Student "Twitter-style" Book Reviews at #keswired

A while back I posted a GREAT idea from The Daring Librarian - how to write a Twitter-style book review.  The fabulous @GwynethJones shared how you can really get kids to enjoy creative writing by using social media.  I tried this with teachers at one of my campuses and it was great fun!

When I did this with my staff members, I used this Google form so they could submit when it was convenient for them.  I then printed out the fake tweet, formatted it and posted it to a bulletin board in the hallway.  I initially planned to let the students copy their "tweet" from the character counter and paste it directly into a shared Google presentation to save me time and let them see their hard work immediately.  However, the copy/paste function didn't work without downloading the Google Drive app, so I punted and quickly created this Google form.  Whew!  Google saves the day - again!  :)

When the kids came into the lab, I had our instructions up on the board and and also on every student unit.  First, we talked about the concept of a "Twitter-style" book review and also walked through the steps to complete this assignment as a whole group.  We even tweaked the instructions a little on-the-spot to make them clearer for the kids.  The the kids went to their units to work "independently."  :)  This activity was done with a group of third graders and I was lucky to have 2 other adults in the room to help!  It was all hands on deck!

I was so proud of these THIRD GRADERS!!  I was able to share the finished Google Presentation to the classroom teacher to show in-class and I also printed a hard copy of their "Twitter Book Review" to take home.

Thank you, @GwynethJones, for such an awesome and EASY idea!!!