Tweet, Tweet

One of my goals for this year is to incorporate Twitter into the classroom, as a means of enhancing instruction, engaging students, and communicating with parents and students. Here are some of the crazy ideas I've thought of and some I've stole off the internet...Okay...Most of them I've stole off the internet! : )

*Shout out- Give kids a random question, see who's the first to respond.... ie. Temperature in Anchorage...
*Buzzwords- Post a vocabulary word or concept. Kids then post phrases, words, or thoughts they connect with it. ~This can be turned into a word cloud using Wordle or Tagxedo OR go to Twitter Map to see a visual of these words and how they relate to one another.
*Parents can follow what we're doing in class. Students can also take the lead here and do the tweeting themselves.
*Geotweets- Ask people to tweet where they are or where they've been (farthest, last vacation, etc.). Then pinpoint these on Google Earth. Use GE to make a map and/or calculate distance, etc.
*Language teachers- Students can post a 'boring' word, or a mispelled word, others can tweet the correct spelled words or synonyms, just like a dictionary or thesaurus.
*Find an expert to question or follow (Vet, Scientist, Author, etc.).
*Scavenger Hunt- Ex. Find a picture of a piece of art from the Renaisance, no duplicates.
*Reseearch Diary- Give the entire class a topic, let them tweet information found.
*Create 'fake' Twitter accounts for famous historical people or book characters. Tweet dialogue as if you were the character.
*Current news events- Each student is assigned a day that they have to tweet a current event.
*Paper.li can puplish students tweets over the course of x number of days, which can then be turned into a professional looking newspaper.
*Blurters- Students who like to blurt out answers, questions, or thoughts can tweet them to you using a laptop. These go instantly to your computer or cell.
*While watching a movie or short clip- engage students by giving each a laptop. Students can tweet questions or comments about what they see...Also, give them questions to find answers to tweet during the movie.

TECHNOLOGY GOALS

I'm Back!!!

I'm about to begin the 2011-2012 school year, and I'm super pumped! I have moved from 4th grade (self-contained) to 6th grade (social studies). My school starts computer classes in 5th grade, so at fourth grade, most of the kids are not very familiar with technology, unfortunately. My school is getting better as teachers are being given more technolgoy to use in the classroom and, of course, more training. I'm hoping that these sixth graders are ready and able to really dive into the 21st century with me! (After all, I was, for many of them, their fourth grade teacher.) I'm also really excited for the upcoming year because my superintendent has asked me to create/teach a few technology workshops for teachers throughout the year. **So...I get to share some of my ideas and Web tools with teachers, getting technology into the classroom and into the hands of teachers and students, PLUS... I get paid for it!! Doesn't get much better than that! Please note...I am far from an expert when it comes to all this ~stuff~. I'm really actually quite a beginner myself. I do, however, love to explore, learn, and try new things. I'm hoping this year will bring many new adventures, experiences, and ideas!

Here are some of the technology related goals I have set for myself this year:
1. Blogging- Continue to blog, but this year set up a blog for all five classes, and use it to create some really great discussions about the concepts we are learning about. Also- using idease oGradual Release of Responsibility, allow the kids to really take this and make it their own.
2. Twitter- Get all students and parents on twitter and use it to collaborate.
3. Google Earth- Create a map/or multiple mapping projects using Google Earth.
4. Glogster- LOVE THIS- Create a Glogster Project for my social studies classes
5. Prezi- Have each student create an online presentation via Prezi or Powerpoint
6. Excel- Teach students to create a spreadsheet/graph information ie. population- collaborate with the math teacher on this. Possibly publish findings online.
7. Survey Monkey- Use this at least two times for parents this year (maybe set up mini lab at pt conferences in the hallway), and with students to assess background knowledge.
8. Diigo or scoop.it- Create a curation project with kids, teaching them how to find information
9. Group Me- Probably not possible bc of our school's cell policy, but I would like create groups with cell contacts and bring cell phones into the classroom for collaboration.
10. Smart Board- Use my smart board daily, to enhance learning and engage students.
MOST IMPORTANTLY **SHARE- Share my ideas with other teachers in the building.