Don't Forget the Hashtag #

Yesterday I was replying to a tweet that came up on my Twitter feed with the hashtag (# if you aren't sure) #edchat. I actually had a reply to one of these posts for once and was all excited that I could help someone I've never met, and likely never will meet, expand their knowledge and use of technology. However, when I replied I made a huge rookie mistake! I didn't put the hashtag in my response. Why is this a big deal? It's not a huge deal as I could delete the post and then repost my answer with the hashtag. It is kind of a big deal to myself for a couple of reasons. 1) One of the many uses of Twitter is a PLN, a place to learn. If you're a person that searches hashtags and had the same question as the original post I replied to, you wouldn't have received the answer. So although I may have helped one person, I didn't use twitter to it's fullest in letting others who may have had the same question and follow the hashtag #edchat know the information I had.
2) I have been spending that last few months reveling in the information I have gained through my own PLN via, Twitter, Blogging, and most recently Facebook, and I am hoping to spread the PLN fever throughout my school with my new role as Technology Integration Lead at my school. I should have a fairly sound working knowledge of the tools if I want encourage the use of them by others and what I did was a rookie mistake.

Hashtags in the Elementary Classroom

While I'm on the topic of hashtags. I was reading the blog post of George Couros (follow him on twitter as well, a great person to add to your PLN @gcouros) called "Twitter Hashtags in the Classroom" in the blog he gives ideas a  list of hashtags for educators as well as some ideas on how to create an effective hashtag for your school division, school or classroom. I teach elementary school (Grade 4 to be specific) and I really want to use twitter and blogging in my classroom. I've got some basic ideas for using twitter in my classroom like having my students tweet each day about something learned or are looking forward to (a way to hopefully connect with parents and let them know what's happening in my classroom and to teach students about digital citizenship). A lot of the ideas I find for twitter in the classroom and hashtags are for Junior/Senior high school. I would like to hear some ideas on how Twitter is used in the elementary classroom? How do you use twitter in your elementary classroom?