Tweeting: The Never-Ending Professional Development Conference

Why did I wait so long to get a Twitter account? My extroverted, chatty, connectional personality is in love with this social network. Besides filling those dull moments while waiting in the car or grocery store line, Twitter is an excellent source of up-to-date information. Whether your passion is politics, education or NBA basketball, there's something for you on Twitter.

If you're reading this blog, chances are you're passionate about teaching 21st Century learners, who probably know more about Twitter than most of their teachers. If our students are using this medium of communication, then we should be abreast of what it offers educators, learners and the world at large.
How can we turn this attention-distracting device into an engaging educational tool?

I. Twitter Engages ALL Students in Discussion

Every class has one or two shy students who sit quietly and listen to those who dominate class discussion. I've tried numerous methods over the years to increase the equality of student participation. Some techniques work better than others, but none has given the super shy student the confidence to share boldly and often.

My husband, who is extremely introverted, once attended a 32-week small group study at our church and managed to walk away vocalizing only one or two sentences. Afterwards, group members knew little about him and his ideas. He tends to keep to himself, avoiding parties and other social functions. But anyone who knows my husband through Facebook and other social media will tell you he's a thoughtful, funny guy with much to share with the world. The birth of social media has given him an outlet.

You have students in your classroom like my husband. They often shock you with a brilliant, thought-provoking essay, revealing abilities you didn't know existed. These kids have comments and insights the rest of the class could and should learn from. They need to be offered a comfortable, safe and effective way to broadcast their ideas, and Twitter can provide the forum.

II. Twitter Encourages Concise Language

One thing academia has taught me is the art of BS.  You know, how to state a simple idea in a complex, long-winded way using superfluous phrasing. See, I just practiced the art in this post. I love that Twitter cuts to the chase. Students must choose words carefully because they only have 140 characters to articulate a message.  And all writers know that tight, concise writing is usually the most powerful.

An easy beginner Twitter lesson might involve students reading chunks of material and tweeting summaries of each chunk. Since summarizing requires condensing, a Tweet is the perfect format. My seventh graders would also be more engaged in reading and writing if they could use personal devices and their tweets were displayed on the screen as well as seen on each device.

III. Twitter Condenses the Paper Load and Tracks Participation

If you’ve ever been an online teacher, you already know the beauty of tracking student participation. Let’s face it. When you teach five to seven face-to-face classes a day, it’s hard to keep track of who’s engaged and participating and who’s not. Electronic messages like Tweets are recordable and can be evaluated after class dismissal. If you’re in the practice of collecting check-point assignments like exit slips and summaries, Twitter allows you to collect this data without creating piles of paper.

IV. Twitter Offers Never-Ending Professional Development

Okay, if you’re the teacher who counts down seconds until the final bell and usually beats the bus out of the parking lot, then you might not be jazzed up about this element of Twitter. But for those of you looking for innovations in education, then start following educational Twitterers right now.

Twenty days ago, I signed up. I am now following 156 people and am receiving educational research data and field-tested ideas literally by the second. Perhaps this is too much information to wade through, and I don’t read everything, but the 140-character Tweets make skimming easy.  Twenty days ago, I realized thousands of educators lived on cyber space ready and eager to collaborate with me. No longer do I have to depend on a department of four people for inspiration.  If two are better than one, how great is this worldwide pool of collaborators?

V. Need More Convincing?
If you still need convincing about using Twitter or need to know where to start, check out the following links. Please share your comments, ideas and experience with me. I look forward to the collaboration. 


1. Twitter.com
2. Impressive Use of Twitter in a College Freshman History Class
3. Teaching with Twitter
4. DigMe in an English Classroom
5. 100 Ways to Teach With Twitter
6. My Educational Stack of Twitterers: Educational Technology Twitterers