In 2013, I was lucky enough to be honored for my work in social media and received a Kindle Fire and other prizes from the NEA. It was a truly special day and a huge surprise to me.
Since then, I’ve been trying to think of a way to use it in our classroom. In a flutter of creativity, I decided that we would use our Kindle as a class Tweeting device. We would “Fire off Tweets”, so to speak. I created our Twitter handle – @ThirdGraders, and after setting some guidelines, we were ready to fly!
Students have been super excited about Tweeting – sometimes we compose messages whole-group (#TweetTogether), and sometimes we Tweet in Buddies or Truddies. Then sometimes, a lone Tweeter will compose on his or her own. What can we Tweet about?
I’ve taken the students’ ideas a step further and created a Sheet of Tweet ideas…. Feel free to share these twitter ideas!
Students are learning how to make the most of the 140 characters given to us for each Tweet. Spacing, spelling, punctuation, and word choice really matter when it comes to putting forth a message. To help draft Tweets, students fill out a Tweet Sheet. Get your copy here: Fire Off a Tweet Form
So, if you see us flying around the Twittersphere – say hello!! We are currently following other elementary classrooms, authors and some famous scientists.
UPDATE, summer of 2014:
Next year, Mrs. Brooks will be teaching a whole new class of @FourthGraders. I can’t wait to sit and find out who they would like to follow and learn from during the school year. Be sure to say “hello” to us over the summer so they feel welcome in the Twittosphere come September!
UPDATE, fall of 2014
We’ve been Tweeting lots more this year! I also ordered a Twitter banner that we hang in the hallways here at school. It’s a great way to share what we’re doing with our school community:
UPDATE ON THE UPDATES 2015:
I have passed along both my @ThirdGraders and my @FourthGraders accounts to some fabulous teachers. Keep your eyes peeled for some new content from Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Davis!!
Would you mind sharing the pdf version of your form? It is awesome!
Thank you!! I just added it above, Amanda – let me know how you make out!
~Suzy
I love your “Tweet it from the rooftops!” idea and would love to know what your student Twitter guidelines were. Do you mind sharing?
Hi Darcy,
Thanks for your comment – we came up with those as a class. We discussed safety, privacy and appropriate posts. We brainstormed a list of ideas to Tweet about. We created several together whole-group. We discussed how punctuation and abbreviations and hashtags could be included to stay within the 140 characters. I’ll do all the same things next year with my 4th graders, as I always feel there is more buy-in when the students are invested at the get-go. 🙂
Happy Tweeting!
Suzy
Hi Suzy,
I am new to twitter and not really sure where to start. I am a Grade 3 teacher from Australia looking to make some connections for my Grade 3 class. I have created a class account and started following you. Could you give me some ideas about what to do next and how to continue making connections?
Thanks,
Luke
Hi Luke,
Sorry for the delay in my response – your post was drowning in a sea of spam. Tweeting with the kids is fun and gives them a great model to follow as digital citizens. Ask them what/who might be worth following as a class. Favorite authors, museums, national parks, scientists, etc… Come up with a list as a class and then tell them you’ll see who you can find. I don’t advise searching in front of them when you aren’t sure who/what might come up. I also talked to them about what we’d like to follow when it comes to other classrooms. We tried to choose mostly 3rd grade classrooms, but you’ll see I’ve followed others that are pretty close to that. Sometimes other classes find us and we try to follow back. Lots of awesome teachers follow us (like you) – but we only follow back whole-classroom accounts. Next year I will be teaching @FourthGraders and will start with a whole new batch of students who have never tweeted. I’ll be curious to see where they take this idea, as they will be older and have more independence. I am excited!!
Thank you for your comment, and I’ll keep my eyes peeled for your class tweets!
Dream Big,
Suzy
Hi Luke!
Sorry for the delay – my spam filter makes it hard to find the wonderful comments! If I were you, I would check with your students. What topics are they interested in? What scientists or authors or famous (appropriate) people would they like to follow? What information do they feel would be worth sharing with others? Let them lead the discussion and you’ll see the path to follow.
Keep us posted!
Take care & Dream Big,
Suzy
I was hesitant to try Twitter but I found it fun. That being said, between Pinterest and Facebook, I already am spending too much time on my computer, we will see if I get addicted to tweeting too! Thanks for all your support
Sharon, You’re so very welcome – you are doing amazing things in your classroom and families are so very thankful and fortunate!! Keep it up, Brave Girl!
xoxox,
Suzy