Twitter…It’s not just for celebrities!

Tonight’s Purpose

• To introduce Twitter as a tool for educators• To illustrate a variety of ways in which Twitter

can be used by educators.• To demonstrate how to get started using

Twitter

First…What is Twitter?

• Twitter is a tool that allows users to “microblog.”–Messages are limited to 140 characters

• Although Twitter is often thought of as a tool used by celebrities to connect with fans, Twitter has educational uses, too!

Why Should Educators Use Twitter?

• To establish and develop Professional Learning Networks (PLNs)

• To be exposed to new ideas and methods.• To connect with children’s and young adult

authors.• To enrich your professional organization

membership• To keep up with trending news in education

Professional Learning Networks

• Connect with other educators without being bound by geography– Particularly valuable for teachers in rural and/or

small schools, although any teacher can benefit.– Provides exposure to new ideas and teaching

methods– Don’t have to wait until a conference to interact

with other educators.– You can tweet at any time!

New Ideas and Methods

• Twitter provides a wealth of ideas for literacy instruction.– Lesson ideas and strategies– Book recommendations (both student and

professional)– Classroom management and organization

Use Twitter To Connect With Authors

• Many authors of children’s and young adult literature are active on Twitter.– Provides opportunities to interact with authors

• Post questions and comments• Read the author’s tweets to learn about the author.

– Many include personal details.– You feel like you get to know the authors.

• Find out about the writing process• Learn about upcoming books

• Many authors of professional materials also have established Twitter accounts to connect with readers.

Authors Who Tweet• Seymour Simon• Kate Messner (Marty McGuire)• Linda Urban (A Crooked Kind of Perfect, Hound Dog True)• Lynda Mullaly Hunt (One for the Murphys)• Jess Keating (How to Outrun a Crocodile When Your Shoes are

Untied)• Jenni Holm (The Fourteenth Goldfish, Babymouse)• Betty G. Birney (Humphrey series)• Donalyn Miller• Kelly Gallagher• Stephanie Harvey• Kylene Beers

Professional Organizations and Twitter

• Many professional education organizations, such as IRA and NCTE have Twitter accounts.– Links to articles– Ideas for your classroom– Book suggestions– Information about conferences

• Many of these professional conferences create hashtags for communication during the conferences.– This facilitates locating other tweets on the same subject.– We could create a hashtag for the mini-conference with #svrcminiconf and we

could share our learning with others.

• SVRC has a Twitter account, too!– @shenvalleyrdg

Sample Tweets from IRA

Other Educational Uses of Twitter

• Many education-oriented websites also have Twitter accounts

• I have gotten some great ideas from tweets provided through these accounts.– National Writing Project– Reading Rockets– Read Write Think

Twitter and PD Opportunities

• Information about upcoming professional development opportunities can also be found on Twitter.– Webinars– Conferences– Workshops– Ed Camps– Twitter Chats

“Virtually” attend a conference…even when it’s across the country!

• Twitter allows educators to follow what’s going on at conferences, even when you’re not in attendance and the conference is far away!– Many conferences now have “hashtags” to

encourage participants to tweet about their experiences.• #vsra2014• #ncte2014

What is a Twitter Chat?• Twitter chats facilitate the development of connections between

educators and are usually organized around a common topic or theme.– Children’s literature– Independent reading– Writing instruction

• Twitter chats are usually planned for an announced time – #titletalk, hosted by Donalyn Miller and Colby Sharp, is scheduled for the

last Sunday of the month, from 8-9 PM• Conversational tone• Often a moderator will suggest topics or questions for participant

response.• Sometimes, though, chats can be less structured.

Twitter Chats

• You can create a school-wide or even a district-wide chat.– Encourage collaboration– Strengthen PLCs and PLNs– Focus on things specifically related to your school or district

• Example: My district is focusing on writing instruction. We could create a district-wide writing chat.

• Another district might be targeting comprehension strategy instruction and create a chat based on that topic.

– You just need to make sure that people have Twitter accounts and hashtag information.

Sample Tweets

Participating In A Twitter Chat

• Using a tool like TweetDeck is suggested– Makes following the conversation much easier!

• Type in the hashtag (e.g., #titletalk) to follow the conversation• Usually the moderator (if there is one) will post a question.

– In most cases, when you choose to respond, don’t forget to include the question number and the hashtag with your answer.

• Retweet and/or favorite comments.• Don’t get discouraged if it’s hard to keep up!

– Twitter chats are fast-paced!– Lots of messages will pop up!– It gets easier with practice!

Educational Uses of Twitter At School

• Parent communication tool– Share ideas and tips for supporting their children’s literacy– Provide alerts about upcoming events at school

• Family Reading Night• Parent-Teacher Conference nights• Book Fairs

– Post pictures of classroom activities• Students can also post tweets about their reading (with

supervision)– This could be a component of independent reading.– Tweet summaries of books– Tweet questions about books that other students can answer (also

while using Twitter)

Educational Uses of Twitter

• Morning meetings– Students can help you construct a tweet (or more than

one tweet) as a part of a morning message.• “Tweeter of the day”

– Could be a class job that rotates.– The selected student could help you compose tweets during the morning

meeting.– This student could provide suggestions for tweets or responses to other

tweets.

– A student could be responsible for taking pictures for you to upload with the tweets.

– A great time to address what is appropriate to post online.

Educational Uses of Twitter

• Twitter pals– In lieu of pen pals– Follow other classes who are on Twitter– Correspond with each other via Twitter.

Things to Consider When Using Twitter

• Twitter, like any form of social media, is permanent.

• When posting tweets, think before hitting the “Tweet” button.– You may not want to start tweeting after

Things to Consider When Using Twitter

• If you plan to involve your students (and parents, too) make sure that your administrator is aware of what you are doing.– It’s often a good idea to share administrative privileges/password

information with the principal if you have a classroom account– You should also obtain parent permission.

• Use your professional e-mail account if you’re tweeting for parents or involving students.

• Watch out for Promoted Tweets.– These are tweets sent out by businesses and many of these

businesses would not be appropriate for school– You can block these, but you have to go to the profile page to do

so.

Things to Know About Twitter

• The messages that you send and read are called tweets.• “twitter handles”

– @jen4literacy– @IRAToday (International Reading Association)

• Hashtags– Place the # in front of the topic

• #bookaday• #teaching reading• #literacy• #bproots• #kidlit• #titletalk

Things to Know About Twitter

• RT– Retweet a message that has already been posted

• Direct Message (DM)– Allows for private communication– However, the person you’re trying to contact must

follow you on Twitter.

Things to Know About Twitter

• Favorites– Yellow star– Allows you to identify tweets that are your favorite

• This is great if you come across a lesson idea

• Follow– When you follow someone, you will get their tweets.

• Just click the follow button, unless their tweets are protected-then you’ll have to request

– A follower is someone who receives your tweets.• They just click on the follow button to do so.• However, if you’ve protected your tweets, potential followers have

to send a request for you to approve.

Things to Know About Twitter

• Mentioning– Including another person in a tweet– For example, if I wanted to mention that my class

was reading a book by Seymour Simon, I could create a tweet that said something like: “Third graders are reading nonfiction by @seymoursimon.

– Another example could be “Attending a conference session where @donalynbooks is presenting.”

Things to Know About Twitter

• Protected Accounts– You can protect your tweets so that only the

followers that you have accepted can access your tweets

– This can be accessed in the account settings.– You can choose to unprotect your tweets at any

time.

Things to Know About Twitter

• Blocking– Great for commercial tweets– You’ll need to visit the profile page for the

person/company whose tweets you want to block.– There is a person icon that you will need to click.– This activates a menu that includes “block.”

• Unblocking– Similar process to blocking– Go to the profile page and click on the person icon to

reveal the menu that includes “unblock.”

Now that you’ve learned about Twitter, it’s time to get started on a

Twitter journey!

Getting Started With Twitter• Go to www.twitter.com• If you do not have a twitter account, you will need to click on

“New to Twitter? Sign up.”• You will need to provide your name, create a password, and

include an e-mail address.– If you are going to use this as a professional resource, I would

suggest using your professional e-mail.– Just a reminder: I would keep professional and personal accounts

separate.• So if you are going to follow Bradley Cooper, do that on a personal account

linked to a personal e-mail.• If you’re main purpose is to establish and develop professional connections,

it’s best to use your professional e-mail.

Organizing Your Tweets

• You may find it helpful to download a tool such as TweetDeck or HootSuite to maintain your Twitter feed.– I have Tweet Deck, which I downloaded from the

App Store.– These tools can usually be downloaded onto a

smartphone, which facilitates your monitoring of the Twitter account.

Thank you for attending this session

My e-mail address isjaf9d@virginia.edu

My Twitter handle is@jen4literacy