Sunday, February 1, 2015

My Twitter Adventure

Oh, what an adventure it has been.  I have felt lost, found, confused, abandoned, and ignorant.  I have managed to utterly disgust my 13 year old son several times.  He almost never looks at me that way.  I already knew that I had to stop referring to "The Twitter", but apparently telling him I was unable to find the "Twitter tweets" of my class was even worse.  I am not a person who is uncomfortable with technology.  I can write code in a variety of languages.  However, some of these tools have come into our world and seeing no use for them, I have let them pass me by.  Twitter is one.  So, I am still not sure that I have mastered Twitter, but I do no better than to say "hash tag" out loud.

I see how twitter could be useful to me as a learner and as an educator.  Allowing people to discuss the current training or class without having to verbally express themselves, is clearly useful.  In my old mind, it is a little like the old "passing notes" in class or the current texting during class.  Perhaps, not as harsh toward the instructor, but we could all use more practice in questioning without offending or critiquing without hurting another person.  To me, Twitter could allow that.  I am not sure that every teacher/instructor would like to know how their students feel about their instruction, but I think most of us would love to know when our students do not understand.  One of the big trends on Teachers Pay Teachers right now is exit tickets.  Basically a quick question for students to answer on the way out, often accompanied by an opinion on their confidence level with the topic.  Could Twitter not provide at least part of this?  Even a simple questions and comments request by the teacher at the end of class might allow those who need additional guidance to ask for it - before the test.

As a teacher of students who do not read and who do not have cell phones, I do not see this as a tool I could use in my current setting. However, in the future, I would like to be in a position to help other special education teachers and I feel Twitter could be a real value to me.

Thank you for making me take the plunge into "The Twitter".

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