M. SARA HEMENWAY

6-8 | Social Studies | Web quests

My Classroom Innovation

I prefer leaving the textbook on the shelf and discovering Earth with my students. My job is to inspire students weather it’s being the only non-science teacher selected for Texas Space Grant Consortium’s “Challenger’s Lost Lessons” flying experiments in Zero-G with NASA’s Weightless Wonder or sending Andrew Evan’s a signed HMS hippo t-shirt in Argentina as he journeyed to Antarctica by bus for National Geographic Traveler. This year I am using Twitter to engage student learning. I tweet extra-credit opportunities, homework reminders, and information my students might enjoy. I use Twitter as a method to preview and review material in class. Using HootSuite allows me to tag video clips and sites for later use. I also Tweet with my classes. We’ve participated in several Twitter contests with the Smithsonian. My 7th period was one of 4 people who guessed a Twitpic Catfish correctly. I received an e-mail from the Smithsonian congratulating us because the SI Director thought it was cool a bunch of kids were correct. Class Twitter-time allows everyone the experience of condensing thoughts into 140 characters. We’ve been teaching each other a lot this year about grammar, punctuation, and modern communication skills.

How Students were Engaged

Many students already use social media networks. Class tweeting allows them another communication tool. Tweeting sounds simple, yet it challenges students to create succinct thoughts. Andrew Evans accepted e-mail questions during his trip from DC to Antarctica after I tweeted @Bus2Antarctica and asked. Students were enraptured by his bus/taxi/plane/ship journey. We tracked and explored his answers, progress, and tweets. He challenged us to learn about penguins and used PBS Penguins of the Antarctic. Some students see Twitter breaks as “fluff time”; I see Twitter as the ultimate extension because students use best practice models to communicate with a larger audience.

PBS Program/Content Used

PBS Nature's: Penguins of the Antarctic: Interactive Map