Twitter for Teachers & Students

Twitter for Professional Development

Twitter is a great way for teachers to share resources, see different perspectives from other teachers and to create a professional network.  Teachers create and post wonderful resources on Twitter so it is a great place to find resources and share resources with other teachers. Log into Twitter to find out what's working in other classrooms and give it a try! With twitter, you can log in and at your fingertips find solutions to problems you've had in the classroom. If you follow a Twitter chat, this gives you an opportunity to connect and ask and answer questions about a topic that you're interested in. This makes a more informed teacher. There are so many different teaching styles and Twitter is a great way to learn from other teachers.

resources: 15 Ways to Use Twitter In Education




How to Use Twitter in the Classroom

Twitter is not only great for professional development but it's a great way to motivate your students! I love the idea of taking notes on Twitter and sharing them on a class twitter page. When students collaborate in this way, they really help each other out. I also like the idea of using Twitter to post homework assignments or syllabus updates. Students have their phones in their hands every chance they get, so this is a good way for the class to be connected and always know what's going on. I teach ESL so I like the idea of posting videos and word games for students to look at over the weekend. I find many of my students leave school and don't speak English at home. Some of my students want to watch movies in English but feel overwhelmed with the language and the length of movies. One way I helped improve my own Spanish language skills was by watching short youtube videos in Spanish about subjects that interested me. Students could post short youtube videos to the class page and create discussion questions based on the video.

I love the idea of using social media in the classroom because it's a simple way to motivate students and foster learning.

50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom

Connectivism through Social Networking: Educator's PLN

The Networked Teacher:

Keeping up with technology is nearly impossible but one way to keep up is to establish a network with other teachers and to explore new technology as much as possible because it changes so often.

It is impossible to know all the answers so it's a great idea for a teacher to network with colleagues to learn from them.

The Educator's PLN is a great social networking site to connect with other teachers. I teach ESL and after a quick search on this site, I found dozens of blogs with teaching tips, lessons, and resources for ESL teachers.

This site can be useful for me if I'm in need of resources on a topic or if I'm struggling with something in the classroom then I can turn to my network for advice. Keeping up with the blogs on this site will help me to get new ideas or to learn from other teachers. This site is great and I encourage you to take a look!