I just found a nice article at Best Colleges Online: “20 Innovative Ways High Schools Are Using Twitter”.
The article posts 20 interesting ideas to use Twitter in your classroom. These are the top five ideas I would love to implement.
1. Vocabulary and Grammer Building: Students can tweet verbs, definitions, and grammatical functions. The best part of collaboration of using twitter is that both teachers can students can recognize and correct each other’s mistakes.
2. Parent Communication: Many schools are using both Twitter and Facebook to reach out to parents in an innovative and technology savvy way. The website suggests twitter can be used with “lunch menus, school board meetings, and even discussions about school district decisions are being shared online. Proponents of school districts on Twitter support this move, pointing out that districts can get instant feedback, and parents can conveniently share their insights.”
3. BackChannel Discussion Tool: Twitter backchannel discussion can help students participate in classroom discussions through sharing their comments, insights, and even useful websites. “Educators have found that Twitter backchannel discussions provide for more interaction not just in the classroom, but beyond, as students often enjoy further carrying on the conversation even after class time is over.”
4. Professional Development: Twitter makes the education world smaller, connecting principals, teachers, and other education professionals across the U.S. and even around the globe. I use twitter to maintain my PLC and connect with teachers across the United States. I participate in the #SSCHAT on Monday Night’s. It is a wonderful way to collaborate with other teachers who have similar interests. I have found Twitter to be one of the best forms of professional development that is FREE and easy to use.
5. Review and Understanding: I love this idea “at Iowa’s Valley High School, Sarah Bird’s DigiTools class uses Twitter as a tool for reviewing material. After each discussion Bird asks her students to twitter their MVP (Most Valuable Point) using their classroom hashtag. This quick exercise allows students to further digest and understand the material at hand, while at the same time creating a great resource for future review.”