I feel like every time I post I say "I'm addicted" or "It's the greatest thing every". Once again, I have to say I am addicted to the greatest thing invited, Twitter!
Have you every spent hours on Facebook or "surfing" the interest? Well, Twitter should now be added to that time sucking (but not in a bad way) list.
I will admit I joined Twitter when I heard about it back in 2009. I had no idea how it was beneficial, let alone, how it worked! So I never continued investigating.
Then March 2011 I went to NCTIES with Laura Fogle. The first session I went to was on the latest gadgets presented by Leslie Fisher. This presentation (click here for the presentation I saw) opened my eyes! I thought I was in and hip when it came to Technology....OH NO was I wrong! Leslie amazed me with all the "stuff" she knew. She talked about dropbox, evernote, google voice, rockmelt, and twitter. Ever since, this presentation I've been hooked!
One of the things that caught my attention was how Twitter is being used in education. High school and college students are using twitter to quickly communicate with their teachers and peers. Now being that I'm a Kindergarten Teacher I'm hoping that none of my 5 year olds have their own Twitter account, however, their parents do. Using twitter, I can update them with what is going or something important immediately if they have a smart phone. If they don't, Leslie showed the jam packed room how to embed the twitter feed into your class website or school home page. This way people who don't have a smart phone or don't have twitter can also see what is going on. All the people tweeting have to do is use this symbol # to tag a comment to the class. Of course, if you have a class page or twitter account make it private and only allow parents.
I haven't used Twitter yet for my classroom but I plan to this coming year if i can make sure all the privacy settings work.
Personally, I go on twitter everyday! I follow celebrities, sports and friends. I find out information live or tweet with people during a special event or TV shows (i.e. people have funny comments during the Bachelorette)
Twitter even has helped my on the road. Coming back from DC I was completely stopped on 85. I got on twitter and found out that the traffic was due to an accident 4 exits up. I got off at the nearest exit and bypassed 30 minutes of waiting.
Caitlin, although I have used Twitter in the past (during the earthquake in Haiti), I have to admit the thought of following people on Twitter exhausts me. I have just enough time in my day to answer email, check in with my friends and interests on Facebook, read the Huffington Post, follow professional blogs and articles, and lesson plan. You must have an endless supply of energy! I'm fighting off the urge to get a SmartPhone (expensive) but your traffic jam story just might change my mind.
ReplyDeleteOf course due to the high-jinks of Anthony Weiner and others, Twitter is starting to get a reputation for catching politicians doing bad things. Let's hope the educational uses surpass the ewww factor.
You mentioned Dropbox, ironically I was going to blog about that tool next. It's amazing! The easiest way to synchronize your files at home with your files at school. I've been using it for months!
Thanks for sharing the presentation. I will make sure to use Tripit later this summer on vacation. An iPad microscope!? It looks amazing.
ReplyDeleteAlison, I don't know what I would do with out my smart phone. I'd highly suggest one! I have a droid. I refused to switch to AT&Tfor an iPhone, but now that Verizon has them I'm waiting until Santa brings one. That is if I'm on the good list. Which I think is in the books.
ReplyDeleteMy droid has replaced my gps, tv, computer, cards,board games, etc. I think I might have to blog about how much it does.
Unfortunately I don't have an unlimited amount of energy but my phone automatically updates me when I get an email, tweet, or Facebook messages. I just got the google reader app too so now I get blog updates! So, when I'm waiting or have a free second in my day everything is right there!