Twitter Account Update

So a few days into playing with Twitter and I’m having a lot of difficulty seeing myself actually being able to put it to use in my 5th grade classroom. When I have a message that I need to get out quickly to parents, I can whip up an email and send it out in under a minute to my students’ parents. Twitter’s limit of 140 characters doesn’t allow for much detail. Also, I do not think that my students’ – or most elementary students – parents would be OK with and allow their child to participate in this, even if it is just during school time. There is also the issue of kids that do not have internet access at home for after-school checking.

On the message board, Andrew brought up a good point about posting homework and reminders on Twitter. When students know they can check for “tweets” from their teacher(s), this is really just taking away from the responsibility of the student. He/she will learn to check nightly and slowly phase out or disregard using a organized book to write down assignments, project requirements, or test dates. Andrew also pointed out that students might get into the bad habit to think that if there is nothing posted, there is nothing to do. Although making a “tweet” is easy, it’s just another thing on the long list of daily chores for a teacher to do before he/she can head home for the day.

Another issue that would be of huge concern to me is potential legal implications! I feel like through my school’s policies, parents would need to complete a consent form for their children to be on Twitter. What if they chose not to have their child access the site? What if they did and the person/people that our students start to follow don’t post the nicest comments. Is language monitored on Twitter? Content? Are there ways that some “tweets” could be filtered for younger users? What if some posts an unsavory profile picture? There are a lot of “what-ifs…”

While I think people still need to tread carefully with Facebook teacher/student interaction, I agree that it could be a better option for social media communication. Pictures, tags, notes, videos, links, etc. are nice tools.

I can really only see Twitter being helpful to myself as an elementary teacher as keeping abreast of professional development journal updates and news.

****Sidenote FYI**** The first – and only so far – problem that I’ve had with Twitter is “unwelcome/unsavory visitors” that chose to follow me. I asked around and my cousin was quickly able to guide me to “Settings” and check the box that says “Protect my tweets.” This has you approve new followers before they can see your posts.