When I initially sat down to think about social media and youth and how the two intersect in the classroom, I have to admit that a part of me cringed at the term “social media.”  It’s a knee jerk reaction as the product of two adults who are adamantly opposed to all things related to social media. With that said though, I fully acknowledge that my response does not entirely make sense because I myself use social media (Facebook and now Twitter). This makes me think that my reaction sounds more like the way an old lion will sometimes roar just to make sure that those around him know that he still has what it takes.

Just how much information can one exactly put into a 140-character message or “tweet” as the lingo goes? I ask the question because I initially come to the table with the idea in mind that for a tweet to be legitimate source of information it should inform me much like a news story. In doing that though, I miss the mark entirely. “Calm down for a minute and stop roaring,” I tell myself. Readjust your thinking for a moment and take a look at any day’s front page of the Wall Street Journal (one of the world’s most renowned business news sources). What’s that on the far left column? Yup, those are the day’s headlines with a very brief description beneath. I dare say those look a bit like a series of tweets.

Blasphemy? You’re roaring again! Those short headlines that appear on every day’s journal serve as a conduit to further information in the exact same way that a tweet is employed to direct its followers to a larger thought or story typically embedded within the tweet itself.

Now, how does this relate to youth and classrooms? Does it even relate at all? Is it an appropriate classroom tool.  I say that it does relate and very much so. Communicative language theory states that students are most likely to learn when they can relate to material and are engaged with it. Youth today are using twitter, whether that be through actively tweeting themselves, or accessing information via Twitter. To ignore this fact in the classroom is to serve ourselves as educators and our students a disadvantage. What better way to engage our students in a language classroom than by capitalizing on a source of literacy that they already access without our prompting?  Like any tool utilized in the classroom, parameters need to be set for safety and age appropriateness.  A teacher can address the need to avoid inappropriate activity by creating rules and informing students that separate accounts may need to be created for classroom use if their personal accounts are violate those rules.   The length of a tweet can work for and against a teacher’s long term objective of promoting literacy.  It can also be used for all different skill levels in the language classroom from novice to advanced including any degree of Spanglish (humor me, future Spanish teacher here).  For example, think of it in terms of being succinct. 140 measly characters forces a Twitter user to be very selective with his or her word choice but at the same time can easily direct a user to a more lengthy piece also penned by the student. What a great way to activate our students vocabulary to pack a short message with the most punch.