Twitter came into being on March 21, 2006, and has now been adopted and utilized by teachers and students alike. But where students use Twitter as a strictly social site, teachers employ it to remind students of assignments, among other uses.
Following a teacher on Twitter enables students to get to know their teachers better and see a different side of them. They even use hashtags.
Señor John Snyder started the year by writing his Twitter handle, @rsnyde00 on the board. Over the course of an hour that day, he earned 8 new followers, as he so tweeted. Snyder’s timeline is filled with humor, hashtags, and strictly Snyder slang. His tweets are sprinkled with words such as “scrilla,” which is the “ghetto term for money,” and “haters” which can be used fondly or critically depending on the tweet.
Snyder created his account in 2006 after hearing about Twitter on Oprah, but didn’t actually use it until he started teaching. Now he uses the social media site for posting educational material and “getting to know you” tweets.
“I put some silly stuff on there so students get to know my sillier side,” said Snyder.
Snyder believes one of the benefits of Twitter is that it is public, so when he tweets something, students can’t question him on it because Twitter is substantial, unchanging proof.
“I tweet about haters and my day, you know, the usual,” said Snyder.
According to Snyder, you should definitely follow him, and he will follow back.
“I’m awesome, and I tweet about cats a lot,” said Snyder.
English teacher Kathryn Moore also takes to Twitter to vent, educate, and inspire. Moore created a Twitter last year in order to remind the seniors who leave two weeks prior to the AP Exam about the test. Now she uses it to share news articles and entertainment.
“I don’t care how thug you think you are – if you don’t dance when “Shake It Off” comes on you got no street cred #tswiftrap #ThugLife,” tweeted Moore.
For those that don’t know Mrs. Moore, she’s a white female on the smaller side, and it’s questionable whether or not she is living the “Thug Life.” Regardless, her tweets are still out there for all to see and enjoy.
We now live in the age of the hashtag, and these symbols aren’t just for the younger population. They can be seen anywhere you go, from advertisements to teachers’ time lines.
“I just love hastags, you know, #bleedblue, #proudteacher. Sometimes my hashtag is longer than my status,” said Moore.
Common hashtags seen on Snyder’s timeline are #djm, #haters, and #youdontknowme, #djm meaning don’t judge me.
When an idea comes to mind, we all wrack our brains trying to think of the most clever and relatable way to tweet it. The struggle to do this, is definitely real.
“A good tweet needs to be an attention getter, I prefer ones that are funny. And anything that is not mean,” said Snyder.
“Brevity and humor are really important. A good tweet is something that reveals what we are all thinking,” said Moore.
With the introduction of Remind101 last year, Twitter has experienced a decline in it’s use by teachers, but the social aspect will remain relevant.
Mr. John Stewart was an avid Twitter user in previous years, using the site to communicate with his “sheep,” but believes that Remind101 is easier. Now he mostly uses Twitter to disclose information about his runs.
“Twitter has been replaced by Remind101,” said Stewart.
