My Tweet. Your Voice.

Technology in the classroom. 21st Century Learning. Technological and educational collaboration. What do all of these things mean? Well… let’s find out what it means to you!

Be creative... tell me (USING ONLY ONE WORD) what students gain from using technology in their classrooms.

How do you respond? By using Twitter.com! What is Twitter? An online tool that allows you to collaborate/talk to others while only using a limited number of words to communicate. It provides the capability to instantly send and receive ideas and messages.

Follow these steps to get started…

· Visit www.twitter.com
· Click the “Get Started, Join” button mid-way down the page
· Fill in the info to create your own account
· Once you have created an account and you are logged in, click “Find People” at the top
· In the search box, type in “aprilpatt” (That’s me!)
· Click on my name and my question (tweet) will appear.
· Simply click on the small arrow (underneath the start) to add your response!
· Want to follow the responses for yourself? Simply click “follow” and it will allow you to follow the responses as they are added (you must be logged in to see the responses)

Are you more of a visual learner? Take 2 minutes, 25 seconds to watch this Twitter tutorial about what makes Twitter work.

http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter or at
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=65c60642bc8f14432120

Check out this video of how some 2nd graders (yes, 8 year olds!!) are using Twitter in their classroom. http://www.channel3000.com/video/18912902/detail.html

There are so many tools and resources around us. Let’s figure out positive and educational ways to incorporate them into our daily curriculums. Remember, with all online tools, you absolutely MUST teach online safety at the same time you introduce the tools. Constant teacher observation and computer screen monitoring is also an absolute must!

I look forward to your tweets and will post them on this blog later. Not sure you want to create a Twitter account? Feel free to simply add a comment to this blog post.

What are the directions and the question again?

“Be creative... tell me (USING ONLY ONE WORD) what students gain from using technology in their classrooms.”