Vicki Davis is a classroom teacher who has been blogging about technology for several years at her site, http://www.coolcatteacher.com/. Recognized as an expert at technology integration, she put together this guide on social media for the education website Edutopia:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/guidebook-social-media-in-classroom-vicki-davis
A source of some great ideas from forward thinking educators for how to use Twitter and other social media tools in your classroom:
http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3756868
Eric Sheninger is the principal of New Milford High School in New Jersey. The short 20 minute video linked below explains his thoughts on social media in the classroom:
"Since joining Twitter in March of 2009 I have successfully learned and effectively utilized a variety of social media tools to improve my school. I would like to share how I have harnessed the power of these tools to improve communications."
http://blip.tv/140confevents/140edu-8-3-11-eric-sheninger-5469999
Follow Eric at his website and blog ( http://ericsheninger.com/ ) or better still on Twitter ( @NMHSPrincipal )
Here is another similar blog post from Patrick Larkin and Beth Holland about how some schools have adopted social media:
Steven W. Anderson and Tom Whitby, two of the co-founders of #EdChat on Twitter, offer advice on using social media in K-12 education that all teachers and administrators can benefit from.
You can skip through this video, which is about an hour long. Start at roughly 14 minutes and 30 seconds in, and watch for about the next three to four minutes as Steven discusses social media policies in schools.
This is the document Steven Anderson mentions in the YouTube video. Peruse it, follow some links, and just try to get an idea of what some of the pros and cons schools see with social media.
Here are some final links to help you generate ideas for your lessons - don't just go with the first thing you see! Look around and see if you find an idea that really seems exciting and would be able to harness social media for helping students reach those higher level outcomes like analysis, synthesis and creation. Here are some places to look:
http://www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom - an easy to follow list of ideas
http://cybraryman.com/twitter.html - the fantastic Cybrary Man, the educational librarian of the Internet and World Wide Web, has a collection of resources for using Twitter in the classroom
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AiftIdjCeWSXdDRLRzNsVktUUGJpRWJhdUlWLS1Genc#gid=0 -This Google Doc shares the entire list of hash tags for #EdChat - some terrific threads on any teaching issue you can think of, including technology; the best Twitter resource for professional development!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tweechme/id885476535?mt=8 - Those of you with an iPad, iPod or iPhone might want to check out the TweechMe app. Created by a Florida teacher, Susan Bearden, it provides all sorts of resources for learning Twitter and the ways of using it as an educator. Cost is $0.99 - very reasonable!
