I've been an avid Twitter user for nearly 2 years and I've dabbled a bit with it in the classroom from time to time, often on a whim, getting an answer to a question that one of the children has asked. On another occasion I asked for ideas about inclusions on our Victorian timeline. One response I got was putting on the date of the first Test Match at Lords - something that would never have occurred to me. Today, however, was slightly different in that I knew that I would be having a load of visitors to my classroom as apart of a SSAT schools day on engagement that Chorlton Park was running.
We have been learning how to annotate maps using the excellent Umapper online tool in the context of a project on the Lake District. Since it is such a popular tourist destination I thought I'd ask my Twitter network about their favourite place in the Lake District. The children would use a search engine to try and find clues to the map location of the places mentioned. There is nothing new or radical about such a lesson but it has the major benefit of providing a fresh perspective in the classroom. Instead of having my filtered view of what's good in the Lake District (I can recommend an excellent selection of teashops) the children are getting ideas from across the globe. It's another little chip away at the notion of the teacher being the centre of everything.
The lesson went really well and thank you for all who contributed through their 140 characters of wisdom.