TwitterTasticTeachersGuide

I find integrating Twitter into the classroom to be an extremely interesting and appropriate tool.  As this article states, there are nearly countless ways Twitter would be useful in a variety of classes, but the one that really seems the most useful would be "[creating your own hashtags and [doing] regular updates on current events, or [subscribing] to favorite running newsfeeds.  Discuss news stories and share opinions."  As the article states, doing this would raise global awareness, improve debating skills, and keeping kids up to date on current events, among other things.

In this day and age, we are all aware of the scare of fake news.  This application of Twitter would be a great asset to younger generations by teaching them to not take everything they see online at face value.  It would encourage them to do their research into news topics, and most importantly create their own opinions on various things going on in the world.  National and international news may not be as exciting as what is going on in the pop culture arena, but it is so crucial that our younger generations know what is going on in the world, and how it can affect them personally, whether it be good or bad.

Twitter could also be a great platform to improve debating skills.  It is important for young people to learn to be able to have a civil discussion with someone who does not share their viewpoints, without it getting personal or emotional.  I don't think much can be accomplished when we cannot be objective about something.  The fact that Twitter limits posts to 140 characters would help students keep debate topics clear and concise.


As a future teacher of fifth graders, I was perusing the subjects of Participate in this grade level.  I came across a website called Readworks that has over 1800 reading comprehension lessons for grades K-8.  Not only is it free, which is a big plus but it has varying subjects that include literacy, science, social studies and skills and strategies.  You can search by grade level or by the type of passage you are looking for, and it includes an audiobook option for children who have issues reading.  Readworks also has question sets that pertain to each lesson to test students' comprehension of what they had read.  This website is highly rated by other teacher users and I believe would be a beneficial technological tool in all classrooms.