Twitter Analysis 3/27-4/3

TWITTER REPORT March 27-April 2

Taylor Ellis

The week began fairly calm with many posting interesting questions or articles for followers. The overall tone remained neutral throughout the week, with many of the tweets adding to an active discussion over topics such as the budget, competitive programs, and family influences on students. There was also some discussion about Obamacare, since arguments were being heard all week on the floor of Congress.

The hash tag #edchat was great to follow because it provided an arena for teachers to work in to create and improve practical solutions for the classroom. When these discussions take place it goes beyond the realm of just agreeing or not, because useful resources are shared here that end up bringing new insight into a classroom. One teacher tweeted a new study about why Facebook and Twitter should be used in schools as learning tools. There is evidence that technology can lead to new approaches to engage learning, but a major focus must be placed on making this technology accessible and both the teachers and students trained in how to use it.

Last week contained extremely constructive discussions, instead of people just yelling their opinion without any grounding. Technology in the classroom was emphasized in terms of what can be developed, general access, and potential safety mechanisms. Flipped classrooms, which allow teachers to record lessons on certain pieces of technology, allows all of the classroom time to dealing with issues to the problems they were sent home to do—or problem solving with general ideas and concepts. There is a growing community supporting this idea since more classroom time will be spent helping the student, but the downsize is that educators must have access to this technology and be aware of how to use it. This week technology also was on the forefront, following the hastag #digidirections, which followed the expansion of virtual education companies. People who were discussing these companies seemed to be less attached to their original stance and open to hearing other arguments. Parents who opposed virtual educations argued that the studies that are now being released may not actually have accurate numbers. Those educators are being accused of exaggerating student achievement scores.

Education Sector posted an interesting piece about the effect that parents have on their child’s learning at different ages. Contrary to what many may think, so-called “helicopter parents” were found to help their child become more successful in college, but not in high school. This difference could be attributed to the student knowing that they have their parents support while simultaneously living an independent life where they get to make their own decisions. Parents are also becoming more involved by discussing financial, life and academic issues with both their child and the school. Similarly, Diane Ravitch tweeted a link to a British study, which found that families have a greater effect on test scores than teachers do (50% of the variation due to family units and 10% due to teachers). These findings were in spite of income and the outside support went beyond homework help to open debates and discussions.

Education Week held a Spring Leadership Forum on Monday and twitter followers could follow the agenda filled with expert led sessions that contained superintendents, chancellors, and other educators at #edweeklive. The event wanted to encourage education leaders to interact with one another and create strategies that can be executed to raise student achievement while minimizing costs. Most of the responses to the event were in response to common core standards and how to put them into practice. Many liked the idea that the leading teams who create the curriculum would stay connected with state leaders so that they can plan ways together to improve student outcomes.

Education Weekly tweeted a question about whether 3rd graders should be held back if they can not pass a standardized reading test. I think the following debate was important since there are crucial times at which a child must acquire certain skills and the test checks a student’s ability to not only read the page, but comprehend it. Some argued that the test would prevent the students who have different testing abilities from obtaining a high score, while others thought that standard should be a minimum (other subjects involved).