Tweeting your TiC

This invention activity uses social media format to help students begin to put different sources in conversation as a prelude to drafting their TiC essay.

Author:  Mary Stroud

Activity name: Tweeting your TiC

Class: PWR 1

Activity brief description: This exercise is designed to help students see a TiC conversation in action, using a Twitter format. Students often struggle with summarizing critical arguments in dense, complex sources and with creating authentic TiC conversations. This exercise tackles both of these areas using the Twitter constraints of 140 characters, forcing students to identify the most crucial arguments in their sources and envision conversation topics from a diversity of source material. It also helps them get a better sense of the personality behind the authors of their sources.

Schedule: Weeks 4-6, whenever you are discussing the conversation aspects of the TiC.

Activity length: 35-40 minutes

Activity goals:

Primary goals:

1. See a genuine conversation of your sources materialize in a short exercise
2. Summarize critical source arguments
3. Think about the grouping of conversational topics under themes

Secondary goal:

1. Be able to better envision the different authors’ personalities, helping to reiterate the situated nature of knowledge.

Activity details:  See handout.

Additional notes: This activity was originally published as an Activity of the Week in spring 2014.