Twitter has no point.
Well, thats why I had a twitter... got sucked in... and then removed it from my bookmark toolbar and signed out for the last time about 3 months ago. some of my tweets have included:
march 17th: everybody that seen the leprechaun say hey! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nda_OSWeyn8
march 9th: #RIPLaylaGrace @LaylaGrace (she was a little girl i stumbled upon that died at age 3 from a rare cancer. her mom has now started a foundation to research the cancer Layla died from.)
february 19th: i want to check facebook. (i gave it up for lent.)
november 7th(09): here we go, blue!! #allin
all the other ones I couldn't repeat because they were similar, but MORE ridiculous. I got on twitter because Ashton Kutcher was racing CNN to see who could get 1,000,000 followers first. I followed Ashton... but, because of my allegiance to CNN, canceled my own vote by following CNN also.
I quit twitter because I felt like it was a waste of my time. But, after reading the possibilities in "Enhance Your Twitter Experience" I am seeing how it can be made not pointless (.... provided you follow less than 5 celebrities.)
I didnt know about twitter lists, and I found this to be a helpful link to other related topics, if you find the correct link. The social networking aspect is I think its best asset (...and purpose) and I love the idea of being able to follow silently or chime in. I HATED the big box about twerminology... Its going to far, twitter. Too far.
In "No, Never Alone" I loved the idea of learning together, and allowing Twitter to aid in that. The exchanges and affirmation that can happen through following different people, hash tags, and exploring (ok... stalking) new people are pretty incredible. I love the idea of partnering with people around the country and around the world, and allowing people to use their talents in new ways and new places.
I poked around the two blogs a bit, and felt the final paragraph of Sessums post about cheating was significant:
In the end, what you assess is what you get. To improve student performance we must first acknowledge that essential intellectual abilities are not accurately reflected through conventional testing, and second, move toward more authentic systems of assessment that more meaningfully measure and represent student and teacher abilities.
We've talked about this in class, and I think its quite interesting in the original context of online course taking/test cheating. I think intrinsically, every student wants to achieve. Some will do that by "any means necessary," for a variety of motivations. I feel like I completely agree with the statement "what you assess is what you get." Scantrons have a purpose, but that is not to advance learning or comprehension. I hope that this is something I will remember in my practice as I try to engage students and develop assessments that test what I actually want to know... and that I'm not teaching at a grade where I have to teach to the looming MEAP.
I poked around Buffy's wordpress and found an article that was written about her media center. I was really intrigued by the format of it and how much students have "caught" it. I think the use of cell phones in the media center (or traditional classroom) is interesting and has the potential for a big effect, yet, I still dont know to what extent you trust students with new forms of technology that seem to, at least in a way, set them up for distraction and/or failure.
Grace&Peace,
ebg
PS: No, I will not tell you my current twitter name. Yes, I will make a new one for class.
PPS: In an attempt to make my videos (which I dont think anyone watches) relevant to class, I have decided to step out on a limb and share something that I love, love, love so much. Spoken Word poetry. In my sophomore year raceðnicity class, my GSI shared this video about 9/11 with our class. That night I must have watched dozens of other videos from def poetry, and recently discovered this one, which I think has relevance to discussion of parental participation in education and the trivial things we focus on in life. [disclaimer: some explicit language.]
to clarify, I dont think Fresh Prince is stupid. Pretty much everything else I agree with.
I agree with you starting mentality of how twitter has no point. I had always seen it as Facebook Status updater minus the Facebook page. The articles we read for class this week taught me how it can be used as a tool for connection in the education world...with a little fun on the side
ReplyDeleteJake, my thoughts exactly. Those articles on the other hand did make me at least a little bit curious about twitter being used as an active tool, but I still have my doubts. I think it is just the general stigma of twitter because of all the celebrities and their "brilliant" posts.
ReplyDeleteEBG - You raise lots of great points here. Great idea to start a new Twitter account for class (you can even be anonymous if you want). I was a huge Twitter skeptic until MACUL 2 years ago, then I forced myself to try it for 60 days. I got so much great professional information from it that I stayed.
ReplyDeleteYou manage to say what I am thinking but better than I ever could. I have the same reservations as everyone else, about twitter. And the twitter terminology box only added significantly to these reservations. But I suppose part of our learning experience is to extend ourselves to as many avenues as possible and test out what we feel comfortable with using. If it proves effective or worthwhile, we can choose to use it for teaching or adding to our pedagogical knowledge. If not, we can pretend like twitter doesn't exist.
ReplyDeleteEmily - I can totally see how twitter could be a huge waste of time!! And I sure don't need another distraction... as I already spend way too much time on facebook and these blogs are also starting to suck up my time!
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