Journal #4: "Join the Flock" and "Enhance Your Twitter Experience"

Ferguson, H. (2010). Join the flock!. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Join_the_Flock.aspx

McClintock, S. (2010). Enhance your twitter experience. Learning and leading with technology, volume 37(8), 14-17.Retrieved from www.iste.org/Libraries/...and.../June_July_2010_Join_the_Flock.sflb.ashx

The article brought up many issues in not just learning from those around us or those that we work with. Computers now allow educators to go online and see what others are doing in their classrooms. The proper use of twitter is a good example of this. An emphasis with getting a good deal from a twitter account is to make sure you are committed to participating and engaging yourself in what others have to say. Creating an account is easy, but finding the right people that have the same interests as you is up to you as an educator. The process is then taking that information and putting it to work in the classroom. It’s interesting that as a teacher and I want to get into creative writing I can easily go on twitter and look up high school creative writing teachers to see what tools I can incorporate in my classroom. Then I use that information and retweet it so my followers can see what I got. The information and ideas are going around and their not full proof but it’s good to stay connected with others in other parts of the world. Commit oneself to using ideas that are your or from others to express what works for you as a teacher. The point of tweeting is not to make friends, but rather enhance students learning and the classroom environment.

Enhancing Your Twitter experience by Hadley Ferguson uses the idea of Twitter to stay connected with others as a means of helping one another out. Twitter might not be exciting as first, but if one grows on the number of people they follow they will get comfortable. Getting comfortable with Twitter will improve ones confidence, and from personal experience learning to use Twitter if we just take small steps at a time to better understand and enjoy Twitter. As Educators today the article reveals for others to show your knowledge of educating like where you’re getting your resources, and put hashtags out there for others to see.

Q1: How does twitter tie back to a classroom setting? Can students use tweet as well and in what ways?

A1: Taking what I've read about twitter I can say that any class can have their own twitter where students can talk with a professor in or to answer questions from students especially the ones that pertain to certain assignments. Also a teacher can use twitter more when he expands it to more than what he is learning from other educators, and now students are also being included in teaching the teacher. 

Q2: Would twitter be a good way of communicating with parents of the classroom?

A2:I strongly believe it would be the best way. Parents need to take a priority in their child's education. Twitter can make the commitment of parents into education by reading tweets, and a teacher could ask for volunteers through tweets with parents. This is a great way of getting parents to be more involved through twitter.