How to Host a Twitter Party at Your School

On the heels of yesterday's post, Don't Use Twitter with Your Students, I thought I would share one simple idea for introducing Twitter to school staff members. 

Yesterday I hosted a "Twitter Party" in our school's library. We have a conference room called the Community Room within our high school's library that we use for many different events, such as our Teacher of the Quarter lunches hosted by our wonderful PTSO, professional development sessions, IEP meetings, and club meetings. The room is equipped with tables, a separate kitchen area, restroom, and closet for storage of PTSO items. The Community Room is where the Twitter Party was held.

For the entire day, I stayed in the library and teachers and staff could visit during one of their off periods (they have two off periods, a planning period and a period used for PD and PLC meetings.) To prepare for the party, I created an instruction sheet for teachers who are new to Twitter. 

I included 4 sign-up tips on the instruction sheet:

• Try to use your name in your twitter handle 
• Decide on a profile picture. It is very helpful for others to find you and it gives your account a sense of trustworthiness. You could also use a picture of your school.
• Write a brief but informative bio. 
• Put in a URL for your blog if you have one or your school's website.

Click here to see the instruction sheet. Feel free to download the document and personalize for your school. 

I also created a Twitter Challenge for those who attended the party. Everyone who completed the Twitter Challenge were entered into a drawing for a Starbucks gift card. 

The challenge required teachers and staff do specific actions on twitter, such as

• Mention someone by using the "@"
• Enter #ALedchat in the search box (magnifying glass). Find a tweet that you like and/or want to share, then RT it. 
• Tweet using the hashtag #HooverPride.

Click here to see the Twitter Challenge. Feel free to download the document and personalize for your school. 

Several teachers already had an account, but they needed to add a profile picture and bio as part of the challenge. It was fun to show them how easy it was to take a picture with their phones and iPads and use the pictures for their account. "Friends don't let friends have eggs in their twitter profile."

I also provided cookies for the party, which were a big hit in the afternoon as a little pick-me-up!

If you have a special way to introduce twitter to your staff, please share in the comments!