TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers Resources

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Twitter is more than just a way to share meaningless tweets about your breakfast cereal or the traffic on the way to school. Who has time for that? 

For teachers, Twitter can be a powerful tool for professional development via quick sharing with peers and colleagues whom you may or may not know face to face. Imagine running across other teachers who teach the same things you do and exchanging ideas quickly, just when you need them. Imagine putting out a plea for help and finding others willing to suggest a solution. Imagine sharing the cool finds you have discovered on TeachersFirst or a great way to make dictionary skills engaging in your classroom. We all know the best tidbits are from other teachers, and Twitter gives you a way to create a network to constantly learn.

Twitter can also be an effective way to communicate from your class to other classrooms around the globe. If Twitter is accessible inside your school's filtering, your class Twitter account can be an avenue to interact with classrooms across town or across the world. Share tweets about today's news, environmental data, hot topic opinions, and more using hashtags, mentions, or messages. *A tip from Texas teacher Allison: If you work with English language learners, you will want to avoid some common tweet-shortening abbreviations, such as using gr8 to mean great. Non-native speakers do not easily grasp these abbreviations.*

You do not have to know everything about Twitter to get started. Start out with this video for an overview of Twitter. Set up a Twitter account, and follow @teachersfirst to find other TeachersFirst enthusiasts. You can even follow Geo and Meri of Globetracker's Mission to become familiar with how Twitter works. You can access Twitter on their own web site or use one of the many free Twitter sharing tools available for free download. There are many Twitter tools for mobile devices, also free. But you don't need to worry about any of these to start.

Hashtags (those funny looking things with a #pound sign at the start) are a way of indicating that a tweet pertains to a certain topic or a certain interest group/event. The term hashtag refers to the funny # mark. To see what a hashtag does, try searching for one of these education-specific hashtags on Twitter (or watch them flying by in the little "widget" below. Try to figure out what each specialty is: #edchat, #ntchat, #ptchat, #midleved, #gtchat, #edtech, #artsed, #musedchat, #mathchat, #engchat, #EduIT. This is a good way to find people with common interests so you can FOLLOW them. Send a tweet including your favorite hashtag, telling people you are new to Twitter. Teachers who have searches set up for that hashtag will see your message, and you will receive a warm welcome!

For an easy way to get started, try Across the World Once a Week, a simple way to learn about the details of daily life in other cultures. The #xw1w hashtag pulls the weekly question and responses together in a quick Twitter search. Learn more about it here

This collection of resources will give you some ideas and places to find other educators using Twitter and some of the various other tools that maximize Twitter's power for specific sharing, such as photos. We even have some reviews of Twitter-alternatives for those who prefer to stay in an education-only network. We have listed our top 30 Editor's Choice. View additional Twitter Resources here

Set up a Twitter account, follow @teachersfirst, and we'll send you a tweet!

 

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Tweetgen - Tweetgen

Grades
8 to 12
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Do you want students to learn about Twitter and the proper use of social media without actually using social media? Tweetgen is a free tool that generates fake Tweets that ...more
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Do you want students to learn about Twitter and the proper use of social media without actually using social media? Tweetgen is a free tool that generates fake Tweets that use Twitter's current look and options. Choose from one of three options to create a Tweet, block, or suspension. Scroll through the site to add information, including an image, name, date, time, and more. Tweetgen even offers an option of adding a fact check warning similar to those found on some posts on Twitter; as you add information, the live preview updates. When finished, generate the image, then save it to your device.

In the Classroom

Use Tweetgen as part of your Internet safety and digital citizenship lessons as a tool for teaching students how to use social media properly. Include it as an engaging way for students to share learning about events in history. For example, generate tweets that might have occurred in response to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Have students add fact check warnings for false information. After saving the images, include them in a larger multimedia presentation created using Sway, reviewed here, that includes student-created texts, images, tweets, and videos. Learn more about social media practice spaces by reading this helpful blog post.

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Twitter Chat: Using Social Media to Build a Sense of School Community - TeachersFirst

Grades
K to 12
2 Favorites 0  Comments
This archived Twitter chat is from March 2019 and will open in Wakelet. The title of this chat is: Using Social Media to Build a Sense of School Community. During ...more
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This archived Twitter chat is from March 2019 and will open in Wakelet. The title of this chat is: Using Social Media to Build a Sense of School Community. During this chat, participants will: 1. Discuss the need for strengthening and building a united school community, 2. Discuss the benefits of using social media to impact school culture and 3. Share various social media tools and how they can be used to increase community engagement.

In the Classroom

Find resources and explore ways to use social media effectively to build school climate, culture, and community. Share this chat with your colleagues looking for sites and information related to social media implementation.

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Twitter Chat: Using Social Media to Increase Student Engagement - TeachersFirst

Grades
K to 12
2 Favorites 0  Comments
This archived Twitter chat is from December 2018 and will open in Wakelet. The title of this chat is: Using Social Media to Increase Student Engagement. Through this chat, participants...more
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This archived Twitter chat is from December 2018 and will open in Wakelet. The title of this chat is: Using Social Media to Increase Student Engagement. Through this chat, participants will: 1. Discuss the benefits of using social media to increase student engagement, 2. Share ways to utilize social media to foster global learning experiences, and 3. Share helpful resources to begin to incorporate more social media into daily lessons. Find great tools and resources to help use social media to engage your students.

In the Classroom

Find tools and resources to create lessons that incorporate use of social media. Share this chat with your colleagues looking for sites and information related to social media use in the classroom. Explore the various tools that are shared.

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tchat - Congo Labs

Grades
6 to 12
1 Favorites 0  Comments
 
Focus on the Twitter chats you want to follow easily and in real-time with tchat. Sign up for tchat through your Twitter account. Input the hashtag you wish to follow ...more
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Focus on the Twitter chats you want to follow easily and in real-time with tchat. Sign up for tchat through your Twitter account. Input the hashtag you wish to follow and all other tweets will be filtered out. tchat opens in a new tab; that means you can still see other Tweets on your Twitter account tab at the same time you are following a chat. Reply right from tchat without leaving the page; send and continue reading the conversation. The menu bar at the top allows pause and play, it stops refreshing, allowing you to find what you are looking for and to reply or retweet the information without losing it, and then resumes when you click play. You can also block retweets. Either sign in to stop the pop-up when you want to respond, or use tchat without signing in to have the pop-up and see all of the chat on the side. Each reply will automatically include the hashtag.

In the Classroom

Sometimes it's hard to stay focused on a group Twitter chat. Take advantage of this tool to avoid distractions and communicate only with the members of the chat session. It's a relief to use this tool and be able to take your time commenting back and forth and not have to hunt through countless other Tweets to find your group and that one comment where you want to reply. tchat is the perfect tool to use with Twitter in the classroom so students will stay focused on your topic. If your class is following a scientist, engineer, politician, or any other professional, invite them to a chat to converse with your students and have the students stay focused. If you are taking an online class and one of the requirements is to participate in a Twitter chat, this tool is perfect to help you meet your goal.

Use tchat on laptops during a video or student presentations. Pose questions for all to answer/discuss using an assigned hashtag. Ask students to pose their own "I wonder if..." questions as they watch and listen. Keep every student engaged and THINKING as an active listener. The first time you use tchat, you will want to establish some etiquette and accountability rules, such as respectful language and constructive criticism. Assign students to watch a news program or political show and have a chat during the broadcast. Revisit the chat on a projector in class the next day or post the chat transcript to a class blog or wiki and have students respond further in blog posts or on the wiki discussion tab. The advantage of backchannel chat is that every student has a voice, no matter how shy.

Use tchat to collaborate with other classrooms or teachers at a distance. Use a whole class Twitter account to contribute to a regular chat. Professionally, teachers can join subject or grade level specific Tweet chats that happen in real time. See the Twitter Chat Schedule, reviewed here or Cybraryman's Educational chat and hashtag listings here to find real-time groups you can join using tchat.

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Trends24 - Trends24

Grades
9 to 12
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Track trending topics and tweets in any country you specify with Trends24. Select a country and view the breakdown of the trending tweets by minutes, hours, or days. Choose between...more
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Track trending topics and tweets in any country you specify with Trends24. Select a country and view the breakdown of the trending tweets by minutes, hours, or days. Choose between the Timeline breakdown or click on Cloud. Tweet trends show as a word cloud, with the most popular topics showing in a larger font. Click any hashtag name to view the tweets showing for that trend. Are you new to Twitter and hashtags? Find information to help you at TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page.
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In the Classroom

Use this tool to look at the topics that are trends in the various countries. Compare and contrast the top trends and how they differ from other countries that are neighbors or are far away. This tool is helpful in understanding political or cultural issues that extend worldwide or affect more than one region. Use the trending topics to understand the point of view of various countries. Look at news reports or causes for the change in the trend. Twitter trends could be useful in any subject area but especially useful for current events, civics, health, and economics.

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Twchat - TwChat

Grades
9 to 12
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Create a real-time chat room based on a twitter hashtag. Invite users to TwChat to participate in an online presentation without additional programs. Assign others to assist you with...more
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Create a real-time chat room based on a twitter hashtag. Invite users to TwChat to participate in an online presentation without additional programs. Assign others to assist you with moderation. View a list of the Latest Chats and Upcoming Chats. Click "Create own room" to begin. Sign in with Twitter to participate, and then create your first room. Enter the time and schedule for the chat. Tweets appear in the room from all participants. Your tweets appear in the mentor column. Use this tool to follow new Twitter users or block participants.

In the Classroom

Do you use Twitter in the classroom? Use TwChat to create a chat room using a hashtag as invitation. See all tweets related to the hashtag in one place. Consider using a Twitter chat as a collaborative activity to find and share resources about a topic, translate material into/from another language, or understand the meaning behind literary works. Not interested in starting your own chat? Explore the site to discover Twitter chats to match your interests and needs. Find chats that are related to your expertise to learn about issues in the field or to bring a new perspective of that subject area to share with your classes. Find new people with similar interest to follow and build your PLN. Need more information about Twitter? Read more about Twitter at TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page.

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Educators New to Twitter - Kyle Calderwod

Grades
K to 12
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Learn what you need to do and know to start using Twitter. Sign up to get a Twitter mentor or BE a mentor! Find out what to do before creating ...more
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Learn what you need to do and know to start using Twitter. Sign up to get a Twitter mentor or BE a mentor! Find out what to do before creating a Twitter account, get advice about whom to follow, explore programs to use to help you manage your Twitter account, and read how to keep track of everything. Learn about all the terms needed to be successful using Twitter as a teacher. This site is clean, simple, and very helpful!

In the Classroom

After creating an account, look at the page for what else you can start doing. Find other educators to follow on the Before You Begin page, and also look at participating in a Twitter Chat. Find a list of chats to join, and the day and time they meet at Twitter - Education Chats.As a teaching tool, Twitter is amazing! If your school permits access, have a class account for your class to follow people who work in fields and topics you study. Even primary grades can connect with other classes or "follow" many learning experiences via Twitter. Learn much more about teaching ideas and tools for Twitter in the many resources listed on Twitter for Teachers page.

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A List of Twitter Educators by Subject Area - Alice Keeler

Grades
K to 12
1 Favorites 1  Comments
Are you looking for other educators to follow on Twitter? Check out this lengthy list of educator Twitter handles arranged by subject. The easiest way to view the full document ...more
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Are you looking for other educators to follow on Twitter? Check out this lengthy list of educator Twitter handles arranged by subject. The easiest way to view the full document is to click the link located under the heading "A Twitter Win." This link leads to a Google document with headings for all content areas as well as Ed Tech, Counselors, Administrators, and more. Use the scroll bar at the bottom of the document to view all categories. Add your own Twitter handle in the appropriate category for inclusion on this document.
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In the Classroom

Explore the site to discover and follow educators who match your interests and needs. Read the Tweets about what is happening in other classrooms to gain some fresh, new ideas. Looking for more ways to use Twitter in the classroom? If you are the only person in your building who teaches a particular subject, such as gifted or learning support, this list can help you find like minds to share ideas or to set up collaborations between your students. Read more about Twitter at TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page.

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what a great resource Susan, NY, Grades: 6 - 12

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TweetedTimes - Tweetedtimes

Grades
9 to 12
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Create a personalized newspaper from your Twitter account or for any topic of interest. Connect this site easily with your Twitter account and generate a newspaper in minutes. View...more
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Create a personalized newspaper from your Twitter account or for any topic of interest. Connect this site easily with your Twitter account and generate a newspaper in minutes. View the newspapers of your Twitter friends or popular newspapers from other Twitter users. New to Twitter? Learn more from TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page.

In the Classroom

Use Tweeted Times to showcase your own Professional Development over time. Create and share a newspaper from a class or teacher Twitter account as a summary of content learned. Create a newspaper to use for real world learning in any subject (see Thematic newspapers). Share a newspaper of your class tweets with parents (and school administration) to show what students have learned and to highlight the value of Twitter in the classroom. Students can create a newspaper using their own Twitter account to document their learning and conversations. Be sure to use TeachersFirst's review of Twitter for great classroom ideas.

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Twitter Magnets - twittermagnets.com

Grades
3 to 12
1 Favorites 0  Comments
Have fun creating sentences or short messages (like tweets) using drag and drop words at Twitter Magnets! Twitter Magnets calls them poems, though the length limit is a real challenge...more
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Have fun creating sentences or short messages (like tweets) using drag and drop words at Twitter Magnets! Twitter Magnets calls them poems, though the length limit is a real challenge for poets! Choose from the words offered. Drag and drop the magnets into the message area at the bottom -- up to 120 characters. The tool keeps a character count for you. Need different words? Click the swap words link for new choices. Click submit to view your message/poem and decide whether to submit to Twitter Magnet's Twitter feed or not. You can also link to send from your own Twitter account. Note that clicking to see the Twitter Magnets feed will show you "messages" and poems created by the general public. Steer clear or preview to be sure these are appropriate in your setting.

In the Classroom

Create a message or "poem" of the day as a class to send from your class Twitter account. Use as a center activity or have student groups create their own messages about what you have learned today in any subject area class. Have ELL students create simple messages to reinforce language skills. If you don't have a Twitter account, just have students create offline messages. Take a quick screen shot, then write, illustrate, and share on your classroom bulletin board! Generate creative messages as a class to use as writing prompts. Have students tell the story (or nonfiction news account) about what caused the message. Looking for more ways to use Twitter in the classroom? Read more about Twitter at TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page. You can also use this site as a tool to teach about digital citizenship and the etiquette of tweets.

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All My Tweets - AirTight Interactive

Grades
9 to 12
1 Favorites 0  Comments
All My Tweets is an easy way to see the tweets of a certain user. The result of the search is a list of tweets through time. It loads a ...more
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All My Tweets is an easy way to see the tweets of a certain user. The result of the search is a list of tweets through time. It loads a maximum of 3,200 tweets. Try entering teachersfirst in the search bar to see an example. Note: adults should preview results before using this tool with students, since unintended results may include inappropriate content.

In the Classroom

Use on an Interactive whiteboard or projector to introduce a class topic or follow current events. This site could be used for students to submit an assignment of their own tweets they did over a period of time. Or use this site during a presentation on how Twitter works, showing the information contained in a succession of tweets. Have students submit a record of tweets that show their learning over time. Follow a Twitter user who often shares resource links for a diary of resources that have been shared. Trace the tweets from the White House, any high profile political figure, or author over a period of time. Follow discussions about current events or new events in science or medicine. See this list of tweeting authors for some possibilities.

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Twitter4Teachers - Gina Hartman

Grades
K to 12
3 Favorites 0  Comments
Are you looking for fellow educators to follow on Twitter? If so, this wiki is a great starting point. Choose from many different categories of educators such as librarians, early ...more
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Are you looking for fellow educators to follow on Twitter? If so, this wiki is a great starting point. Choose from many different categories of educators such as librarians, early childhood, professional development, and much more to begin your search. Each link leads to a list of educators to follow on Twitter along with a short description about themselves, simply click on the Twitter handle to go to Twitter and begin following. Be aware: there is a warning on the top of the main page that the wiki is now "locked down" due to spamming. You are still able to access all the links. You are not able to edit without joining.

In the Classroom

Explore the site to discover and follow educators who match your interests and needs. Read the Tweets about what is happening in other classrooms to gain some new/fresh ideas. Want to know more about Twitter? See TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page.

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Tweet Topic Explorer - Neoformix

Grades
8 to 12
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Use this resource to see what the NYTimes, Wall street Journal, or any other source (Twitter account) is currently tweeting about. A blend between Twitter...more
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Use this resource to see what the NYTimes, Wall street Journal, or any other source (Twitter account) is currently tweeting about. A blend between Twitter and word clouds, this resource can provide current information about many topics. Enter a Twitter username in the lower left to begin. Click on a circle in the word cloud to see the tweets listed along the side. Try entering @teachersfirst to see an example.

In the Classroom

This would be fantastic projected on a whiteboard (or projector) for the class to see. Use this resource by entering a Twitter username (such as a politician's) to stay up to date about what they are discussing (or to realize the overuse of certain talking points!) Enter an author's user name to follow current discussions. Use this resource over a period of several weeks to identify the changing trends or changes in stories over time. Follow any Twitter name that can shed light on any academic topic for use in a class. Does your class use twitter? Enter the username(s) to create a word cloud of what your class has done. Use the word cloud and Tweets to reflect on what has been learned in the class. Follow what a famous person or writer is tweeting. See this list of tweeting authors for some possibilities.

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