Thing 21: Twitter

I have to say that this is one tool that I'm just not too keen on using either in my classroom, or personally. When I clicked on the Twitter search tool, I put in the name of my city, Byron Center. I did get some information on current events and stuff with the schools, but also got weird posts from someone sitting at the bar in Monelli's and another riddled with profanity from a teenager whose parents are moving and she has to attend Byron Center High School and obviously doesn't want to move. I felt like I was spying on people's lives and it was a bit creepy! Of course, if people didn't want others knowing their business, they wouldn't sign up for Twitter! I did notice that there were a lot of tweets from the high school and various clubs on upcoming events or up-to-the-minute details on meets as they were unfolding. That would be kind of neat to get for people who are interested. I don't think I'd use it with my students simply because it's so unfiltered and you don't know what you are going to find. This is one that I probably should spend some time researching articles on the internet that share how other teachers are using Twitter in their classrooms. I have to say, this is one of the only Web 2.0 tools that I really didn't get into.