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
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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.
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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 districtwide 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
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#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 is
jaf9d@virginia.edu
My Twitter handle is
@jen4literacy