Using Twitter to Enhance Learning in History Lessons

Over the last couple of weeks I have been experimenting with using Twitter in lessons. My aim has been twofold:
1) To develop the engagement of my students by using their smartphones in my lessons.
2) Using Twitter to aid the learning that was already taking place.

Some examples of how I have used twitter in my lessons are below:

1) As an activity ask the students to answer a question on Twitter.
This could be as a starter, or an activity mid way through the lesson. It could be a conclusion to an essay. The only thing you need to make sure is that the students include a hashtag in the tweet.
+ Why did the Schlieffen Plan fail?
+ Why did the USA fall into depression?
+ Why did the barons fall out with King John?
Then using the website http://visibletweets.com/ search for the results and display them on your board.

This is an ideal activity if you are requiring students to think about a topic and come up with their own conclusions. I leave the Visible Tweets on the screen and they can use each others ideas to help formulate their own opinion.
A good example is http://visibletweets.com/#query=rosgcsehissp&animation=2 select 'Rotation' in the animation toolbar to give the presentation a prezi feel.

2) Using Twitter to get a feel for a topic.
At the start of a topic, or at the start of a lesson ask students to Tweet keywords to describe what they have learnt/already know about the topic. Ask the students to Tweet single words with a space in between each word. An example could be:
"Trenches fear sad nomansland death barbedwire"
It is important to put phrases together like this because we will then use Visible Tweets with the 'Tag Cloud' animation setting selected. This allows the words that are most popular to grow and provides a very visual feel to the words used. Again a hashtag must be included in the tweets. A good example is http://visibletweets.com/#query=rosgcsehis2&animation=3 which could then be left running during the lesson to help the students with their learning.

3) Students using Twitter to Show off their work
For holocaust memorial day my GCSE history class produced suitcases of memories. They had to select 6 photos from the @YadVasham website that spoke to them. We then produced a cardboard suitcase and placed the pictures inside. This activity worked well and was designed to re-humanise the victims of the holocaust. Normally I would hand out praise in the lesson but instead I asked the class to photograph their work and to share it on twitter. This allowed the work to be seen by more than just the class. The students were already proud of their work but sharing it in this way increased that pride and no doubt their motivation. The first picture was taken by me showing the whole class but the next two are taken by my students showing their work.

Some Reflections on Using Twitter in lessons
From the reaction of my classes, the work produced, and from individual conversations with students, I am confident that using twitter in this way has increased engagement and motivation.

I believe that it has helped the quieter students have a greater voice in the class.

Visible Tweets is a brilliant display tool and it is displaying information that is directly relevant to that topic and, more importantly, that class. It is impossible to have a relevant display for every lesson but visible tweets takes care of that for you.

It is collaborative.

It is ideal during more active lessons where a pen and paper are not suited.

Quite a few students have signed up to Twitter (although they would probably never admit it) so that they can become involved in the lessons in this way.

It allows good work to be shared.

Some Problems
In my GCSE classes just over half of the students have access to their twitter account via a smartphone. They have worked together in groups sharing this resource and allowing everyone to have a voice. Obviously, if the percentage is too low then this activity is not viable. With more and more schools investing in handheld devices I believe this will become less of a problem over time but clearly it is important to check out the situation before you plan to use Twitter in the way.

I am lucky to work in a school that is looking to embrace technology and is very open to this way of thinking. There may well be some of you reading this who work in a school where mobile phones are banned. Until that changes this way of working will not be open to you. I have said in previous posts that i believe a school should prepare students for the world they will enter, surely using social media in this way is doing just that and should be encouraged.

Engagement and Motivation - GCSE History Year 9

I have been looking into motivation with some of my Year 9 GCSE students. Unlike my other GCSE group this class only contains Year 9 students. This group can be a little up and down. Quite often they can be brilliant but occasionally they seem to lack focus and motivation. I decided to focus on the brilliance and asked four students in the group - "What motivated them in my lessons?" This I hope will then allow me to increase the motivation and engagement of the group. No group can be brilliant all the time but some groups are never brilliant. With that in mind I hoped to develop the engagement in this group but also learn a few lessons that could be applied to my teaching in general.

This is what they said:

"Getting actively involved makes it more interesting"
This is something that I have really tried to develop this year. Lydia gives several examples. Firstly, she talks about the video which looked at using boys and girls to demonstrate how FDR tried to 'pack' the Supreme Court.

Lydia also mentions a depression game which involved creating our own 1920s economy in the classroom to highlight the overproduction problem within the consumer goods industries. Finally, she mentions us acting out a trench attack on the tennis courts. I also stood students on the school field to try to get them to imagine what it would be like to go 'over the top' in the First World War.

This group got into this activity and really tried to imagine what it might have been like.

I have tried to develop this approach to teaching and it seems that it has been well received. Getting students up and about and not simply sat at the desks clearly is motivational and it is something I am going to continue to develop. I hope to use co-construction (see other blog post) to develop more of these types of activities.

"New Technology has helped a lot"
Rob explained about the use of new technology. I have my own YouTube channel and we have made Wiki's. As Rob mentions, this has helped with revision as it has given the students access to a variety of learning styles with which to revise from. Added to that when we were outside in 'the trenches' the students used their mobile phones to record their thought and feelings.

Whenever students use their mobile phones they are instantly engaged. We then, using a hashtag and a visible tweets website, collated the students ideas when we returned to the classroom.

http://visibletweets.com/#query=%23rosgcsehis2&animation=1

What Rob doesn't mention is that new technologies have really helped with the active learning that Lydia is talking about. The video on FDR and the Supreme court is a clear example. The students were not only motivated by the activity at the time but its impact was increased massively by the fact they could watch that part of the lesson back whilst revising.

Rob also mentions the use of RealSmartCloud (@SmartAssess) which I have chosen not to include because it is not something that can be accessed by everyone. That said I will obviously continue to use this software as Rob has shown that it has a motivational Impact.

I firmly believe that as well as teaching a subject my lessons should be preparing students for the world they are going to live in. New technology needs to be embraced. Not only is it engaging but it is providing essential life skills. Schools where YouTube is filtered and mobile phones are banned are not reflecting the real world.

"Teachers taking risks"
Sammy explains the impact of teachers taking risks. She says the group is 'intrigued' when the teacher is trying something new. I have always tried to take risks. Writing this blog, using twitter, make class videos for YouTube, going out on a muddy rugby field pretending we are in France etc... These are all examples of me going out of my comfort zone. How can we keep asking students to try new things and ways of working if we do not embody that principle ourselves? We all know that we learn much more when we take risks.

"Student led learning"
Ellen explained the impact of student led learning. She believes that it is better to be taught by her peers than by her teacher. I regularly use YouTube and get groups of the class to produce videos that explain an aspect of a topic. The students then watch each others videos and produce notes or complete worksheets for homework. We have done this for intolerance in the 1920s USA and the New Deal. Here is one about entertainment in the 'Roaring Twenties'.

Videos such as this are much more engaging than listening to me. They are also great fun and allow the students creativity to come out. Doing this kind of student led activity is not a new thing, but using YouTube really increases the lasting impact of the activity.

To conclude, I would like to firstly thank the four students involved in the video for giving up their lunchtime to come and discuss this issue. Secondly, I hope that by listening to them I will increase the motivation in my class but also, more importantly, show that I value their opinions and see the importance of their role in the learning process.