Section I: Learning from hashtags
The hashtag that caught my attention was #middleshool, since I teach 5th and 6th grade Science and taught 5th and 6th grade Math last year. There is a tweet in the hashtag called "Middle-Schoolers Tame Anxiety in "Release" Short-Film by Julie Bayer and Josh Salzman, which I found to be something that I agree is happening to middle school students. In this short film it describes how middle school students feel pressured into looking and acting certain ways in order to accepted or liked, I see this everyday and I'm sure all teachers can relate to this. Students also go through the pressure of passing all their classes, and on top of that they are still required and feel the pressure of passing standardized tests that really don't measure their potential or intelligence. Bullying is another type of pressure these middle school students face on a daily basis, with it being bully awareness month, I talk to my students on a daily basis about the seriousness of bullying and their outcomes. This pressure is only doubled for students who join extra-curricular activities and sports, in which they are required to keep their grades up and still perform on the field or in whatever aspect they are involved in. In this short-film it shows how students attend a group and learn how to release anxiety by meditating and sharing all their mixed feelings with each other and the person in charge of the group. The short film also covers mindfulness, in which it deals with you fixing yourself, by working with your mind. It is not enough to just speak about your anxiety, students need to learn how to deal with anxiety and find what helps them and keeps them from stressing so much. As a teacher, I feel it is my responsibility to respect and understand what my students go through on a daily basis and let them know that I understand their anxiety and will do the best that I can to help them handle their stress better. My relationship with my students is very strong and because of this, they tend to open up to me more and willing to participate in class because they feel comfortable.
Section II: Ideas for using Twitter for teaching and learning
I have to admit that I am a little familiar with Twitter, but I have never really used. Now that I'm forced to learn what it's all about through this class, I have to say that it does have it's good aspects. Twitter allows you to communicate with people all over the world, share, review and add ideas as well as many others. I teach fifth and sixth grade Science and here are three ideas I have to use twitter for teaching and learning, both in and out of the classroom.
Idea number one, Twitter would be a great idea to communicate with my students in the classroom under Wefollow. I can have them each create a twitter account, then we all can follow each other. Once I have them all following me, I am able to submit questions or assignments for my students to follow. They can all share information on research that I can assign them to do, as I am able to follow what they are tweeting. I can utilize TweetDeck to schedule tweets at a later time for my students such as assignments, and create alerts to assure that they are made aware of all their assignments and when to share and communicate in their tweets.
Idea number two will consist of me finding another classroom of fifth or sixth grade students from another school in the United States or outside the United States, this can allow us to compare and contrast ideas on how our lessons are conducted and what we are learning throughout the school year, find out what culture they share, their school year dates, holidays they celebrate, if they have a school mascot and if they share a vision at school.
My third ideas has more to do with me communicating with other teachers or instructional coaches to gain ideas on lesson plans or to keep me up to date on what is trending in the world of teachers and education. Twitter is also a great way for teachers to share and gather ideas on how to gain more money for school supplies, field trips and other things that may be needed to provide a good educational environment and great instruction.
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