The idea of using twitter in the classroom can be debatable, is it a good technology tool or a distraction? Being able to understand the correct way to use this resource can be beneficial for students, teachers, and parents. Having twitter part of your class can help students look up information on research papers or get help and other opinions on topics discussed in class. The teacher can also use Twitter as a tool in class, they could find new teaching methods, videos on topics talked about in class, can have some assignments be posted on Twitter that way all of their peers in class can comment their opinion (no rude comments). Having Twitter can also be a great tool for parents and teachers to communicate, the parents can also be up to date with what is going on in their child's classroom. It's a great way for any announcements to be sent out to the parents.
There are some negativity points that can be made for using Twitter in the classroom. Some may say that it can be a distraction for the students and instead of being used for school, they can use it for entertainment instead of research or school material. Another reason it can be bad for the classroom would be the safety of the students. Who will the students meet online or what they will find if they search something they shouldn't.
If the teacher does decided to use Twitter as a tool for the classroom it's a great idea fro her to discuss the rules on having a Twitter for the classroom. Giving the students guidelines to follow will help with their safety online and also using Twitter with an appropriate age group such as high school students. Some guidelines that can be used would be only using the Twitter for the classroom, tweeting appropriate information/topics based on the class, and watching out for strangers and looking out for any red flags.
There is another way for teachers to help their students by using technology without using Twitter and this website is called Participate. This website is very helpful for teachers to gain different types of resources to use for their students. One particular tool was The weather-Panda Games this app is for 1st graders and can help them teach them about the weather and the appropriate clothing attire. Participate has many other resources for teachers such as videos, example lesson plans, websites, etc. and the grades range from Pre-K through 12th grade.
Teachers have great resources they can use and they don't necessarily have to be social media they can get it from websites too. There is many ways to use technology so why not Twitter!
I do agree with you and think that twitter can be a very helpful source in a classroom especially. Students are able to communicate with teachers and others students outside of the classroom. Using twitter can help students with certain topic by looking up the topic in the search bar and they will find a lot of information that can be useful to them. I also think that twitter can be harmful in a way because some students don't know how o use caution when using any internet source.
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