Nine Reasons to Twitter

It seems the concept of immediate information has resonated throughout the world. For the past three years, I have been promoting and talking about twitter and other avenues for collaboration. I remember vividly setting up my first Twitter account. I was at Parker Bennett Curry Elementary School's library and all I could think about was...would the BGISD Public Relations Director "Leslie Peek" frown on me for setting this account up. She wasn't, she actually embraced the idea and began using it in our district to get immediate information to parents, teachers and students on a variety of events, including: snow cancellations, lock down situations, calendar changes, upcoming meetings and so on. I had no idea three years later, EGYPT and other Middle Eastern countries would be using such a tool to facilitate Revolutions. Crazy times and Crazy tools. I talked to a junior high social studies teacher yesterday and he explained that he has been engaging students in discussions about the effects of social media on the political unrest in the Middle East. My hunch is the students were very engaged in the conversation.

Laura Walker, director of e-learning , from the "fantastic" book : "Web 2.0 for Educators" by Solomon and Schrum shared 9 Reasons to Twitter that I thought were pretty good.

1. Together we're better. Within seconds, parents can be notified about school cancellations or other events. Links, ideas, opininions are at your finger tip.
2. Global or Local: you choose. I like using Hoot Suite and Tweet Deck. Both allow me to organize and categorize who I follow. Sometimes I am interested in what my school twitters are talking about, sometimes educators throughout the country and sometimes just friends who say nothing. I get to choose.
3. Self awareness and reflective practice. I often like reading what good teachers reflect on after they teach a lesson or use some kind of tool. It makes me think...how should I do that.
4. Ideas workshop and sounding board. You know what they say about opinions...everybody has one. Sometimes I disagree, but sometimes I agree. It makes me think more deeply into what I need to share.
5. Newsroom and innovation showcase. Instant news... Enough said.
6. Professional development and critical friends. When I go to professional developments, I can't wait for the break to tweet what I learned or didn't learn.
7. Quality-assured searching. Since you pick who you follow, you will also learn who you can trust to provide good resources.
8. Communicate, communicate, communicate You only get 140 characters, so you h ave to say what you mean and be concise. I wish I could talk that way...
9. Getting with the times has never been so easy. It is easy to set up and easy to read. The cool thing I have found is any teacher can read about a resource or tool and then tell me about it. It makes them so happy to share something they learned.

The 9 main reasons were Laura Walker's thoughts, I summarized with my opinion about what they meant. I suggest going over this with students and or teachers, and always talk about digital citizenship when discussing social media.

Twitter
Tweetdeck
Hootsuite