Microblogging and my use for it

Before this module, I had actually signed up for Twitter when it had become "big". After initially signing up, I never actually used Twitter since I just assumed I would use Facebook Status Updates instead. So I didn't remember my user name or password and I had to create a new account. That was my first realization as to how little I knew about microblogging. The two articles that I decided to read to help open me up on into the concept of twitter was the Langwitches Blog article What is a Hashtag? and the Free Technology for Teachers Blog article Don't Eat Lunch Alone. The first article's title really captivated me since I would see people making references online to hashtags but I had no clue what their actual use was, and the second one caught my eye since I am the only German teacher at my school and because I am only a .4 position at my school I can relate to the concept of "eating lunch alone". In the first article, was very descriptive as to what a hashtag specifically is. I always assumed it was just the number symbol but they explain the term applies to the number symbol along with the phrase following it. It then explains the purpose of hashtags as acting just like tags in a blog or on Flickr but included in the post. This article is even more helpful because it links to other articles that explore Twitter's use in the classroom even more. The second article contained two different videos that helped give tips on how to find other teachers on twitter and then use twitter to connect with those teachers and share information with them just like you would through socializing with eating lunch with them. This is a great tool for professional development and something I would really use because as the only German teacher in my school, it is often hard for me to find other teachers to connect with and though this I can not only find other German teachers but perhaps teachers who are in the same situation as me. This helps build camaraderie along with giving me people to bounce ideas off of/ learn from. Another great thing is that since I am only a .4 position teacher and I am not at school the whole day, I would be able to access my Twitter account from my home computer or my iPhone. Both of these articles were really positive in helping to change my view on Twitter's usefulness and both gave me ideas on how to personally apply Twitter in my teaching career. These ideas focus more so on connecting with other teachers to get ideas about activities, lessons, or classroom management but another idea I had for using twitter was having a Twitter account for my class where I could blog the homework assignments. This idea then led to maybe blogging in German and giving extra credit to the students to translate or respond. Or perhaps even making it homework. This really has opened up many opportunities!