Tweet! Tweet! A reading response option

In an earlier post, I shared that  I am working to mix up my reading response options for my students.  One of the options that I am giving students this year is Twitter.

I used Twitter in the classroom two years ago successfully, but with last year's craziness, I kind of dropped it.  I am planning to really make it work this year.

I have a class account for Twitter, and that is what the students will use.  Even though all will have access to their own computer, I pull our account up on our classroom computer, and that is where they post their tweet. 

This year, I will recommend that everyone try to do one tweet every two weeks.  When they think they know what they want to say (about a book they are reading independently or one that we are looking at as a class) they will write the tweet into their Reading Notebook.  Once I give it the okay, they will be allowed to put it out there on Twitter.  So that I can keep track of who has tweeted, students will be asked to put their initials at the end of their tweet.

I am even thinking that we may find a way to keep track of retweets, quotes, and responding tweets.  We found two years ago that there are a lot of other classrooms on Twitter.  It was cool to connect with students around the world.  This year, I am really going to encourage our parents to follow us on Twitter, too.

We will also use our account to create class tweets after learning new accounts or to share other things we are doing in our classroom.  It is a great way to focus on main ideas and determining importance!

Do you have other ideas for using Twitter with your class?  I would love to hear them!