So Many Forms of Social Media and Uses for Diverse Learners

There are so many forms of social media that we can use for fun and to learn!  We can also share what we have created or share great ideas that others have created.  Today I am sharing four different types of social media and ways that teachers can use them, specifically when working with diverse students.  Overall, all of these social media forms have a wide variety of information and when we do project based learning that is a great way to differentiate based upon the student's interests.  Additionally, students on any level can search and look for information as needed.  With any of these sites when students post it will give them chances to practice writing and they are sharing their writing with others.  For ELL students the more practice they have with English the more it will help them advance those skills.

In general social media gives a gifted student an opportunity to expand their sources of information(just like with any other student.)  This can be a great opportunity to really challenge them when communicating with others who will really challenge them, because they aren’t just discussing with their classroom teacher and classmates, but additional people who can challenge them.

Here are some link I found on how to use social media to help ELL students.

7 Ways to Use Social Media in the ESL Classroom

Facebook

I distinctly remember my sophomore year of college one of my best friends introduced me to this thing on the internet called Facebook.  Many of her friends at her school had it and I thought it was just a thing for her school  At the time it was only a college thing and you had to have a college email address in order to use it.  I was not very excited about this new thing, but my friend insisted.  Little did I know that it would be such an important way for me to connect with others more than ten years later.  Prior to this course I often came across articles shared by others or had discussions with some on educational  matters.  I think Facebook is a tool that I as an educator have already connected with many other teachers.  However, on Facebook I am often connecting with teachers I taught at in previous schools.  Facebook is great because it gives face to those who they are talking too.  As a science teacher I think it is great for students to see the diversity of people are involved in the sciences, all different colors and both genders.  Here are additional ways to use Facebook in Education.

100 Ways To Use Facebook in Education

Instagram

I already have an Instagram account and have not used it even once.  However, during the school year my students liked to use Instagram in the classroom at random times.  When I teach physics the students have several engineering projects.  I could have students post their complete project on Instagram.  The engineering projects by nature of being projects allow for students of diverse abilities to participate.  All different levels of projects are turned in based upon the student's’ ability level.

Pinterest

I love pinterest!  Again it was a social media that I was apprehensive to use when it was first introduced to me.  However, one of my friends said I must use it because there are so many ideas for kids!  I spent hours upon hours on Pinterest while I was pregnant looking for suggestions and ideas for the baby.  I started searching on Pinterest for ideas for Physics and Math and there are lots of ideas!  Pinterest is great because a picture pops up to represent the link and you can simply pin it.  I could share my pins with my students.  This would be a great way to differentiate for the different age levels.  For example, with the younger grades the teacher could already have pins available for their students.  The older students could dig through Pinterest himself to find the information that they are seeking.  Many of the STEM ideas I found are for the elementary level with less for the upper levels, but there are still tons of ideas!    Many of those ideas could be adopted for older level as well.  I could have students create Pins to share their engineering projects.  They can create instructions for how to build their project, explain how it works and share pictures and upload that information to Pinterest to share with others.

37 Ways Teachers Should Use Pinterest

Using Pinterest for Education

Google Plus

Google Plus seems like an attempt to me to be just like Facebook.  It is great to have multiple different ways to share information, but it is not completely clear to me what the difference is between Facebook and Google Plus.  I like that there are communities in which you can discuss with others, but again that is very similar to Facebook.  Many people share the same information on multiple different sites.  From playing around with Google Plus it does appear that I can make  different circles and break it up into family, friends, work, and so on.  Which that would be nice, but it appears more are on Facebook at this time than Google Plus.  As far as differentiating it could be used in a very similar manner as the other forms of social media above.

Well, that's it for today!  I think I got a bit carried away but there are so many forms of social media and different ways to use each!