Thoughts on Twitter

 

You know, I have to admit, I am one of the people that have bashed Twitter since the beginning of its existence.  I do have to say my only past experience with Twitter prior to this class was my cousin sending me constant tweets about what he does doing, including the mention of bowel movements.  The idea of just announcing body functions or who someone just saw walking down the street was not of any interest and quiet annoying really.  So this class has given me a new perspective on the business of Twitter.  I love the idea that people can use this source professionally to send out or retrieve information.  Will I ever use it after this class is the big question.  I have to admit, I do not like being linked up to all the constant chatter, it’s too much to sort through, I would much rather use a search engine to find something.  But the sharing of information is awesome.  I would rather use a source like Diigo and Pinterest to find sources shared by others, but let’s face it, Twitter is the only social network I’ve found so far that has an established physical education gathering.  Until other sites become established, Twitter is all I’ve got.  I am grateful there is at least one social network but I hope to see more development.  So that is for my personal use to information gathering with Twitter, now what about in my classroom?  I hate to admit it, as I hate to admit that Twitter is useful after so many years of making fun of it… but I could use this in my classroom.  One of the difficulties I have had so far in my teaching is reminding students and relaying written information to them.  They do not bring reminder binders to physical education.  Often, a reminder of a test is verbal which does not take into account all my types of learners.  As a result, students forgot about assignments and tests, results were lower than they could have been.  I think the use of a blog and Twitter can help this problem.  A blog is something more in depth for students to refer to while I can use Twitter to remind students of assignments.  “Remember to study for the test tomorrow!” or “New post, check the blog!”  It’s a way to stay connected outside of class as well as a way to help the fact we often do not have paper available to write with in class.

 So all in all…. I’m stubborn, I don’t want to like Twitter, but let’s face it, this thing is darn useful for P.E.