Tweet Tweet
Grades 6-12
Big Idea
In this activity, students focus on the most important details of a lesson while summarizing their learning. This process allows the teacher to determine what students are learning using the platform of "social media."
Directions
- Introduce this activity by reviewing the basic elements of a tweet on Twitter: a) Twitter users create a Username (also known as a "handle"), which expresses them and their personality. Usernames should be no more than 20 characters. b) Tweets are limited to a maximum of 140 characters, which usually only allows for a sentence or two. The goal is to share enough information for your reader to understand what you're saying while keeping your communication brief.
- Provide each student with three post-it notes. Ask them to determine their "handle" and have them write it at the top of each note. You can also have students write their real name on the back of their post-it notes for accountability.
- Have students to "tweet" something they learned on each of their post-it notes. These "tweets" might be takeaways, connections, questions, or anything else that allows you to assess their understanding.
- Ask students post their post-it notes in a specific location or locations in the room.
- Have students do a gallery walk of the room and leave at least three "reply tweets" for their classmates (still sticking to the same rules as stated in #1).
When to Use
This strategy works well during a lesson (as students can write "tweets" mid-instruction or as they interact with a text). Students will pay closer attention to the details of what they are hearing or reading as they decide how they want to react to the material.
This strategy also works especially well after students have been introduced to new material. It allows them to demonstrate their understanding and thinking, as well as interact with one another in a written "discussion."
Strategy Variations
- Have students develop "handles" and write "tweets" in the voice of a character from a short story or novel. Students can also respond to one another in the voice of another character.
- Give your "Twitter board" a topic starting with a hashtag (for ex., "#WhereHaveISeenThis?" for a "Twitter" conversation about where students have seen math concepts being used in the real world).
- Use Tweet Tweet to allow students to respond to an article, poem, textbook chapter, story, or video that you've worked with in class.
- Have students write "tweets" making connections between two different texts, media, or content areas.
- After a gallery walk, have students group "tweets" by commonalities and explain their reasoning behind their groupings.
- Have students expand their "tweets" into a "blog post."
- Keep a "Twitter" conversation going over the course of multiple days by leaving your "Twitter board" up and allowing students to continue to "comment."