This document provides an overview of using Twitter to build awareness for classroom projects and portfolios. It discusses using Twitter as a database by posting updates with hashtags. It outlines information seeking strategies for Twitter, including clarifying questions, selecting relevant materials, locating sources, searching materials, and evaluating sources in an iterative process. Specific tools for creating graphics and managing Twitter accounts are also mentioned. The goal is to engage audiences like educators, students, and community organizations interested in readers theatre through curating relevant content on Twitter.

1. Go Bird, Go!
AN INVENTIVE APPROACH, UTILIZING INFORMATION
SEEKING STRATEGIES, FOR BUILDING A BUZZ AROUND
CLASSROOM OR INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS, PORTFOLIOS
AND/OR DESIGNS USING TWITTER.

2. Melanie A. Mason, BFA, MS
The University of Texas Arlington
mamason@uta.edu

3. Connect
Slideshare Link

4. The RT Room @TheRTRoom

5. Call for Proposals
The RT Room encourages teachers, preservice teachers, university faculty, librarians, administrators,
undergraduate and graduate students and educational consultants to submit proposals for online
sessions.
The RT Room invites session proposals related to Reader’s Theatre (RT) such as best practices,
innovation, fluency, e-learning, online learning communities, social media, blogging, and mobile
learning. Any proposal related to how RT is enhancing classroom curriculum or after school activities
(for both teachers and students) will be considered. Proposals that have practical application of RT for
educators, as well as those that include practical application of technology to enhance their teaching or
make it more efficient are highly encouraged. Proposals can also discuss research related to using RT in
the K-12 and university classrooms.
Watch page in early February 2016 for more details!

6. Student engagement
 LessonToolBox
Blog by Pete Sanderson
Link to worksheet

7. Part One
Twitter as Database
“He rocks in the tree tops all day long
Hoppin' and a - boppin'
and a –singin’ his song…”

8. Database -
A structured set of data held in computer storage and typically
accessed or manipulated by means of specialized software.
Information Seeking
Activities
i.e. “the search and acquisition of
news, knowledge, opinions, and
other information.”
Ha, Louisa, Chen Yang, Gi W. Yun,
and Lanming W. Chen. "From
Relationship to Information."
(2015). Print.
Using Twitter as your
database
“Instead of building our own system,
we asked reporters to post their
updates to Twitter and use hashtags
to associate each update with a race.
Then we used the Twitter API * … to
fetch updates for each page.”
Sheinkman, Andrei. "Using Twitter
as Your Database." Web log post.
Open. New York Times, 15 June
2011. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.
*Application Program Interface
Faculty Professional use
of Social Media
“In addition to their personal use of
social media, faculty use of social media
in support of their professional careers
(any aspect of their job outside of
teaching) was explored. Over one-half of
all teaching faculty reported that they
made “at least monthly” use of social
media for professional purposes.”
Seaman, Jeff, and Hester Tinti-
Kane. Social Media for Teaching and
Learning. Boston, Mass: Pearson
Learning Systems, 2013. Internet
resource.

9. Define your
audience (within
the SM Platform) Twitter users
Educators
who use RT
Target
audience
Community
Organizations
who use RT
Higher Ed.
institutes
who use RT
Those that
want to
learn more
about RT

10. Translating Inquiries into Answers
 User Anticipated questions?
 How much information at a time?
 Are you Global?

11. Part Two
Information Seeking
Strategies
“The wise old owl, the big black crow
Flappin' their wings singing go bird go”

12. Search and Retrieval Strategies
 Model of Search Process
 Clarify the question
 Select the materials
 Prioritize the sources
 Locate the sources
 Search the materials
 Evaluate and repeat
 Alexander, Carter. How to Locate Educational Information and Data: A Text
and Reference Book. New York: Teachers college, Columbia University, 1941.
Print.

13. Clarify the question
Readers Theatre
 What is it?
 Who uses it?
 Where is it being used?
 How is it being used?
 Why is it being used?
Example – How is it being used?

14. Iconography
“…photos give verified
users a 35% bump in
retweets.”
What fuels a Tweet’s
engagement?
Monday, March 10,
2014 | By Simon Rogers
(@smfrogers)

15. Select the materials
 Whose materials will you highlight today?
Yours or someone else's?

16. Controlled
Vocabulary
Consistent hashtag use
for your content
Hashtagify.me
#readerstheatre
#readerstheater
#opensource
#PBL
#steam
#ELL
#ESL

17. Locate the sources
 Retweet, hashtag, pictures, @
 CREATE with
 Canva, Smore, Tellagami & Wordswag

18. CANVA
An online tool similar
to Photoshop. Quick,
easy and professional
graphic design.

19. SMORE
 Smore makes it easy to
design beautiful and
effective online flyers and
newsletters and empower
small businesses and
individuals to realize their
online marketing
potential and significantly
impact their business
goals.

20. Tellagami
Tellagami® is a mobile
app that lets you
create and share a
quick animated Gami
video

21. Wordswag
use Word Swag to:
Make stylish quotes and
poster designs
Make awesome graphics
for blog/website
Caption their food & travel
pics
Send beautiful greetings
Brand profile pics

22. Prioritize the sources
 Hootsuite

23. Search the materials
 How to Write in 140 Characters or Less
 Dustin Wax
 Every character counts, so use strong verbs and a minimum of
adverbs
 Avoid "university words". Almost every long word in English has a
short, blunt word that means the same thing.
 Forget about breaking your thoughts into two posts.
 Write first, then rewrite. Spill it all out and then trim.
 Write short sentences. Many short sentences looks like something
worth reading.
 Use punctuation! when words are limited, punctuation adds impact.
 Be personal. Short posts are very conversational and almost intimate.
on Twitter, it counts.
 Get to the point. cut straight to the chase.
 Humor works. 140 characters is well suited to the snarky jab, the
aphorism, the epigram. Brevity is, after all, the soul of wit. And Tweets.
 The best you can do in 140 characters is entice. Get their attention
and give them someplace good to go.
"I am sorry I have had to write you
such a long letter, but I did not have
time to write you a short one"--
attributed to Blaise Pascal
** Beyond 140

24. Evaluate and Repeat
 Twitter Analytics

25. Information Seeking Model Simplified
Need ?
Search
Twitter
Your
Feed
Evaluate
No
Reformulate
Does the
information
answer the ?
Yes
Stop
Dr. Elizabeth Figa
University of North Texas

26. Measurable
Actions
Follow
Favorite
Retweet
Impressions
Stop

27. A couple of
extras
All the little birdies on
Jaybird Street
Love to hear the robin go
tweet tweet tweet
A quick email to
• the Librarian and the Principal of the school in a featured retweet.
• Admins/Principals/Lead Teachers/Authors
(i.e. movers and shakers in your content area)
• local academic and public Librarians

28. Collaborate
mamason@uta.edu
Melmason312 -Skype
@MelMasonUTA