Using Twitter as a weekly writing activity

How to use twitter in the classroom....

Another thing I used in my classroom was twitter (http://www.twitter.com/).

I used this site as a diary for my students.  They had to write in it once a week.  The purpose was to have them produce English writing once a week.  I did not check their grammar, subject, or anything else.  If they asked me personally, then I did, but the purpose was for them to write in English a little bit a week.

One of the best things for this site is that it is dated, so you know who wrote what and when.

At the beginning of the semester, I gave out my students a handout:

At the end of the semester, my students handed in the sheets to me.  I would go online, into their twitter account, and check to see if they did the writing. 

This is the second semester I did this and I will continue to do so in the future.

Other ideas I have are:

1.  Giving them weekly topics to write about.  Short questions that require short answers.
2.  Use this as a mini-blog for low level students or grade school students. 

Summary, twitter is an excellent way for students to produce writing in English on a weekly (daily) basis.  Even though it may be only 140 characters long, producing a few sentences is better than not writing at all.

The feedback I get from my students are positive and does improve their writing skills.