Guide to Twitter in the K-8 Classroom

I have been doing some research about the use and application of social media platforms in the classroom, and today’s post is dedicated to the use of Twitter in K-8. The question I am currently exploring is, What are the skills and literacies associated with using Twitter (social media) in the classroom?

After reading a number of blog posts and tweets about the implications of using Twitter in the classroom, I came up with a short list of skills our students learn when we tweet with them at school:

  • how write in a very focused, clear and concise manner
  • new methods of communicating using hashtags, symbols (emojis), and acronyms
  • reading skills
  • information and digital literacy skills
  • media literacy skills
  • connecting skills
  • collaboration skills
  • social networking/ network literacy
  • geography
  • global citizenship skills

One of my favourite posts was Sylvia Rosenthal’s Guide to Twitter in the K-8 Classroom (Langwitches Blog). It is very comprehensive, and outlines the following progression for introducing Twitter to your students:

  1. What is Twitter?
  2. Getting Started
  3. How can you use Twitter in the Classroom?
  4. Twitter Etiquette
  5. The First Tweet
  6. What is a Quality Tweet?
  7. Logistics
  8. Twitter Vocabulary
  9. Tweeting Classrooms

Twitter in K-8 Classroom- Globally Connected Learning

This post is also available in: Français (French)