If you’re looking for more ways to incorporate technology into the classroom, then you’ve probably thought about using Twitter. But how do you turn a social platform into a learning tool? Here are over 20 ideas to get you started!
Twitter Activities for the Classroom
1. Live Tweet a Book
If you are looking for more ways to get students excited about reading then don’t just assign a book to read--have students live tweet their thoughts as they read it; think of a unique hashtag to go with it, so students can easily see and comment on other students.
2. Books Into Tweets
Take a book your class is reading, and have students summarize each chapter into one tweet; when the book has been read, have them turn the entire book into a single tweet.
3. Twitter for Research
Discuss with students how they can use Twitter to do research; typing in a topic in the search box, for example, will give them a list of relevant articles and discussion groups about that topic.
4. Create a Classroom Hashtag
Creating a unique hashtag just for your classroom is an excellent way for students to ask you and their peer’s questions about assignments.
5. 280 Character Poem (or 140 if you are old school!)
Have students write a poem that’s within the constraints of Twitter characters, then have your class vote on the best one.
6. Memes
Students love memes. Add a little level of research to the fun, by having them track down where a meme started and how it grew.
7. Hashtags
In a similar way, have students track where a hashtag started and track how it evolved.
8. Question of the Day
Give students a chance to earn extra credit by posting a question each day; first person that answers wins.
9. Roleplay
Have students spend the day tweeting as a historical figure.
10. Compare / Contrast
Have your students follow two different news feeds on different sides of the political spectrum, then have them compare and contrast how each one covers the same event.
11. Foreign News
International news is often a foreign concept to students; encourage them to follow foreign news to not only keep up with what’s going on outside the United States, but see how news is presented differently to different cultures.
12. Chat
Many scientists and industry leaders use Twitter to host regular chats where students can ask questions. Find one relevant to a topic you are teaching and have students participate in the chat.
13. Sample Questions
Post sample questions students might expect to see on an upcoming quiz or test.
14. Games
Post word games / riddles / trivia and give extra credit or some small reward to the first student who can answer it.
15. Get Political
Twitter is one of the most prominent social mediums when it comes to elections; have students follow a campaign and write about how Twitter was used to engage with potential voters.
16. Microblog
Have students look at the Twitter accounts of journalists to see how they tweet news, then have students microblog current events.
17. Poll
Use Twitter Polls to engage your students and have a little fun. A poll as simple as “Iron Man v Batman: Who’d Win” will let students see the fun side of you!
18. Penpal
Connect with a teacher from another part of the world and connect your students to a global penpal.
19. Foreign Language
Foreign language teachers can use Twitter to get their students to practice using the language by participating in foreign chats.
20. Twitter Hunt
Create a scavenger hunt using Twitter; a few things they can do on the hunt: take / post a photo of something in your classroom, ask someone who works at the school why they started a career in education, and post their reply, retweet a post relevant to a topic you are teaching.
If you are looking for other ways to engage your students through digital signage, check out these posts:
