Twitter in the classroom, again

Took a bit of a risk today in an effort to explore how Twitter can be effectively used in the classroom. Developing some ideas that have been written about by Ollie and Alan. I'm a little reluctant to use Twitter live at the moment as I don't believe that enough of my network are online at the right time! The other reason for the experiment is that I'm being observed as part of the Performance Management process tomorrow and I want my line manager top see the potential. By using a blog during my last observation they have been adopted by many other teachers.

First I sent the following Tweet:

I chose Year 7 as they are starting a new unit all about sustainability and climate change. I also teach 5 Year 7 groups this year so could use the results widely!

During the day I checked the responses. Some came through facebook. After exploring the possible causes and evidence (including the Prove It! game talked about in my GA Workshop) we moved on to causes. Most of the class mentioned habitats, polar bears etc. A reflection of the medias focus on such issues. This is where I introduced Twitter. Most of the class was very amused that I even had freinds!

We talked about any patters visable. I copied the text into Wordle, and included the text of a number of links contained in some Tweets:

The following discussion focused on the fact that Climate Change is likely to impact on people.

All together a great little lesson, and a stable enough idea to use reliably in the classroom

Worlde image created using www.wordle.net used under Creative Commons Attribution License

Comments

High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge. I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post. I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff. If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey. As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others. Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up. I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions. From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment. From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die. How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach? Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment is not always conducive to profound

Banned Word Board

Today I want to share some simple ideas that I have found to be very effective in the classroom. I can't say that they are my own original ideas, although I have played around with them. The first is the Banned word Board. This is a simple display in the classroom that lists a number of words that are not allowed to be used by pupils in their written or oral answers. The effect has been an increase in the quality of written work, and I have almost made comments such as 'Sir it's simple, the stuff just affects the thing and causes people problems'. Pupils are now more able to use specific language, something that is vital especially at GCSE. I have had to make a few modifications, such as the introduction of 'Heavenly Words' This is an additional display placed on the ceiling. I found this necessary as pupils needed some stimulus in finding replacement words. After advice received after posting the idea on the SLN forum , I have also introduced semi-banned words

David Rogers

Search This Blog