Borrowed the title of this post from @TeacherNextDoor during and #engchat session. Another great discovery from Twitter has been the amazing chat sessions with teachers across the nation and even outside of the United States. So many great ideas and experiences are shared by people who know because they practice what they are discussing. Questions are open and ideas are flowing. So far, the best chat I have discovered for me has been #engchat, I also like #edchat for more general discussion and #leadershipchat and #cpchat because we are all leaders in our own classrooms I find much of what is discussed for administrators can be applicable to my classroom. #TitleTalk is another good chat to get ideas for books to read and use in your classroom.
Austin and Aaron are two boys in my regular English 10 class who always have something to say, but aren't always very directed in how and when they say it. We were reading The Hobbit and out pops Austin's phone. I noticed it was a smart phone. So many mobile devices running around the school in the hands of our students - why not put them to work? I decided to try my hand at having a twitter discussion about Tolkein's The Hobbit. It was messy, fun, and engaging. I typed up my process in a Google Doc. Feel free to read about the experience. If you have had any Twitter Chats in your classroom - add to my document :) http://tinyurl.com/3d33q42
I had seen this idea before, but hadn't thought about it in a while. I was scanning my Twitter posts and came across the reference with a link. I went in and read through the information and decided to have some of my students complete the exercise. It is always enlightening to think about life lessons and it was a positive way to finish up the year. The following are some of the results:
Aleigh (age 15) Never let go of the things you love without saying goodbye Chocolate goes with both tears and smiles You really can learn how to get out of a situation from watching tv and movies. Katie (age 15) I have learned that you can’t always be apathetic I have learned: Quality over quantity – always Gage (age 16) I’ve learned you shouldn’t laugh at a policy debater. Jessica (age 15) Bad things happen to good people. Matt (age 16) I have learned to work hard and be committed I have learned that by taking a girl to my house more than once parents assume we are dating. Mark (age 15) I’ve learned that sometimes it’s yourself that is wrong. Sam (age 17) I’ve learned that ignorance never is bliss. Brandon (age 17) I’ve learned not to jump out of a truck while listening to The Lonely Island. Erin (age 14) I’ve learned if you don’t express yourself, you get walked on. Natalie (age 17) I’ve learned to do what is best for you, the result will be that everyone is happy when you are. Gennavie age 16) I’ve learned that happiness is a choice, not the outcome of events I’ve learned that true trial of life is your attitude. My students and I are constantly looking for the "right" book. I have students compete in a speech event where they present an interpretation of a book. This means the book needs the right level of humor or sadness or both. It needs strong characters and dialogue. When I discovered a link to http://whichbook.net/ on Twitter and found a perfect site for exploring books I would have never discovered otherwise. I passed this site on to my interpers and let them loose with it. They love it!
One of the first lessons I grabbed from Twitter was the World Question. The 2011 question was WHAT SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT WOULD IMPROVE EVERYBODY'S COGNITIVE TOOLKIT?
http://www.edge.org/q2011/q11_index.html I followed the link and read through the responses. What an excellent set of ideas from around the country. I posed the question to my competitive debaters and shared a number of my favorite responses. The class discussed the possibilities and each student came up with their own philosophical responses to the question and shared them with the class. It was a great discussion. Across the hall from me lives a teacher who, more often than not, has loud music blaring from her room as some multi-media project is underway with her students. I like to engage in creative teaching whenever possible and it is always a pleasure to hear such organized chaos exploding joyfully through the cracks around her door. One day she came across the hall to share her enthusiasm for the professional applications of Twitter. My first thought was - I have no desire to know what new escapade Charlie Sheen is up to, nor do I want to know what Ashton Kutcher had for breakfast; my second thought was that I had enough on my plate without being inundated with more electronic media. My friend had faith in my ability to see the possibilities and stood there while I acquired an account. I fully expected to ignore the cute little bird icon on my smart phone, but I quickly found myself drawn into the thoughtful discourse of fellow teachers and educational leaders. I felt rejuvinated. I found myself grabbing ideas and walking into the classroom five minutes later to try them out. Twitter pushed me out of the end-of-year rut that educational angst of budget cuts and teacher bashing had slid me into and back into the joy of teaching. What a powerful tool talking to teachers and leaders across the nation turned out to be.
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AuthorEnglish, Debate, Yearbook, Newspaper Teacher. New to Twitter. Archives
August 2013
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