I can think of many students who would enjoy this, but for me there is one student in particular who comes to mind.
We'll call him Johnny...
Johnny is a 6th grader who often questions why we need to learn how to spell since "computers just spell-check it for you!"
Also, Johnny knows that when he grows up he is going to be famous, an NFL player, and/or both so he won't need to know how to read and write: "I can hire people to do that for me!"
Any logical argument (let's say you are a famous NFL player but you break your leg and can't play anymore) is quickly shot down with an equally well thought out response: "That won't happen."
Working with Johnny can get frustrating at times. Finding material that he finds interesting can be difficult. Our library only has so many books on football, motocross, and extremely destructive natural disasters.
Tweets, however, could be the ticket. Terribly, horribly, misspelled and mis-punctuated tweets may just be my saving grace this year.
They are short. They are from people he looks up to. And I just may be able to sneak in some learning with their help.
My only hope is that he does not see the irony here: The tweets actually prove his point. If you play in the NFL, you don't need to know how to spell or use a period at the end of your sentence.
