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!

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!