7 Twitter Terms for Novice Tweeters

When browsing Twitter, you might see words that seem foreign to you. Don't worry, this blog will teach you everything you need to know about the art of tweeting. Here are some things you might see:

Follow/Follower - To follow someone on Twitter is to be able to see what they tweet. If someone is following you, they are subscribing to your tweets.

Tweet - A tweet is a 140 character message you post, that can be seen by your followers.

@ - The @ sign helps you to refer to another individual on Twitter, whether as a mention or a reply. It appears before someone's username.

# - The # or "hashtag" is used to group tweets by keywords. It is very useful for events.

RT - This stands for "retweet" and is used when you like something that someone else posted. When you retweet it, it is like re-sending it for your followers to see.

Favorite - To "favorite" someone's tweet shows that you like it and want to be able to view it later. When you favorite a tweet, it doesn't re-post that tweet.

DM - A DM or "direct message" is a private message that you can send to one of your followers without allowing the public to see it.

Hopefully this helped you with some of your Twitter confusion, but if you would like to watch a video on Twitter lingo, check out this video:
This was a guest blog by high school student, Kirsten Myers. We would love to hear your ideas for using Twitter to grow professionally or to engage your students. Make sure to follow @readingsecrets on Twitter. Happy Tweeting!

9 Reasons to Use Twitter in School

If you are already on Facebook, than you have the skills you need to create a Twitter account. More than one billion tweets are sent every 2-3 days across Twitter, which has become a social network of significant importance in every continent, and almost every country around the world. Twitter isn't just all fun and games, it has many benefits for educators on the go. In addition, you NEVER have to Tweet a thing, you can just follow researchers, organizations, and authors. If you do not have a Twitter account yet, watch this tutorial to help you sign up:



 Laura Walker's blog,  gives us 9 reasons to use Twitter in schools.
1. Together We're Better - Teachers can access a stream of links, ideas, opinions, and resources from global professionals. When I am standing in line at the grocery store I scroll through my Twitter feed to discover new ideas shared by the leading researchers in literacy. This is so much faster than typing in Kelly Gallagaher's website and then Kylene Beer's website. This feed is similar to Facebook's newsfeed. 
2. Global or Local: your choice - It is up to you who you choose to follow, you can connect with people from around the world or you can follow local people. For the first six months I typed in researchers and authors I liked to see if they were on Facebook. If they were, I followed them. Now I can see what topics are being researched and or written about. Here are a few people for you to start to follow:

@Scholastic -  The official Twitter account of Scholastic, including Scholastic Book Clubs and Book Fairs. Tweet us with your thoughts on books & education!

@judyblume - Are You There, Twitter? It's Me, Judy

@The_Pigeon (Mo Williams) C’mon! Just once around the block!

@donalynbooks (Donalyn Miller) reader, teacher, blogger, author of The Book Whisperer, #nerdybookclub and #bookaday facilitator, #titletalk co-host

@KellyGToGo - (Kelly Gallagher) I teach, I write, I travel, I talk—to help kids become better readers and writers.

@KyleneBeers - Educator. Speaker. Author. Tech-savvy wanna-be. Sometime blogger. 2008-2009 NCTE Pres. 2011 CEL Leadership Award.

@gailandjoan (The Daily Café)

@TheScienceGuy Bill Nye, Science Educator seeks to change the world.

3. Self-Awareness and reflective practice - Reflect on what you are doing in your classroom and see what needs improvement. Teachers on Twitter can share these ideas and support and challenge each other. 
4. Ideas workshop and sounding board - Twitter is great for sharing ideas and getting instant feedback. You can get different opinions and criticisms to help you improve what you're doing in the classroom. 
5. Newsroom and innovation showcase - Twitter helps you stay up-to-date with the latest news or developments in your point of interest. 
6. Professional development and critical friends - Teachers can talk about what they are working on or struggling with and get helpful ideas from other teachers or professionals. 
7. Quality-assured searching - Trust the people you follow so that you can value their ideas. This will provide you with higher-quality information than a Google search would. 
8. Communicate, communicate, communicate - You will learn to become better at expressing your professional thoughts to others in 140 characters. 
9. Getting with the times has never been so easy! - Twitter is not complicated at all! Go to twitter.com and create an account. Also, there are plenty of websites that offer advice for getting started.

Thank you for reading this blog, now go make a Twitter and tweet all your professional thoughts and ideas! Don't forget to follow me: @readingsecrets

3 Ways to Ring in Spring with Twitter!

This is a guest post written by Katherine Haun, a third grade teacher at York Township Elementary School.

Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!

By now, you have heard of Twitter. You’ve seen the hashtags, like #edchat, and the @ symbols. You’ve even got your own account and username. But what good are they to you? Here are three reasons to ring in spring with Twitter.

First and foremost, build your Personal Learning Network (PLN). As an educator, the fastest way to learn about new topics in education is to follow other educators. You will feel even more connected if you join in a Twitter chat session with other educators. Scared to join the chat? Start easy, by reading others’ tweets, marking your favorites to reference at a later time. Then, tip-toe a little farther by retweeting something that is interesting to you that your followers might also be interested to read. Once you’re comfortable with that, start tweeting! Share useful websites, your own blog updates, even your animoto videos. To read others’ thoughts and resources on education topics, here are some hashtags to search on Twitter: #edchat, #edtech, #edpolicy, #edreform, and #digitalliteracy. The following are some people I follow on Twitter for ideas about education: @peteandc, @thenerdyteacher, @AngelaMaiers, @edutopia, @ChrisBiffle, @readingrockets, @readingsecrets, @web20classroom, @globalearner, and @kathyschrock. These are just a few to get you started…

Second, get your students involved! Create a class Twitter account and invite student volunteers to tweet a 140-character or less summary of each of your lessons throughout the day. Get your parents involved! Have them follow your class. Make sure that you adjust your privacy settings appropriate for your grade level, send home permission slips, and double-check your school district’s acceptable-use policy.

Third, are you interested in topics aside from education? I don’t know about you, but I basically missed the #GoldenGlobes. Now that football season is over, I’m not up-to-date with the most recent #NFL news, either. How often do you read before bed? Or over your morning coffee? Try searching your favorite topics on Twitter this spring, and I bet you’ll find that you will be reading for pleasure much more often than you did during the winter!

If you like this post, join our mailing list for more digital literacy tips. I would love to hear how you use Twitter for your classroom so take a few minutes to join the conversation on my facebook page.

3 Simple Ways to Incorporate Technology into your Classroom

This is a guest blog from Megan Anderson, a Kindergarten teacher at Red Lion Area School District. We would love to hear about your newest technology discoveries and how you apply them to your classroom.

If you’re like me, you love technology and anything related to it. But when it comes to applying it in your classroom… You have no idea where to start! Yep, that was me about 4 weeks ago. I had all these great resources at my fingertips and just didn’t know it. It was overwhelming! If you’re looking for three quick and easy resources to use in your classroom, try youtube, twitter and blogs. Let’s take a look at each.

1.Youtube Youtube can be used for so much more than looking at the latest viral video or checking out cool Superbowl commercials that you missed! There are many educational videos out there and also how-to’s. I searched all over the internet looking for a Groundhog Day video and found everything I needed on Youtube. You can tell a child how the groundhog will come out of its hole and might see his shadow or might not. Until they see it for themselves, it won’t make as much sense. This is where Youtube comes in handy! You can show your kiddos what you are talking about and give it real meaning allowing them to make those important connections.

2.Twitter It seems most every young person you meet has a facebook or twitter account. Let’s take what they already use and turn it into something educational. In the past teachers would assign a reading passage and have students write a summary (using paper and pencils!). Instead of writing the answers on paper, you can have your students tweet (that’s the twitter word for writing a message) a response back to you! Let’s face it, they always have their phones attached to their hip and we know most of these phones have Internet capabilities. The neat thing about it, you need to be concise and synthesize information because you only have 140 characters to form your answer. There is some higher-level thinking!

3.Blogs My eyes were opened to blogs last year. I had a student teacher that kept talking about blogs. Finally I said to her, “What are you talking about? What is a blog?” A blog is basically an online journal that is available on the web. It can be updated daily, weekly, monthly, or whenever it suites the “blogger” (the owner of the blog). As an educator, I am always looking for new and creative ideas. There are so many wonderful blogs that are specific to grade levels and content areas. You can find everything you need from math, to science to social skills! And, instead of recreating the wheel, there are many materials created by other teachers for your use. Give it a try. Click here to go to Google’s blog search. It only searches blogs! Happy searching!

See, that wasn’t too bad was it! Now, where’s that easy button?