140 Characters in Search of a Story

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140 Characters in Search of a Story

• Using Twitter in Language Arts

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Brevity is the soul of wit.

• Polonius
• Hamlet II.ii

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Brevity is the soul of Twitter.

• (what he really meant)

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Participate via Twitter

• http//twitter.com/sschwister
• Tweet to _at_sschwister
• Take notes
• Post questions
• Participate in activities

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What is microblogging?

• Micro-blogging is a form of multimedia blogging
  that allows users to send brief text updates
  (say, 140 characters or fewer). . . .
• Wikipedia

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And why should we care?

• Why would you subject your friends to your
  daily minutiae? And conversely, how much of their
  trivia can you absorb? The growth of ambient
  intimacy can seem like modern narcissism taken to
  a new, supermetabolic extreme.
• Clive Thompson

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Strengths of microblogging

• Concise
• Metacognitive
• Social collaborative
• Ephemeral

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Concise

• Twitters 140-character limit provides a great
  framework for creating compact messages. Not that
  theres anything wrong with being verbose yet
  having taught writing, theres much to be said
  for getting straight to the point.
• Chris Sessums
• I like Twitter for its asynchronous, forced
  concision.
• Barbara Ganley

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Metacognitive

• I also want to explore students using tweets to
  send out questions and observations to the group
  while engaged in the "solo work" of the
  course--the reading and ruminating and writing
  that so often happens alone. How might sending
  links and notes this way deepen and broaden our
  learning experience together?
• Barbara Ganley

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Social and collaborative

• Twitter and other constant-contact media create
  social proprioception. They give a group of
  people a sense of itself, making possible weird,
  fascinating feats of coordination.
• Clive Thompson

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Ephemeral

• The power of twitter in the classroom lies in
  harnessing the instantaneous and ephemeral nature
  of the tool.
• Darren Kuropatwa

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Wait a second.

• Q What if Twitter is not an option at my
  school?
• A No problem. These ideas can work offline,
  too.

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Twitter Basics

• _at_replies - Public reply
• RT - Re-Tweet
• DM - Direct message
• Tinyurl - Shorter is better

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Twitter Talk

• What Im doing
• What Im thinking
• Sharing resources links
• Conversation via _at_replies

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Getting started

• Sign up for free account at Twitter
• Twitter in Plain English
• The Big Juicy Twitter Guide
• Blogging Sueblimely Twitter for Beginners

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Use Twitter to bring literature into your
classroom

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Intrigued by first lines?
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Classic literature, a line at a time
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New literature, a line at a time
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Use Twitter to prompt writing

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Daily writing ideas
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Use Twitter to collaborate

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Twittories, or Twitter stories
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Use Twitter to find an audience

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YouthVoices
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Flash fiction tiny poetry

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Flash fiction

• Wikipedia Fiction of extreme brevity
• Contains (or implies) traditional elements of
  fiction character, plot, etc.
• FlashFictionOnline

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For sale baby shoes, never worn.

• Ernest Hemingway

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Novel in 12 Words or Less

• Twelve-word novel win changes life. Fame, drugs,
  adultery, sorrow, tears, blood.
• Obituary. First five words free, she thought.
  Charles dead. Yacht for sale.
• Louise's love of poodles was overshadowed only by
  her love of barbecue.
• On The Medias 2007 Novel Challenge

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Tiny poetry Twaiku

• Twaiku Haiku in 140 characters or less
• Copyblogger Twaiku contest
• A wandering ghost / My dead father cries Uncle!
  / I must have revenge.
• Im following you / A compliment on Twitter /
  Not so in real life

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Tiny poetry Twitku

• Twitku micro-haiku
• 17 characters in 5/7/5 format
• Tiny Poetry Society wiki
• hello/twitter/verse

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Tiny poems by Diane Cordell
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Its your turn.

• Try your hand at a 12-word novel, twaiku, or
  twitku.
• Tweet your composition to _at_sschwister

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Edmodo

• Twitter for education
• Private micro-blogging
• No student email address needed
• Teacher controls group settings

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Log in to Edmodo

• Go to http//www.edmodo.com
• Click Student link
• Enter group code ncu652

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Sample microblogging activity

• Reading for the Gist. Harvey Goudvis,
  Strategies That Work (2000).
• Use a variety of strategies to construct meaning
• Ask questions, make connections, visualize, make
  predictions, synthesize
• Notes used for reader response

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Lord of the Flies reader response

• Read-aloud from Goldings Lord of the Flies
• During reading, note responses in Edmodo
• Main ideas, questions, connections, predictions,
  inferences

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Standards-based lesson ideas

• IRA/NCTE Standards for English Language Arts
• K-12 MN Standards in Language Arts
• Reading and Literature
• Writing
• Speaking, Listening, and Viewing

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Reading and Literature

• Reading comprehension QAR (Question-Answer
  Relationship) strategy Twitter sticky notes
• Understanding dialogue in dramatic works
  Reimagine Shakespeare dialogue as Twitter
  exchange
• Biographical study Synthesize insights into
  subject through a-day-in-the-lifeTwitter postings

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Writing

• Persuasive essay A concise thesis statement in
  140 characters
• Research Use microblogging to provide progress
  updates, organize ideas, evaluate resources
• Audience and point of view Use Twitter
  scenarios to develop understanding

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Speaking, Listening, Viewing

• Evaluate media sources Twitter as citizen
  journalism
• Social notetaking Use microblogging to provide
  feedback for oral presentations

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What ideas do you have?

• Post them at the 140 Characters in Search of a
  Story page.
• Send them to me
• sschwister_at_gmail.com
• http//twitter.com/sschwister

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Additional reading resources

• NCTE Inbox Twitter 140-Character Professional
  Development and Writing Tool
• Chris Sessums Twitter Me This Brainstorming
  Potential Educational Uses for Twitter
• Darren Kuropatwa Twitter Ephemeral Learning
  Tool
• Terry Freedman Twittering in the classroom some
  issues
• Clive Thompson in Wired How Twitter Creates a
  Sixth Social Sense
• Clive Thompson in NYTimes.com Brave New World of
  Digital Intimacy
• Brian Stelten Noam Cohem in NYTimes.com
  Citizen Journalists Provided Glimpses of Mumbai
  Attacks
• NPRs On The Media The Twitter Wire Service

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Contact

• Scott Schwister
• sschwister_at_gmail.com