The War of 1812 Twitter Challenge

A couple years ago we did a twitter challenge with the War of 1812.  This year I wanted to do the same thing, but actually take it a step further and modernize history.  Students wouldn't just tweet on paper, they would actually take their tweet and LIVE TWEET IT on the twitter account I set up for this activity, @the_war_of_1812.

Students had to synthesize their reading, notes, and discussion questions that we did in class the day before and turn them into a 140-character tweet that summarizes the War of 1812.  They could use text speak (b4 = before, 1 = won, etc...) so they could get as much text in their tweet as possible.

Students first tweeted on paper, then grabbed our classroom's Nexus 7 tablet and live tweeted.  At the end of class we looked at all of the tweets on Storify to see what everyone had to say.  Their exit ticket out of class was not only live-tweeting their tweet, but handing in their paper tweet as well.

If you click HERE you can check out our Storify story.  Enjoy!

The Civil War Twitter Challenge

After a student pitched this amazingly awesome twitter idea to me, I decided we needed to roll with it and try it out for an assignment.  I have absolutely NO idea how this is going to turn out: it could be a total dud, or something really cool...only time will tell!

Until then, here's the task one of my classes has been given: (or check out the Google Doc HERE)

Your Goal: create and maintain a historically accurate twitter feed for the Civil War figure you’ve been assigned.

Your Task:

• start here...find your person: http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/war/biographies/barton.html
• immerse yourself in the historical figure you’ve been assigned: everything you “tweet” should be from their perspective
• make sure your tweets are appropriate to the time (Civil War era) and person; unless they would have said it, don’t tweet it!
• your tweets can be about anything as long as they are “from” that person...ideas to tweet about:
• their life
• their role in the Civil War
• things they like, hobbies
• their friends and family
• their job
• follow the other Civil War twitter accounts...reply and comment back on things they say...remember, YOU ARE YOUR PERSON!! DON’T COME OUT OF YOUR CHARACTER!
• send AT LEAST ONE tweet a day from your person--remember, you are pretending you are this person, so what you tweet should be from their perspective (like you are really them!)

Like I said, this could be a total wash, or a really cool assignment...so we'll see how it goes! Hopefully the students will learn about their Civil War figure and really take into account their perspective and how that person saw the world--creating almost a synthesis between modern "twitter" technology and what their person was like during the Civil War.

Curious as to what these historical figures (or students!) are going to actually "say"? Check out each of their historical figures' twitter links below to see what they're talking about, or check out the twitter hashtag for this assignment. Enjoy!

#civilwarMRH

Mary Chestnut

Walt Whitman

Mary Ann Bickerdyke

Mathew Brady

Clara Barton

Wendell Phillips

John Brown

George T. Strong

Twitter Challenge

Today we decided to approach learning about the War of 1812 a bit differently.  I had a reading planned out (check it out below), but thought it was a bit boring and dry.  Instead of just "reading" about the War and answer questions, I decided to put a spin on the lesson.

After we read as a class the above reading and annotated it--highlighting the important facts, causes of the war, events of the war, and outcomes--the students were issued a "Twitter Challenge."  They had to write a comprehensive summary "tweet" of the War of 1812 using only 140 characters.

This is the sheet students were given.  I was AMAZED with the results I got!  Although many tweets were infused with "text" and "slang" language, they all got the point across: a summary of the War of 1812.  Once again, these 8th graders continue to impress me!  And the best part: they all accepted this challenge without complaint...instead of complaining about Ms. Pepin's crazy tweeting idea, they all embraced it and were enthused about the challenge.  This could be a post-reading activity that could be done with almost any topic, and in any content area!  Maybe next time the students will actually tweet out their responses!