Twitter is the Window into the Modern World of Education

Twitter seems like a silly idea. People can post what is going on in their lives, or thoughts they might have, but only if they limit themselves to 140 characters. Ten years ago, few people would have thought that was an idea that had any merit. However, in the last few years, Twitter has become one of the most popular sites on the internet. On average, there are 300 million unique users on the site every month. Twitter has been used, not just to share tidbits of information from random individuals, but to affect public opinion and even to try to shape political ideology.

Twitter is a website where anyone who signs up can express their thoughts/ideas/opinion whenever they want. They can follow other people, and others can follow them to be alerted when they have posted something, called a tweet. Entire conversations go on back and forth, 140 characters at a time. Unless specified by the poster, the tweet is visible to all, which can sometimes just be silly, but sometimes can be capable of much more. Over the last two years, twitter has served as a sounding board for many people who feel disenfranchised in their countries even leading to national political revolutions. How, then, does this mixture of inanity and incredible importance serve as a professional network of teachers?

Due to the open nature of the Twitter network, anyone from anywhere can use it. This is exactly why it is such a powerful tool for educators. Educators from all over the country, and all over the world even, log on and post information about what they're doing in their classrooms. They provide examples of amazing projects. They ask questions about successful ways to teach certain content. They even have chats centered on specific content material.

Teaching in a school is a somewhat insular profession. You hear from other teachers at your school, and sometimes from people in the district. If you are part of an alumni network or something, you might have a few other connections that could provide you with resources and information. Outside of that, though, you are pretty much on your own. Twitter exponentially expands that network to other teachers, college professors, professional organizations, educational consultants, and others who may have ideas that can help teachers be more effective at their jobs.

There are a few main ways Twitter can be utilized by teachers. It can be a useful classroom tool, providing a means of feedback from students to teachers, also providing a means of communication for teachers to reach students outside of school hours. It is important, though, that teachers can harness the power of Twitter to improve their craft as well. I have only been on Twitter for about five months, but I can detail the things I have gained from being part of this amazing network.

First, it has provided me with outright lesson plans. There have been several times when I have been searching for a better way to teach some content, and I have put it out there in the Twitter-verse, and ended up with anything from ideas for a way to approach it to full lesson plans. Second, there is regularly very good discussion about education in general that contain links to articles or blogs or op-eds that shed light on educational policies around the nation. While some of these may not make me a better teacher, all of them help me become more aware of the world in which I teach and what public education is up against. Lastly, it has connected me with some powerful resources which I now use regularly, and provide to others. The following is a short list of resources and their twitter handles that provide almost daily information that can be used in the social studies classroom.

• Library of Congress - @librarycongress
• US National Archives - @USNatArchives
• National Geographic - @NatGeo
• History in Pictures - @HistoryInPics
• SAS Curriculum Pathways - @SASEducator
• Smithsonian - @smithsonian

These are just some of the groups that regularly tweet resources that have proven very useful in reaching students. As mentioned earlier, there is a regular chat, #sschat, that is centered around the social studies. There are also chats for English, foreign language, and global education. All of these can provide specialized tools and resources for teachers in those areas. All a teacher needs to do is follow the hash tag for their content and they need to have some sort of file on their computer in which to save the resources that are tweeted out daily, so they won't forget about them in a few days.

Twitter has proven extremely fruitful in my own search for resources and I feel it has made me a better teacher. Other educators have clearly found the same thing as it continues to be used as a powerful professional learning network.

References

 About Twitter, Inc. | About. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2015, from https://about.twitter.com/company

 Cillizza, C. (2014, August 13). Is Twitter ruining politics? Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/08/13/is-twitter-ruining-politics/

How Twitter Shapes Public Opinion. (2014, March 11). Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140311123816.htm

 Marzouki, Y. (2012, September 16). Revolutionizing Revolutions: Virtual Collective Consciousness and the Arab Spring. Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yousri-marzouki/revolutionizing-revolutio_b_1679181.html