Nov 18, 2009 7:17 pm US/Eastern
N.J. Principal Teaches Students To Tweet
Reporting
Cindy Hsu
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
While some people frown on Twitter, especially in school, there's a high school in New Jersey where students are learning to tweet in class.
Meet Eric Sheninger, the principal at New Milford High School. He's teaching his students to tweet. "I can honestly say it's the most powerful learning tool that I've ever experienced in my education career," he said.
On Twitter, students can send out quick messages on a smart phone or computer to thousands of people worldwide, and get immediate responses.
"I'm tweeting about ways to motivate students with learning disabilities," one student said.
"I tweeted to Philip Morales who's in Costa Rica about my AP Spanish project today," another said.
Keith Devereaux teaches biology and sends tweets throughout the day getting help from teachers from all over. "It opened up the doors to the rest of the country, the rest of the world. I'm working with someone in Arizona right now. I've had teachers from all over the country sending me their resources. If I have any questions or anything, it's really a useful tool," he said.
Sheninger tweets with about 2,300 educators, and you'll often find them skyping as well.
His students who want to be teachers said Twitter will be a big part of their future. "I want to be a Special Ed teacher. I'll be able to contact different teachers and their ways of teaching and different methods all around the world, and get so many different ideas," said Allie Engleberg.
"A lot of people still frown on Twitter as a learning tool. All I can say is one: you have to be patient, and two: you have to understand how to properly use it," Sheninger said.
If you haven't tried Tweeting yet, Sheninger said the best way to start is to log onto Twitter, pick a subject, whether it's education or sports, and follow people's tweets until you get the hang of it.
Sheninger learned about Twitter just eight months ago, and right now his focus is on educating his entire staff on how to use it for education. He's hoping his teachers will pass on those lessons to more and more students.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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