I have just begun using Twitter in the past month. It is an interesting bit of technology. At first I really didn't see what was so great about it; I just wasn't getting much from the tweets I had selected to follow. When I talked with my daughter about this she suggested so other tweets for me and I can now see that the problem wasn't that Twitter was useless, I had just not found out how to use it to my advantage.
In saying this I can see how twitter could be a fun and effective tool to use in a high school classroom. You can get immediate responses from your students, students do not have to have a cell phone to use it since you can tweet from your phone or a computer so it can be done right there in the classroom. If you wanted a response to a video or reading in the class you could have students tweet their response. If you then had a tweet deck set up you could display the tweets as they come in, also students can respond to others tweets as well. I know that this can also be done in a discussion thread, which are also somewhat new to me, and blogs but the tweets are quick and something that students are using right now.
Also, tweeting could be used for students asking questions about assignments. When they are working and don't understand something or just need a little clarification they could tweet their teacher to ask their question or they can tweet each other when they are working collaboratively but not in the same locations. I see many possibilities for this in upper level classrooms; it could be a lot of fun for both the students and the teachers.
Now in saying all of that we must keep in mind that we as teachers would have to teach proper tweeting etiquette to be sure that students were not misusing the technology. Lessons would have to be taught and boundaries and expectations would have to be made very clear from the very beginning and be restated throughout the class. Consequences for miss use would have to be made very clear right from the beginning.
Sandra you have made some great points here. Also when students tweet a question it can go to the whole class instead of just the teacher this gives everyone in the class a chance to answer the question or see the answer. Especially good for those that are somewhat afraid to ask the questions out loud in front of their peers.
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