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