Twittering with teenagers

I had an idea. The idea was that everyone, well almost everyone uses social media. This had to be a way to enrich my lessons. I researched the kids on setting up a Facebook fan page. They looked at me like I was nuts.

Use twitter for that Sir!

It was as clear as could be. Twitter is their social media of choice for this. Who am I to tell them which method they would use?

The red tape in East Lothian was worryingly simple.

Go for it. Use obvious safeguards and don’t DM kids

Getting the class to follow me was easy. Getting them to tweet back, not so easy.
I was not going to be upset at this. I did discover that theyread my tweets. They even told me to tweet more often so my tweets didn’t get lost in their timeline. They were keen to also get links to Maths news etc so they can read the stories. They only read the stories on their smart phones, though, so setting up complex tasks for them to do on a PC is not using their preferences as much.

It would transpire that most pupils, being teenagers, don’t want their mates to see tweets TO a Maths department. The kids are happy enough to read them, only their own timeline will show they are reading a Maths department’s twitter feed. If a kid comments, or mentions, on the department’s feed, then their own followers will then see the conversation.

So, twittering with teenagers works, so long as we don’t

dis their street cred

and, even worse, we don’t expect them to respond publicly to us.

It is a great tool for reminding them of facts, offering information regarding revision and supporting them in expending their educational experience. They are responsible for checking and acting on the feeds and links. This is just one method to help them gain success and I accept some learners will find twitter more helpful than others.

Indeed, getting them to condense their learning into 140 characters, what a tool!

1)It is free, 2)it is available and, even more, 3)it is current. 1 and 2 excite teachers and 3 grabs the attention of the kids.

Using twitter, we are all winners!