According to Gao and Li (2017), social networking and microblogging enable learners to communicate with peers around the world synchronously and asynchronously. I suggest others follow these two experts. Educators who are working in a similar field can get fresh ideas from experts and bring them back to their work.
Lorena: @Loreanaylennoxhttps://www.pinterest.com/Lorenaylennox/
Lorena: Sharing tips on raising bilingual children through a play-based approach and offering free printable PDF activities in both English and Spanish. I know this person when working with bilingual educators at a conference and she shared a lot of great tips on supporting students in bilingual families and programs.
Briana: @educationallypsyched https://www.instagram.com/educationallypsyched/
Briana: She shares a variety of ideas on school psychology, special education, and supporting students with diverse needs. My colleague recommends her Instagram to me. I found great posts about working with diverse students at school and ideas to support their families.
I learned ideas from Lorena that story reading can support learners to acquire two languages simultaneously. In addition to improving students’ cognitive skills, it also develops students’ language proficiency levels by integrating interpersonal tasks. As a general ed teacher, I learned Briana’s approach to helping students who have social and emotional issues such as “ 3 steps to receiving compliments better”.
I would organize microblogging by topics so that learners do not get overwhelmed. Additionally, clear instructions should be defined to let students know the expectation when communicating through microblogging Hadian & Froese, 2014). Lastly, I would demo how to use microblogging discussion in class to ensure all students are able to access the program to communicate effectively.
References
Gao, F. & Li, L. (2017). Examing a one-hour synchronous chat in a microblogging-based professional development community. British Journal of Educational Technology, 48(2), 332-347. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12384
Hadian, S., & Froese, M.-E. (2014). Microblogging best practices. Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference on Cognition & Exploratory Learning in Digital Age. 249-252.