Using Twitter the First Week of School

Last week during my Classroom 2.0 LIVE presentation I unveiled my goals for 2013-14:

On-going relationships with other classrooms
Learning is more interactive and collaborative in nature
Project-based learning
Inquiry-based learning
Creation - Finding our passion

This year, we will be using Twitter daily will help meet these goals. Over the summer I attended several presentations about Twitter in the classroom. The most memorable was Matt Gomez's session at TCEA Tots and Tech in June. He explained how he used Twitter with his kindergartners to connect and learn. I have been using Twitter as @frugalteacher and @mrsmorgansclass for a few years, so it seemed natural to have a class Twitter account.

I spent the summer carefully thinking about how I would implement and manage Twitter in the classroom because I want it to fit seamlessly into our daily routine and I want to make sure I am covering our state's standards. 

In past years, we would start our day with "morning work" that consisted of 2 things:

• A daily worksheet with sentences that require the students to correct spelling and grammar errors
• A map packet with daily questions relating to the map of the week

The students work on these independently and then we go over them together. This takes up a lot of time and I am not sure it accomplishes very much in the way of learning or engagement. Using Twitter allows students to not only work on these skills, but it also is an engaging, interactive way to hit our goals AND the required standards.

Before school started I set up our class Twitter @SycSuperstars and followed a few classrooms. Many of my connections are setting up separate Twitter accounts for their classrooms, so I picked a few to follow.

On the first day of school I introduced our classroom Twitter account to my students during morning meeting. I explained what a "tweet" is and how we only have 140 characters to say what we want to say. We looked at the classrooms we are following and read a few of their tweets and then introduced ourselves to two classrooms.  The next day read our replies and then responded. Most of our tweets have consisted of introductions and questions. For example, we learned that in Ohio they call their cafeteria the dining hall, but they eat the same kinds of food we eat. 

For the first few days, the students dictated the response and I typed them. They carefully watch the character count and let me know when we are running out. They help revise and edit the tweet so it fits in the 140 character limit. 

During the week, an education reporter for our local newspaper followed us and tweeted about how we are using Twitter. My students responded to her by asking questions about her job as a reporter. I used this opportunity to have the students do the typing themselves. Each sentence was typed by a different student. We composed the tweet together.

  

So far we have connected with two classrooms in Texas and one in Ohio. Enter map skills...We have large US and World maps that we will use to locate our connections and mark with a pin. Tracking real places with real people will bring our maps to life, making them an interactive, ever-changing artifact of our learning. We will also make these connections even more authentic by doing video conferencing sessions using Skype or Google Hangouts.

I am extremely encouraged by the possibilities Twitter has to offer and can't wait to see where it will take us!

Resources:

Matt B. Glomez

http://mattbgomez.com/the-research-center/

http://mattbgomez.com/kindergarten-tweets-with-weather-experts/

http://mattbgomez.com/we-should-be-doing-more-than-teaching-digital-citizenship/

Miss Night's Marbles

http://missnightmutters.com/2011/12/so-you-want-to-tweet-with-kindergarten.html

New School Year Resolutions

Here's a chance for you to set some goals for the upcoming school year and share them with the world! I am a big proponent of public goal-setting because it forces me to stick with them! Last year I set 3 goals and posted them on my blog. I also shared my goals with the entire staff at my school. Nothing like putting yourself under a lot of pressure...but that's how I roll best. So here's your opportunity to set some goals, share them with the rest of the world, and then go have an awesome year! 


Just write a blog post stating your goals and then click on the picture below to link up!

MY GOALS FOR 2012-2013

1.  IMPROVE UPON THE GOALS I SET LAST YEAR: Daily 5, Blogging, and connecting with the world. Last year I implemented some huge changes and the payoff was enormous! My students learned to be independent learners and thoroughly enjoyed The Daily 5. They also benefited from the the many contacts we made through Skyping and blogging. This year, my students will experience quad-blogging and more global interactions right from the start. I hope to do a "Skype Etiquette" session during the first week of school with another classroom. (Any takers?)

2.  LESS CLUTTER! I envy the teachers whose rooms look pristine all year long. When I look at my room in the afternoon, it looks like a tornado hit my desk because it tends to be the catch-all. My goal is to have a place for everything so that things don't just get thrown on my desk or on the floor behind my desk. I am skeptical about this goal, but I have seen a lot of great organization ideas on Pinterest that may help.

3.  BUILD STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS WITH MY STUDENTS: I sometimes feel that I miss out on opportunities with my students because I am too focused on the tasks at hand instead of what the students need. Taking time to really listen to my students will go a long way in helping build mutual trust and motivating them to work to the best of their ability.

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?

My Summer Goals: Update

At the beginning of my summer vacation I set some goals. Now that we are 6 weeks away from the start of school, I thought I would take a look and see how I'm doing:

My Summer of 2012 Goals!

• Clean the garage:  My sister-in-law just retired after 20 years of teaching and I have inherited a lot of her classroom items - which have been dumped in my garage that was already in disarray. I am very excited to go through and see what goodies she has left me! Unfortunately in Texas, it's difficult to work in the garage when it's 90 degrees at 8:00 in the morning so it may take a while to get through everything.  *UPDATE* The garage is clean! We dragged everything out, swept, sorted, and rearranged. We also had a garage sale and made a few extra dollars!
• Learn, Learn, Learn! Last summer I discovered a world of educators on Twitter and through blogging. This summer I plan to get some new ideas and learn even more. *UPDATE* Participating in weekly Twitter chats like #2ndchat and #teachchat keeps me conntected with teachers around the world. I also make it a point to visit at least 2 blogs a day. I also visit Pinterest to collect new ideas.

• Plan for 2012-13: I am already thinking of ways to make what I did last year better: Skyping with a purpose, making the most of student blogging, and fine-tuning the Daily5/Cafe routine are a few things that I will be working on. *UPDATE* My planning is more in my head right now. Now that the beginning of school is getting closer, I will put more thought and effort into it.
• Relax, be healthy, and have fun! I am also going to limit my time on the computer this summer and make time for healthy and fun activities. It's very easy to get stuck on the couch with the laptop and not realize how much time has passed. *UPDATE* ON the couch with the laptop a little more than I wanted, but still accomplishing a lot around the house and getting lots of relaxing down-time so I will feel recharged when school starts.

Garage: BEFORE

Garage: DURING Garage Sale

Garage: AFTER! 

SO organized!

What were your summer goals?

 Have you accomplished anything? 

Have you taken time to relax and recharge? 

Summer Vacation, Setting Goals, and Cleaning the Garage

It's the first day of summer vacation and I am already thinking about how I can make the most of my time off.  I have found that if I publicly list my goals I tend to follow through with them. I set some goals for the 2011-12 school year and I am pleased to report that I was able to achieve these goals and then some. So! Without further ado I present:

My Summer of 2012 Goals!

• Clean the garage:  My sister-in-law just retired after 20 years of teaching and I have inherited a lot of her classroom items - which have been dumped in my garage that was already in disarray. I am very excited to go through and see what goodies she has left me! Unfortunately in Texas, it's difficult to work in the garage when it's 90 degrees at 8:00 in the morning so it may take a while to get through everything.
• Learn, Learn, Learn! Last summer I discovered a world of educators on Twitter and through blogging. This summer I plan to get some new ideas and learn even more.
• Plan for 2012-13: I am already thinking of ways to make what I did last year better: Skyping with a purpose, making the most of student blogging, and fine-tuning the Daily5/Cafe routine are a few things that I will be working on. 
• Relax, be healthy, and have fun! I am also going to limit my time on the computer this summer and make time for healthy and fun activities. It's very easy to get stuck on the couch with the laptop and not realize how much time has passed. 

Do you think it is important to set goals? 

What are your goals for this summer? 

A Day of Reflection and Thought...again

I was recently named Teacher of the Year by my peers and as I was filling out all of the paperwork for Teacher of the District, I started looking back over my blog posts from the last year. I came upon this one that I had done back in the summer when I finally made the commitment to use the Daily 5 in its' entirety.  It's kind of interesting to see what a difference a year can make. All of the frustations I had before using Daily 5 are gone.  My students are all really good readers, and more importantly, they love to read and write! 


A Day of Reflection and Thought July 14, 2011
I spent some time on the computer today exploring Google+ and downloading TweetDeck. I also started re-reading The Daily 5. I read this book 2 summers ago while I was in new teacher training. After the training, I was excited and determined to implement The Daily 5  in my classroom. Well, that didn't happen. In fact, for the last 2 years I am embarrassed to say that my classroom has been more like the one described in the first few pages of the book:


We spent too much time managing their behavior, planning activities, and putting out fires instead of teaching.  We didn't have time to plan for excellent instruction that would meet our children's needs, nor did we have enough time for small groups or individual conferences.  We knew there had to be a better way. (Boushey & Moser p. 5)

How had I let my classroom become exactly what I knew it should not?  I'm not really sure. I was able to implement the "Read to Self" component quite easily, but my inexperience combined with some unexpected situations became too overwhelming. I found myself becoming discouraged and started doing what I had observed in other classrooms and just "winging it". Student behavior, paperwork, and new curriculum all played a part in my inability to have full control of my teaching and my classroom.

As I get ready to start my 3rd year, I am no longer able to play the "1st/2nd year teacher card"  but I feel much more prepared than ever. My PLN (Personal Learning Network) has helped and encouraged me tremendously.  At the end of the 2010-11 school year I had no idea that by visiting a few blogs and setting up a Twitter account would open up a whole world of information that was there for the taking. I did not plan on spending my summer fully engaged with other teachers from around the world...but I'm glad I did!


Anyway, enough about me being a bad teacher...I am rejuvenated and ready to take on the world!

My Goals:

• Implement all 5 components of the Daily 5

• Integrate student blogging into "Work on Writing"

• Skype with other classrooms around the world

There! 3 goals. I never set goals before.  My only goal was to make it to the last day of school!

I think 2011-12 is going to be the best one yet!

So! After reading this, I realize how publicly setting goals can be a very good motivator to do what you say you are going to do! 

• I did implement all components of the Daily 5 and wonder how I taught reading and writing before.

• I did integrate student blogging into the "work on writing" components and have been amazed at how much better my students are at writing than in past years. They are more motivated to write better now that they know they have an audience that includes their parents, the prinicipals, counselor, other teachers, and students and teachers from other classrooms around the world!

• I did join a global Skype community and have brought other classrooms and educators from around the world to our classroom. One very exciting day we even Skyped with a former astronaut and in a few weeks we will be Skyping with Neil deGrasse Tyson (we are hoping to get that Pluto question answered:-)

And yes, 2011-12 has been the best one yet!

Now I must get back to my paperwork.