Using in the Classroom

1. Using in the Classroom • What is Twitter? • What does Twitter do? • How can Twitter be used to • improve my students’ education?

2. Using in the Classroom • What is Twitter? • Why is it useful? Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging site that enables users to send short, concise messages to each other It is a means of disseminating information quickly to a large amount of people; it allows people to express their thoughts and have their opinions heard quickly

3. How can Twitter be used to improve my students’ education? • David Perry, an assistant professor of Emerging Media • and Communications at the University of Texas at Dallas • calls Twitter a “classroom communication tool” • He required his students to sign up for Twitter and send • a few messages with the site each week. The students • were required to subscribe to his Twitter feed, and he • updated his students several times a day on useful • web sites, or announcements throughout the day • He felt that the use of Twitter by the class helped to • improve classroom discussions Source: “Twitter In The Classroom” http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2008/01/twitter-in-the-classroom.html

4. David Perry’s Benefits of Using Twitter in the Classroom • Twitter is a way to record thoughts and ideas • that you search – it’s a history • Twitter connects you to a larger world outside • of the classroom and even the country • Students can follow people who do what they • want to do or who they admire and get a sense • for their job and life • Twitter can improve writing and punctuation

5. Step 1: In your web browser address bar, type in http://twitter.com Step 2: Since you are a new user, you will need to create a’ new account. Click the button on the screen labeled “Sign up now”

6. The following screen will appear. It will ask you to type in your full name, the username you would like to use, the pass- word you would like to use, and your e-mail address.

7. As you enter your information, you will know if the names you have chosen are available or not. You may need to try out different usernames until you find a unique one.

8. After you accept the terms of service and submit your information, you will be asked to type in a couple of random words in order to confirm your information. This is done to ensure that the user is not creating a computer-generated account in order to send spam messages to other Twitter users.

9. The next page makes some suggestions on how to find other Twitter users to “follow”. You can choose catagories such as Art & Design, Entertainment, Fashion, Music, News, Politics, Sports, and many more! Once you find some interesting tweets, you can “follow” the person who posted it. When you “follow” someone, whatever they “tweet” will appear on your personal Twitter page!

10. One way of finding people to “follow” is to search for the names of friends or people that you personally know. You can click the blue button labeled “Find friends” to help you in this process! When searching for a friend to follow, make sure to check that person’s profile and picture to be sure it’s the right person!

11. On the left side of the next page, you will see a search box that allows you to type in the name of someone you might not personally know, but is someone you would like to follow. That person might be a fellow teacher at another school, a public figure such as a politician or a celebrity, or otherwise. You could also search for a Twitter account used by a company, a television station, or an organization.

12. Once again, before you follow someone, check out the profile and picture of that person to make sure it’s the person you want! President Obama’s real Twitter account A satirical Twitter account spotlighting President Obama

13. To go to the Twitter page for your account, click the blue button labeled “Next Step…You’re Done!” The page for your Twitter account will load, and if you’ve “followed” anyone, the most recent updates from them will appear in the left column In the order they were sent, the most recent updates appearing at the top. as long as you are signed in, you will be continually updated!

14. Before you start “tweeting”, you might want to update your profile so others can find you easily. At the top right of the screen you will see a number of different links, including the link for your “Profile”. Click on this link to upload a picture for your avatar, your location, the address for your website (if you have one), and a short biography (up to 160 characters).

15. Click on the link labeled “Settings” to make changes to details in your account, including: • Your • username • Your • password • the • language • in which • you want • to “tweet” • time zone • tweet • location • tweet • privacy

16. On the “Settings” page, you can upload a picture of your choice for your personal avatar. You should upload a personal picture so that you can be easily identified when other Twitter users are looking to “follow” you.

17. The “Design” link allows you to choose the background that will appear behind your Twitter feed. You can choose from the designs that are supplied, or you can load your own background image, or you can change the colors in the designs. If you are feeling especially creative, you can use the “Themelon” feature on the right side of the page to choose from thousands of designs and color palettes.

18. Once you are ready to begin “tweeting”, click the “Home” link at the top right of the page. You will come back to the main screen for your account. At the top of the screen on the left will be where you type in your updates. Since Twitter is a micro-blogging site, you will only be allowed to enter short, concise updates. In these updates, you can say whatever you want, as long as the message doesn’t exceed 140 characters. This includes spaces between words!

19. After you tweet, it will appear at the top of your Twitter feed!

20. When tweeting, there will be times when you want to make your followers aware of different websites or links that you find interesting. You are able to copy and paste the URL for a website or a website link in your Twitter update box, as well as a short description of what the link is about.

21. After you post your tweet, the URL link that you included becomes a hyperlink that others can click on to go that website!

22. There will be times when the URL address for a link you want to update others on is so long that it cuts into the available number of characters in your Twitter update box. If you run out of characters, your update will only include up to the 140th character. In order to shorten the length of a weblink and still send along a usuable URL address, you can use URL shortening websites such as http://bit.ly or http://tinyurl.com These sites allow you to copy and paste a website URL into its box and create a shorter URL that you can copy and paste back into your Twitter update box.

23. URL shortening websites such as http://bit.ly and http://tinyurl.com convert long URL addresses into shorter URL addresses That you can copy and paste back into Twitter. This will Help reduce the number of characters in your “Tweet”!

24. When copied and pasted into your tweet, you can click on the shortened URL that leads to the link you want others to view. This shortened URL link is only temporary. You won’t be able to type this URL into an address bar at any time, or it won’t work.

25. It is very important to keep up with the Twitter usernames of the people you want to send updates to. Every Twitter Username begins with an “@” symbol Followed by the Twitter username. For example, when I want to send a tweet to Conan O’Brien, I include the Twitter address “@ConanOBrien” in my message…or else it won’t be sent to him!

26. Your latest tweet will appear in two places on your Twitter page: • Directly underneath the • “What’s Happening?” • box • At the top of your • Twitter feed…at least • until tweets from • the people you follow • are posted

27. You can choose to reply to a tweet that someone has sent you, or you can choose to repeat a tweet to call attention to it. Navigate to find the tweet in question, and you will see that you will have the option to either “reply” or “re-tweet” that message. Replying to the tweet will allow you to send a tweet back to the person who originally sent the message. “Re-tweeting” allows you to repeat the message and send it to additional Twitter users.

28. When you reply to a tweet, the Twitter address of the person who you are replying to automatically appears in the message box. Then you can respond to the message that will be directly relayed back to the other Tweeter!

29. When you “re-tweet” a message from another Twitter user, it will re-post that tweet so that your followers can be made aware of it. You are also able to add your own comment to a re-tweeted post.

30. On Twitter, you will often see tweets that contain number signs (#) followed by one or more words highlighted in blue. These are called “tags”, and are used to help you search for tweets with a common theme. Click on the tag, and you will see a list of search results of tweets containing those tags.

31. Along the right side of your Twitter home page you will see the top 10 tags that are “trending”, or the top searches on Twitter at the moment. These searches often reflect current events in society, politics, or in pop culture.

32. How Twitter can be used in different subject areas LANGUAGE ARTS • Have students post tweets of their reactions to the • developments in the stories they read • Have students summarize stories in “tweet” form • Choose a genre (fairy tale, mystery, adventure); • post the beginning of a story; have students take • turns continuing the story by “tweeting” their • additions • Have students practice their skills using synonyms • or antonyms; one Tweeter posts a word and • students take turns posting words that are similar or • different in meaning Source: “How to Use Twitter in the Classroom”, http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5649046/How-To-Use-Twitter-in-the-Classroom

33. How Twitter can be used in different subject areas MATH • Teachers can “Tweet” short word problems and petition • students to reply with the correct answers—1st correct • tweet wins a prize! • Students can “tweet” their own original word problems • to the class and see if anyone can solve it • Teachers prompt students to “tweet” the steps in solving • different types of math problems in concise words • Students can “follow” professionals in the mathematics • education field and ask questions about their profession, • etc.

34. How Twitter can be used in different subject areas SOCIAL STUDIES • Use Twitter to gather information from their followers • about their location • Have students search Twitter for tags with terms such • as “poverty”, “disaster”, and “war” to keep up with • tweets of current events • Have students summarize important events in • “Tweet” form • Create a new Twitter account dedicated to a particular • social topic and have it keep track of students’ collective • tweets Source: “How to Use Twitter in the Classroom”, http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5649046/How-To-Use-Twitter-in-the-Classroom

35. How Twitter can be used in different subject areas SCIENCE • Have students gather information from their followers • about the current temperature from where they are; • analyze information and create a graph with results • Have students summarize different scientific processes • in “tweet” form • Have students follow a scientist of interest and have • them write a summary of that person’s professional • activities over the course of a week • Teachers “tweet” an unbalanced chemical equation; • students reply with their tweets of the balanced • chemical equation Source: “How to Use Twitter in the Classroom”, http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5649046/How-To-Use-Twitter-in-the-Classroom

36. How Twitter can be used in different subject areas FOREIGN LANGUAGE • Convert the language that you view the tweets in to • your respective language (Spanish, French, etc.) • and ask students to translate what is being “tweeted” • by others • Have students tweet sentences in your respective • language and have them reply to the tweets in that • language PHYSICAL EDUCATION • Have students tweet their daily progress in an exercise • regimen; for example, # of laps run, # of reps lifted, etc.