great ideas at the bottom of this post. 

Like with all technology, use it and then evaluate how it is working.  It is important that we don't just stop using a site or program without evaulating its applications.  A change in how, with who or when we use Twitter could have a big impact on learning and communication.

Twitter Vocabulary and Instructions
Tweet: A 140-character message.
Retweet (RT): Re-sharing or giving credit to someone else's tweet.
Feed: The stream of tweets you see on your homepage. It's comprised of updates from users you follow.
Handle: Your username.
Mention (@): A way to reference another user by his username in a tweet (e.g. @lberg6). Users are notified when @mentioned. It's a way to conduct discussions with other users in a public realm.
Direct Message (DM): A private, 140-character message between two people. You may only DM a user who follows you.
Hashtag (#): A way to denote a topic of conversation or participate in a larger linked discussion (e.g. #AmericanIdol, #Obama). A hashtag is a discovery tool that allows others to find your tweets, based on topics. You can also click on a hashtag to see all the tweets that mention it in real time — even from people you don't follow.  Hashtags label and indicate the subject matter of certain conversations taking place on Twitter. The hashtag is represented by the number sign "#." Putting one of these little symbols in front of a word or phrase indicates a subject you think is worth talking about. The words you use after the hashtag become searchable because Twitter tracks them. That is to say, if you click on a particular hashtag, you'll be able to see all tweets that have also used that hashtag. It's a grouping mechanism that allows you to get the general public's sense about a specific topic or issue.
Lists First, you'll be asked to provide a name for your list (i.e., Family, 1st Block, etc.). The name is also used for your list's URL, which will be "twitter.com/username/list-name." You'll also be asked if you want your list to be public or private.

Public Lists - These lists can be seen by anyone, and anyone can follow them. Public lists are ideal for lists of recommended follows.

Private Lists - When Twitter says private, they mean private. Only the creator of private lists will be able to see or subscribe to them — not even those on the list can see private lists. That means, for example, you could create a list of your competitors and keep an eye on them without them being any the wiser.

Once you've clicked the "Create list" button, you're ready to add users. After you create a new list, you'll be prompted to search for people to add to your list, but there are really two ways to add users to lists. First, you can add users from their profile page, by clicking the lists button and checking off the lists you want to add them to from the drop down menu. You can add a single user to multiple lists.

25 Twitter Tips for Students
Teacher's Guide to Twitter

Tutorial Videos:
Twitter Tutorial Series:  set of 29 tutorials by subject.  Each video is about 2 minutes. Choose the topic you want to learn more about....retweeting, hashtags, etc. Plus....love the accent!


(For Bolivar Teachers, the following site is Staff Allowed an you must login)

Twitter in K-8 Classroom- Globally Connected Learning by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano

Resources:
60 Ideas on Using Twitter in the Classroom
How to Use Twitter in the Classroom --great ideas and resources

There is more to videos than YouTube

Some excellent educational content can be found on YouTube. Sometimes YouTube is blocked or there is content that is not school appropriate.  This list has some alternatives to YouTube for finding video content to use in your class.

1.   One of the first things you'll notice about Vimeo is the image quality of the videos. The image and sound quality of the videos on Vimeo is far superior to many of those found on YouTube. Vimeo has all of the sharing options found on YouTube, but in a much cleaner and easier to use interface.

 

2. Teacher Tube has been around for a while now, but I still run into teachers who have not heard of it. Teacher Tube provides user generated videos for teachers by teachers. Many of the videos on Teacher Tube have teachers sharing lesson plans in action. Some videos on Teacher Tube are simply inspirational. And other videos don't have teachers or students in them, but contain educational lessons none the less.

3. Teachers.tv is a UK- based website of videos for teachers and about teaching. Teachers.tv provides hundreds of videos available for free download. On Teachers.tv there are videos for all grade levels and content areas. Teachers.tv also has videos about teaching methods and practices.

4. Next Vista is a nonprofit, advertising-free video sharing site run by Google Certified Teacher Rushton Hurley. Next Vista has three video categories. The Light Bulbs category is for videos that teach you how to do something and or provides an explanation of a topic. The Global Views video category contains videos created to promote understanding of cultures around the world. The Seeing Service video category highlights the work of people who are working to make a difference in the lives of others. Watch this interview I did with Rushton to learn more about Next Vista.

5. Academic Earth is a video depot for individual lectures and entire courses from some of the top universities in the United States. Visitors to Academic Earth will find lectures and courses from Yale, MIT, Berkeley, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford.

6. Snag Films and its companion site Snag Learning are great places to watch full length documentaries from producers like National Geographic for free. Snag Learning provides a catalog of educational films that are accompanied by classroom discussion questions.

7. How Stuff Works is a video site that I have spent hours exploring at times because I was sucked in by the quality of the educational content.

8. Viddler is a service that is good because of its integrated in-video commenting system. Viddler also allows you to record videos directly to the site through your webcam. You can use Viddler to post messages to students on my classroom when you know that you're going to be out of the classroom.

9.  School Tube is a website dedicated to the sharing of videos created by students and teachers. School Tube allows teachers and schools to create their own channels for sharing their students' works. School Tube also provides excellent how-to resources, copyright-friendly media, and lesson plans for using video in the classroom

 

Other Resources:

• Blip.tv
• TED Talks --inspirational videos
• Untamed Science  - biology and earth science
• iCue - history and current events
• PBS Video and PBS Kids
• History Channel and the Discovery Channel
• Explore.org - documentary films
• Art Babble - about art and artists
• Math TV - math tutorials
• Wired Science - science and technology
• Big Think -videos relevant to topics in the news and in the public conscious today

 

 

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PadLet (WallWisher) -- Gotta Try It!

If you haven't used Padlet http://padlet.com/  you need to check it out! There are so many uses for it in the classroom or even in your personal life.  Wall Wisher is an online board....like a cork board.  The wall is given a unique address that you can link to your website.  You can control the permissions as public, private, those with the link, etc.  On the wall you can add text (160 character limit), links, videos and documents.  If your wall is public then anyone can add information to it. 

Thank you to my sister who showed me a great new way to use Wall Wisher.  Her school used the board as a "flipped" faculty meeting.  Principals added videos sharing the information they would normally share in a meeting.  They uploaded documents and other text.  The board was open to public so the teachers could add any questions or other information they have.

I have used a wall in class for students to post questions or comments as we do a unit.  I have also created a wall for training workshops. 

Let's share our ideas.  There are 3 ways you can do this:

• I embedded a Wall Wisher wall below.  Double click on this wall to add your ideas on how you can use Wall Wisher. 
• Click here to go to wall website. 
• Scan this QR code with your phone or mobile device to go to the wall

Created with Wallwisher

Examples:

• Student Use:  Word of the Day
• Videos
• Technology Training

Classroom Uses:

• Student Brainstorming
• Flipped Instruction:  post notes, documents and videos
• Collaborative project notes
• Class Syllabus, rules, schedule, etc
• Create a Unit  wall with documents, links, resources
• KWL Chart
• Back Channeling- discussion going on about the topic while a speaker is talking

Similar Sites:

• Lino
• Stixy
• PBWorks

Google Earth

Over the years I have had students research and write reports on different countries and cultures.  My students would read books and/or websites and answer questions about that country.  But really what can the student understand about a country they haven't seen?  They do not have a starting point.  So their reports always turned out to be them reciting a bunch of facts, but no "understanding".

Now, let me tell you about a resent visit I had in a 3rd grade classroom.  The class was going to study Mexico so the teacher asked me to come do a Google Earth tour of Mexico before they began their research.  Wow....fun, fun lesson for me and for the students.  But, best of all were the connections the students made. 

I first showed them the distant view of the entire earth, or one hemisphere.  We talked about the temperature at the upper most north point on Earth and furthest south.  Then we discussed where it was warmest (equator).  We found the United States, Missouri and then Mexico.  The students decided it must be pretty hot in Mexico.

Then I took the students on a tour I made and saved.  In my tour we went into some 360 Cities bubbles.  (see the Google Earth video tutorial)  We were on a street in an old town in Mexico and talked about what looked the same as our town and what looked different.

We looked at desert areas and mountains.  The students talked about there not being any trees in the dessert and even in the mountains the trees were sparse and looked different.  They loved the colors of the houses.  When I asked them how the houses were different and they said they didn't seem to be made of wood.  I asked them why they thought their houses were not made of wood and here are 2 answers I got:

• It looks like the houses are made of rock and maybe that is to keep it cool because it is hot in Mexico.
• They may be made of rock because they don't have very many trees like we do to make houses out of.

I think these students are much more ready to research about Mexico!  They have some background information and some pictures in their minds.

In Google Earth you can also see satellites in the sky and shipwrecks in the ocean.  You can overlay a historical map over the Earth.

Class Uses:

• Research Countries and Cultures
• Visit historical sites
• Visit the setting(s) of a book
• Measure distances between locations

Resources

• Google Earth video tutorial on how to create a save a tour
• Google Earth for Educators
• Tutorials from Google