For a long time I couldn't see what all the fuss was about with Twitter, as far as I could see it was just another social tool for teenagers. However, a teaching colleague of mine convinced me to give it a go. I decided to follow the Jarrod Robinson's 14 day twitter challenge to get me started (http://thepegeek.com/2013/04/09/the-20-day-twitter-challenge/). I was instantly hooked as I could see the professional development opportunities that had simply presented themselves in no time. I decided to follow people involved in the teaching community, and was amazed at the wealth of information that was available. What I enjoyed most was that I was finding interesting ideas and information about teaching that I otherwise would not have searched for.
At this point I decided to find out ways that Twitter could be used in the classroom, and there are endless ideas, some of which can be found here: http://www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom. To get the most out of Twitter, it is crucial to know about the 'Hashtag'. When used correctly, Hashtags are an extremely valuable tool to create discussions, organise information and to communicate with the world. This great article on will tell you everything you need to know about the Hashtag: http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Hashtags-With-Twitter.
So if you haven't already, give Twitter a go for your own professional development, and then discover the endless ways that it can be used in the classroom. A huge advantage here is that most students will already know the ins and out of Twitter much better than us, and should be able to use it effectively as a learning tool.
Follow me on Twitter @samgibson1983
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