My first initial reaction to using Twitter for our Huck Finn Hashtag project was what a pain in the behind idea, why can’t we just be normal, read the book, and talk about it in class? This was mostly because I was not a Twitter user before this assignment, and I truly did not have any intent on getting into it.
However, after being forced to create an account and Tweeting about Huck Finn throughout our project, I realized that this was a much more interesting, engaging, and more open way of discussing the novel than a normal class discussion or lecture. Everyone had a chance to express their thoughts, and more importantly, I believe no one held back because of being shy about speaking in class. This could be due to the fact that it is part of our grade, but the same can be said about class participation.
It was a more effective way of exploring the novel because ideas were constantly following throughout any given day, and from a much larger source of people. Our discussions were expanded to the other class, and the greater Twitter universe. This project released us from searching for the right way of interpreting the novel, which I think happens when a professor lectures on the book. Students tend to follow a professor’s thoughts and think it is the ultimate interpretation of the novel. The 140 character limit also forced me to be concise in order to get my point across.
It feels like read the novel from a new point of view. Sometime brought up new ideas and sometimes brought up disagreement.
I had never used Twitter before this assignment either. Twitter was a new thing to me. However, I thought it’s interesting and useful tool to introduce my ideas to more people. i totally agree with you that Twitter is really a effective way to explore the novel.