Twitter in the Elementary School Classroom?

Until today I had no idea what the Twitter phenomenon was all about. I've mostly heard of "tweeting" from watching television. Most of the people involved were television personalities and celebrities. Until now Twitter didn't have much, if any, relevance to my life. 

Recently I glanced through some articles that detailed how teachers have used Twitter in their classrooms. One article in particular helped me to see a worthwhile application that Twitter could have with students in higher education. Jeffrey Young wrote an article that is published in The Chronicle of Higher Education. He wrote about David Parry, an assistant professor of Emerging Media and Communications at the University of Texas at Dallas, who used Twitter to "help students feel like more of a community." He assigned students to use Twitter weekly and also sent his own "tweets" to his students during the week. Parry commented that incorporating Twitter in the course "was the single thing that changed the classroom dynamics more than anything I've ever done teaching." These two quotes are what appealed to me and made me interested enough in Twitter to consider how I could use it as an elementary school teacher.

The idea of a teacher creating a feeling of community among students is something I believe to be worthwhile. The professor I've talked about above seemed to imply that Twitter could be used, and used powerfully, for this purpose. Can Twitter be used in an elementary school classroom?

I think the first part of that question is whether or not it is possible and appropriate for young students to use Twitter. Since most young students do not have cell phones, they would need to use email to send and receive tweets. It seems that using an email program is both viable and appropriate for young students as long as proper support and supervision is provided. So, it is possible and seemingly appropriate for young students to use Twitter, but what effects will it have in the elementary classroom?

I see Twitter as a possibly highly engaging activity for young students to use for practicing their writing, reading, communication and problem-solving skills. In staying true to the initial use that inspired my interest in the program, I've thought about whether Twitter can create that sense of community among young students. I think it could.

I imagine using a class website for students to "tweet" to and also highly supervised student email accounts (as long as this is possible; I'm not sure if it is) for students to use to provide their thoughts about various topics talked about in class. They can also be taught to respond to other students' tweets in order to stimulate discussion and understanding.

Ultimately I think I need to find out more about Twitter for how it may be used in elementary classrooms, especially as it relates to using higher levels of technology integration as based on LoTi. This posting by Steve Wheeler on his blog seems like a good place to start.

That's all for now! Please respond with any input/feedback you are willing to share! Thank you.

Tara