Student Post: Rebecca DeWater

I watched the Edutopia video about using Twitter in classrooms [Social Media: Making Connections Through Twitter] as a way to make connections between schools and teachers in different areas of the country.

When I first saw the title of this video, and not knowing what context Twitter was being used in the classroom, my first immediate thought was, “No way would I want Twitter being a source of technology within my classroom and with my students.” However, when I realized classroom teachers are using it as a way to share their lessons with other teachers, and gain more knowledge and activity ideas from these other classes, I changed my mind. I had never thought of how Twitter could be used to create threads of exciting class activities, pictures, videos, etc. Personally, I see more of Instagram and Pinterest being used, but I think Twitter could also be in there in the social media platforms teachers use to share on and make connections. 

Even though I am only in the process of becoming a teacher, I already follow many well-known teachers on Instagram, and I already have Pinterest boards saved of all these different lessons and pictures. I see this being helpful for when I am out on my own in a classroom; to no feel so alone and to have plans already in place for me. As I watched this video about using Twitter, I found it interesting to see how the simple activity of building paper towers spread so widely and so quickly around not only other school districts in the United States but also to different parts of the world, such as Ireland. Branching into various social media platforms extends your teaching beyond the four walls of your classroom, and allows you to share with, as well as learn from, the world of education surrounding you. I think it is a great idea to not be afraid to use other educators' ideas. I used to always feel like I need to make up my own tricks and lessons for my students, but I have since learned that this will be impossible to do 24/7 as a teacher, along with everything else we are responsible for. In this time in our world, it is important to be able to rely on others to help move us along, and teachers should fall right into that idea with the use of technology and social media.

While watching this video, the only question I had about the idea of using Twitter to share things from in your classroom, is how to go about doing it without being stuck on your phone all day. In the video we see the teacher taking pictures and videos and then posting to Twitter while his kids are carrying out the activity, instead of engaging with them and walking around assisting. I would want to be very careful about how much time I spend with the phone in front of my face during class time, just so that I could post to social media. I think this is something that would be best to save for times when the students are not in the classroom, or even after school hours. As teachers we do not want students on their phones most of the time, so we should model that as well by not turning using technology and Twitter in the classroom to something that is too much and too often.