Today I set up an account with Twiducate and within minutes added all of my students. It’s just like Twitter: the unblocked, school-safe version for classrooms. The reaction from the kids? THIS is SO COOL! I wrote the address on the board and started the discussion. The kids already knew the terms “Social Networking” and “Social Media.” They already knew that you should NEVER give out personal information online. These kids are growing up in a digital world. It’s not just something they see, it’s a part of their lives. I just wanted to try it out with the class and see what happened. But, here I am, not even 24 hours later and I’m thinking of ways to use it for supporting learning.
Ten Ways Twiducate Might Be Useful As a Learning Tool
1.) Current Events Discussions: Post links to current event topics and ask students to respond to thought-provoking questions.
2.) ‘Who Am I’ Game: Pretend to be a famous person and post as him/her. See if students can figure out who you are by asking great questions. Then, students can run the game. Imagine tweeting as “”Tonight I will attend a play at Ford’s Theater.” Think the kids would guess Abraham Lincoln?
3.) Classroom Backchannel: If your students have laptops or desktops nearby throughout the day,allow them to post reflections, questions, and thoughts from their learning.
4.) Community Building: Giving students time to chat and discuss with each other might help those “quiet” students feel comfortable “speaking up”
5.) Model Responsible Use: Every day in using social networking can become a lesson in what to do and what not to do on the web.
6.) Sharing Resources in a Research Project: My students are becoming better at using search engines than I am! They are getting good at finding “the right” resources. I love that they will be able to post links and share great sites with each other. Collaboration can now take place both in and out of the classroom!
7.) Video Notes: We often watch learning videos from UnitedStreaming.com and students want to discuss throughout. Now, they could tweet their thoughts during the video and it would be a great way to see what points they were getting from viewing it. Afterward, a class discussion could be held on the tweets.
8.) Hold a caption contest: Post a photo and ask students to create a caption for it. This is a great chance for them to get creative depending on the photo you choose!
9.) Schedule Chats: Just like Twitter’s #edchat and #gtchat, why not host a Science Chat or a Social Studies Chat? Maybe even ask a student to moderate on their favorite topic. Chats could take place during an “indoor recess” when the weather is bad, during free work time, or even as morning work when students are arriving.
10.) Book Responses: If you have several or an entire class reading the same book, encourage them to tweet about it! They can discuss characters, tweet about what they predict will happen next, or even tweet about words they learned when reading.
This is just a start! I’d LOVE to hear how you are using Twiducate (or Twitter) with your students! Day 1 and I am already loving the possibilities. Most of all, I am loving the excitement it has brought to the classroom
