NextGenTeachers

This blog has been updated to Wordpress 2.5 Now if only the darned syndication plugin would work. Sigh.

I just made a fabulous discovery!

Earlier this year I discovered the power of linked accounts in G-mail for elementary students. Today I learned how I can leverage that shortcut into individual contributing authors for our Grade 3 BlogPals blog on Edublogs. Here’s what I found out:

I would like:

• One class blog - not individual student blogs.
• The teacher or administrator to approve all postings.
• The students to be able to write whenever they want - not just in class, but I want all posts moderated by the teacher before they are published.
• Not to have to deal with individual student e-mail addresses.
• The students to have to log in so I can track who posts what, so students can’t “impersonate” each other, and so students can learn about usernames, passwords and responsibility.

So, here’s what I did:

• Created a class blog on Edublogs (in retrospect, it would have made more sense to use Learnerblogs, since this blog will mostly be authored by students. Ah well, live and learn, right?).
• Created a class e-mail account on G-mail that I have access to, as well as the class teacher.
• Created an Edublogs account for each student using the linked G-mail account feature. For each Edublogs account, I chose “Just a username, Please.”
• Logged into the main blog as the admin user and went to the Users tab.
• Added each student as a Contributor to the blog with their new “e-mail address” (which is really just the one class e-mail address using the “+StudentName” linked account option) under the “Add a User” function.

Now we have:

• Individual student log ins WITHOUT individual e-mail accounts.
• Individual student contributors to the blog WITHOUT their own blog.
• All posts approved by the blog administrator before posting.

Perfect!

This seems like the natural next step in our BlogPals project - once students are comfortable adding comments and writing posts as a “center”-type activity, we will give them individual log-ins so they can manage their posts independently.

Tags: elementary, blogging, grade3, blogpals, edublogs, contributors, student, authors, gmail, linked, email, learnerblogs,

A little over a week ago I was honored to be invited to Qatar Academy, workplace of the amazing Julie Lindsay, as a consultant for a 2 day 21st century literacy training.

While I’m there, not only do I get to spend some quality F2F time with Julie, but hopefully I will also spend some time with my good friends Jabiz and Mairin from my last school!

Here is my proposed outline for the two days of training:

Day 1:

Introductory session: Developing the Global Student: Practical Ways to Infuse 21st Century Literacy into Your Classroom (75 - 90 minutes, full group with Q&A)

Breakout sessions:

2 options (60 - 90 min sessions - conducted in small groups, either grade level teams or subject area groups):

• Globally Collaborative Projects: best practice examples and how to get started.
• Web 2.0 trainings - groups for blogging, wikis, social networking, RSS, etc - curriculum/standards based, practical and hands on in a lab setting

Closing session: The 21st Century Educator: Embracing Web 2.0 in your Professional Practice (75 - 90 minutes, full group, with Q&A)

Day 2:

Introductory session: The 21st Century School: Making the Shift Happen - an overview of what current best practice in international schools looks like, the roles of technology facilitators, curriculum coordinators, classroom teachers, and administrators. Sample facilitation structure shared from ISB, MKIS and MIS.

3 options (60 - 90 min sessions - conducted in small groups, either grade level teams or subject area groups):

• Curriculum planning to authentically embed 21st century literacy - practical questions, successful framework, examining current standards and topics and developing ideas to embed technology (60 - 90 minutes per grade level/subject team).
• Developing a framework for successful technology integration with tech team
• Mobile computing - the changing classroom, facilities management, practical tips

Closing session: ???

I would love to hear your opinion! What do you think I should cover? What’s missing from this list? What would you like to see presented at your school?

Tags: julie lindsay, qatar academy, 21stcentury, consultant, professional development, training

I have been looking forward to this project all year! We just got started on Friday with a wonderful group of fourth graders, and their very flexible classroom teacher, Sonja. I’m so excited to be able to collaborate on this project a second time. I hope I’ve learned from my mistakes the last time around, and have set up this workshop for success.

We’ve been doing a lot of planning at the elementary level in order to avoid some of the confusion and frustration I experienced last year - mostly due to lack of planning. Here are the key structures that we’ve put into place so far:

Grouping & Coordination

At this point we have determined that we will split the 20 elementary classrooms that are participating into a number of smaller sub groups. First we divided by age level, then by writing style or curricular focus to ensure that the peer editors will be knowledgeable enough to offer constructive advice. We also wanted to keep the groups no larger than 3 schools collaborating together so that it is easier for the students to offer thorough peer reviews.

We have created one page where all of the student stories can be linked and easily accessible. Also on this page, we have all student partners clearly laid out in a table, so that students can quickly find the work of their partners. Regardless of whether the individual student pages are part of the same wiki, or actually hosted on another classroom wiki, they are all clearly linked here.

Time Lines & Expectations

We have laid out and agreed upon our expected deadlines for each phase of the project: 1st draft, peer reviews, 2nd draft, final story, and awards. Though the dates vary for each sub group, a great effort has been made to ensure that the smaller groups have identified specific dates that the work will be completed. Hopefully this will allow teachers to better plan their classes and complete the project in a timely manner.

Assessment & Curricular Focus

Given that the various sub-groups are working within the same curricular focus, we have begun to develop common procedures and assessments so that all students are clearly working toward the same goal. In order for the peer editors to be truly helpful, they need to be looking at the stories through the same lens.

Practicalities

Wiki Memberships: All teachers have been made “organizers” of the wiki. This will allow them to add their students as members as they see fit, without having to wait for one organizer on the other side of the world to approve the requests. Teachers are welcome to create their own class wiki and just link their pages here, or they can use this wiki as the actual work in progress. When I add students, I open the Members and Permissions page and have students come up and type their e-mail address into the “Invite New Members” line. Then I show them how to become a member of wikispaces as a class, and they join the wiki. This allows all the students to join the wiki within one class period, but does not send those annoying “request for membership” e-mails to all organizers.

Naming Policies: In an effort to more easily find student work (just in case links break, or students forget to create the right links) we have developed a page naming format: SchoolInitials_StudentName. Not only will this place all student pages from one school right next to each other in the List Pages view (which was essential when we had student issues last year), but it will make the linking process easier since there are bound to be multiple students with the same first name in all of these classes. Last year we had students naming pages with file names that had nothing to do with their own name or their school’s name and it made it increasingly frustrating for their partners or the classroom teachers to navigate through their work. The more transparant the file naming system is, the easier it will be for all these 20 different teachers and classes of students to manage.

Communication: Although we have been communicating mostly by e-mail I’m finally now trying to move discussion to the participating schools page discussion tab - this way new teachers can follow along with the conversation as well. It makes so much more sense to have the conversations in a central and open place, plus, with the ability to RSS wiki discussions (and changes), students and teachers can keep close tabs on all updates anytime.

Parental Permission: Despite the fact that absolutely no personal information will be shared during the course of this project, I always like to ensure that parents are not only aware of what is happening in the classroom, but that they formally allow their children to participate. Given the concern about online projects, I would much rather deal with any questions before the project starts than after students have become invested in their work.

Getting Started

Now that we have some of the basics for a successful globally collaborative project lined up, Sonja and I have been planning how we will approach this project with our students. Here is our planned schedule:

Lesson One

Introduce the project. Share the global scope by showing the Participating Schools page and exploring all the different countries involved. Make connections to students prior knowledge by sharing student-friendly pop culture references to Arabian Nights (Disney’s Aladdin comes to mind). Build interest by reading aloud the frame story for the project and discussing ideas for how to persuade the Alien King to let the human race live.

Get all students signed up for the wiki. Split the class into two groups - one that has e-mail accounts already and one that needs help creating an account. Have the classroom teacher read an excerpt from the Arabian Nights frame story (appropriate for elementary, we used the Eyewitness Accounts series) while the other group is dealing with the technical steps to sign up. Once one group is finished, swap.

Lesson Two - Four

Brainstorm ideas. Each student will complete an Inspiration mind map, or other graphic organizer, of their ideas for their story. Ideally we will share these brainstorms with our partners around the world, but if time is short, we can discuss these in class. Students will use their experience with persuasive writing, as well as the rubric and expectations for quality persuasive writing as they brainstorm to ensure that their story will meet the project requirements.

Lesson Five

Online safety. We will watch my two favorite Public Service Announcements (Think Before You Post & The Talent Show) to discuss appropriate and safe behavior online. We will use the Online Safety guidelines as posted on the wiki to ensure that students are prepared to work and learn in this environment.

Lesson Six

Wiki basics. Demo the main features of a wiki and allow students to post an introduction to themselves that uses all of the basic wiki techniques (formatting, inserting images from a website and the desktop, and linking). These pages will be an introduction for their collaborative partner, as well as an authentic way for students to learn how to manipulate wiki pages.

Lesson Seven - Ten

Write. Complete the first draft.

Lesson Eleven - Thirteen

Peer review collaborative partner’s work. Edit and improve their story based on collaborative partner’s feedback. Post second draft

Lesson Fourteen - Fifteen
Peer review collaborative partner’s work. Edit and improve their story based on collaborative partner’s feedback. Post final draft.

Lesson Sixteen

Awards and celebrations.

One thing I would really love to have time for is either narrating the stories by podcast, or adding images to enhance the stories, or creating a never-ending story by linking all the various stories together, or even creating a video of individual stories. At this point I’m waiting to see how the students do with the basic tools needed to collaborate on a wiki. Any students that are interested in taking their ideas farther or brining a multimedia element to their story will be supported either in small groups or individually.

I can’t wait to see what they all come up with! No doubt there will be some very exciting and unique stories appearing on these very pages over the next few weeks!

Tags: elementary, 21stcentury, globalcollaborations, internationalschool, flatclassroom, collaborations, 1001 Tales, wiki, writing, workshop, persuasive,

I am constantly inspired by the supportive and encouraging environment out here in the education blogosphere. After reading Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0 (so nice I have to mention it twice), I am reminded of the power of the social learning going on in this environment.

Anyone involved in the field of education in general (and technology education in particular) knows that our jobs are changing rapidly. Much too quickly to learn “everything there is to know” before we enter the work force. As Brown and Adler describe,

Mastering a field of knowledge involves not only “learning about” the subject matter but also “learning to be” a full participant in the field. This involves acquiring the practices and the norms of established practitioners in that field or acculturating into a community of practice.

In a traditional Cartesian educational system, students may spend years learning about a subject; only after amassing sufficient (explicit) knowledge are they expected to start acquiring the (tacit) knowledge or practice of how to be an active practitioner/professional in a field. But viewing learning as the process of joining a community of practice reverses this pattern and allows new students to engage in “learning to be” even as they are mastering the content of a field. This encourages the practice of what John Dewey called “productive inquiry”—that is, the process of seeking the knowledge when it is needed in order to carry out a particular situated task.

I am learning constantly, and my job changes just as quickly. Being involved in this social learning environment is allowing me to learn consistently and steadily along with the changes as they come. It is this powerful learning environment that has helped me shape my views on 21st century literacy, keep me up-to-date on the most powerful methods of connecting learners, and push my thinking towards the future.

It is this personal experience of “learning to be” in this environment that makes me realize just how powerful this will be for our students. I am amazed and inspired by the power of this network to stretch my thinking and to broaden my horizons. It is clear to me that this experience of social learning will only become more and more essential to education as the tools become easier and easier to use.

One of the most important aspects of this experience, for me, has been the willingness of others to share their learning, and the encouragement and support that is received when I share my own thoughts and ideas. Seeing as I’m the first-born in my immediate family (and thus, somewhat spoiled) I have never been the best at sharing. But this open network of learning, thinking and discussion has always felt like such a natural place to share.

It continues to amaze me that others find my thinking helpful and that every day I have a new follower on Twitter or a comment from a new reader. I am amazed and empowered at the ability to be both a learner and a leader in this environment.

Two weeks ago I (who, me?!) was a guest on the fabulous Women of Web 2.0 podcast! Jennifer Wagner, Vicki Davis, Sharon Peters and Cheryl Oakes interviewed me? What could I possibly have to tell these superstars of education who I have been following and learning from for years? Just the possibility that this could happen not only makes learning, thinking, and sharing more exciting, but also so much more personal. Being part of a network that grows and shifts and changes as rapidly as the learning occurs means that there is room for everyone - such a different feeling from the traditional classroom.

The week before my WOW2 appearance, Chris Betcher invited me and Susan Sedro on his fantastic The Virtual Staffroom podcast to talk about technology integration. Two people who I constantly look to for advice, who I think of as my mentors, who inspire me to do new things in new ways. And they wanted to hear what I thought!

Around that same time Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach invited me to be an “Expert Voice” on Social Networking for the next month for the Powerful Learning Practice professional development Ning that she is working on with Will Richardson. Just to be involved in something with Sheryl and Will is exciting enough - let alone being called “expert” on something, anything!

Finally, just last week Julie Lindsay invited me to travel to Qatar Academy as a consultant for 2 full days of 21st century literacy training. Not only am I so honored to be thought of as an expert in this field, but to be given the privilege of working with an entire primary school full of teachers for two full days as a consultant - I can not think of anything more exciting!

Looking at the new 2008 Horizon Report, this type of social learning is only the beginning:

The next generation of social networking systems—social operating systems—will change the way we search for, work with, and understand information by placing people at the center of the network….The real value of the network lies in the way it helps us create, identify, and sustain relationships….

Placing people and relationships at the center of informational space will have a profound influence at all levels of academia. It will change the way we relate to knowledge and information; the way we do research and evaluate credibility; the way educators and students interact with each other; and the way students learn to be professionals in their chosen disciplines…

Imagine the impact of tools that place those people and relationships at the center of any research inquiry: concepts clearly linked to people; connections between those people and others clearly indicated; a much more complete picture of the topic would emerge, more quickly than is possible with current tools.

These are the kinds of experiences I want to ensure that my students have. I want them to experience the fun and excitement and empowerment of learning and mastering a skill. I want them to feel like they are connected to learners just like them, and that their network can grow and change as their needs shift. I want to bring this kind of connected learning to each and every classroom so that all students can enjoy learning the way I do. This is what makes my job so fun and interesting - isn’t that what we want our schools to be?

Tags: chris betcher, susan sedro, julie lindsay, jennifer wagner, vicki davis, cheryl oakes, sharon peters, wow2, women of web 2.0, qatar academy, plp, powerful learning practice, will richardson, social networking, educase, minds on fire, social, learning, 21stcentury, horizon report, future, hz08, flnw08

Vicki Davis and I are planning another Horizon Project. This one, Horizon Project 2008, will be based on the newly released Horizon Report (by Educause and the New Media Consortium) that identified 6 emerging technologies over the next 5 years. We are very excited to be reading this and looking at how it will inspire great projects from our students.

We wish to invite interested people to a preliminary information sharing and discussion meeting on Wednesday this week (February 6) at 8pm GMT in Elluminate (link to be announced on wiki). We understand that one meeting in one time zone will not be enough however we will make a start with this and work out other meetings, or communications as needed. The meeting will be recorded and posted online.

Please note our new Horizon Project 2008 Ning and we invite you to join this to keep in touch with further announcements.

Also note our new wiki information session page. The Elluminate link for the meeting will be put on this page on Wednesday.

So, come and join us for some discussion and find out more! There are many different levels and areas where you and your class can become involved in the project.

Technorati Tags: horizonproject2008 hz08 vickidavis

After an excellent session with parents about cyberbullying and an equally excellent session with our staff discussing the Frontline documentary Growing Up Online, I’ve been thinking a lot about responsibility. As in:

• Whose responsibility is it to teach students about the dangers of social networking (not only physical danger from online predators, but the danger of getting college applications rejected or the danger of getting kicked out of school)?
• Whose responsibility is it to help parents stay informed about these new methods of communication?
• Whose responsibility is it to ensure that students learn how to have successful, productive, and educational online experiences?

I’ve been noticing that many teachers are happy to be ignorant of what goes on online - that “out of sight, out of mind” mentality - which really worries me. I mentioned to Miguel in a twitter a few weeks ago that some really appalling student behavior has been going on for quite a while now, which actually made a little bit relieved to see that cell phone scandal hit the press in the US. On one hand, I can understand just how damaging that kind of press can be to a school trying to implement progressive learning practices, but on the other hand, aren’t these things we need to be talking about? Aren’t these issues that parents need to know about? And aren’t these issues that students should be learning how to stay away from?

I wonder how many schools are talking about this as a whole? Justin, Dennis and I were just discussing how great it would be to watch Growing Up Online as a whole faculty and then have some smaller break-out sessions to discuss what we saw. How many teachers are going to say: “our kids aren’t doing that kind of stuff!” And how many are going to say “that’s a parenting issue, not a school issue”? How many are going to say: “I need to embed authentic learning experiences into my curriculum which help students build their understanding about online safety and appropriate behavior”?

If learning has become increasingly social, and networked learning is on the horizon as the future of education, as so clearly described in the recent Educase article: Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0:

The most profound impact of the Internet, an impact that has yet to be fully realized, is its ability to support and expand the various aspects of social learning. What do we mean by “social learning”? Perhaps the simplest way to explain this concept is to note that social learning is based on the premise that our understanding of content is socially constructed through conversations about that content and through grounded interactions, especially with others, around problems or actions. The focus is not so much on what we are learning but on how we are learning….

This perspective shifts the focus of our attention from the content of a subject to the learning activities and human interactions around which that content is situated.

Then we need to be aware, actively involved, and responsible for teaching students and parents how to participate in these new communities - even if so much of their activity online has been for purely social purposes until now. Isn’t it our job to teach them how to take this social environment and use it for educational purposes? When I think about how powerful my PLN has been for my learning, I can’t imagine not including those experiences in my teaching. This is truly the Future of Learning in a Networked World, isn’t it?

At the beginning of this school year, when I was still adjusting to life in elementary school, I remember realizing just how lucky I am to have switched to elementary. This is the time when I can really make a difference. Students are excited about learning, they haven’t developed many bad habits, they still adore their teachers, they still enjoy having their parents watch over them while they play online, and they are still open to asking questions and discussing the possible outcomes. It is so essential to reach our students before they begin to pull away, to become more independent, to become more reluctant to share all aspects of their lives with the adults around them, in essence, to become teenagers.

This week I worked with a grade 3 class on our BlogPals project. We are using this project to develop our reading and writing skills - through the lens of connecting with others, creating a social learning environment. We are taking the time to teach them about online safety and appropriate behavior, and our third graders are responding with energy, excitement, enthusiasm, inquiry and understanding. This is the time to start developing appropriate behaviors, and I believe it’s our responsibility to teach them.

What do you think?

Tags: Tags: responsibility, onlinesafety, socialnetworking, growinguponline, frontline, pbs, educase, mindsonfire, social, learning, parents, elementary, 21stcentury, globalcollaborations, internationalschool, flatclassroom, collaborations, blogging, grade3, blogpals, flnw08

A new bi-weekly podcast aired for its second time last week. Called Shifting our Schools International podcast and hosted Jeff Utecht and David Carpenter it is set to be a new twist on an important discussion and its coming all the way from Asia! You can catch it via SOS UStream and Jeff’s On Deck blog every second Thursday. I really like the format as each show centers around an essential question that is the lens through which all discussion should flow. I was a guest on last weeks show along with Julie Lindsay and the question “How does making connections affect learning? ”

If you listen to the podcast you will get to hear some great discussion and thinking around the value of collaboration and connecting classroom from some educators who are passionate about the subject but also who are practicing what they preach. There are some big voices in the edu-blogosphere but those who resonate the loudest with me are those who are DOING what others are preaching about and making it happen in an environment that is slow to embrace change and bound by countless  barriers and distractions…………SCHOOLS. IF you are interested hearing about real application and ideas in action. Tune in! 

• The next show is Thursday February 7th. 7:00 PM Shanghai time.
• The guest will be Clay Burell from the Korea International School. Check out his Beyond School blog. This guy is worth reading and is PASSIONATE!
• Essential Question for the show: Passion for learning, how to nurture and grow it?
• Check out the SOS Del.icio.us bookmarking site for some great resources and links associated with each show.

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After seven years working with middle school students, it has taken me a few months to adjust to the pace of learning at the elementary level. But, I think I’m finally getting the hang of things - and now I get a chance to see just how much I’ve learned this year.

I started off the school year by helping three of our grade five classes start independent student blogs. Although things went reasonably well, there were quite a few bumps in the road.

For one, we started learning how to blog before we really covered the basics of blogging (ie: what is a blog, why would you want a blog, who blogs, etc). For another, we talked about online safety, but not long enough. Finally, we sent home permission slips before the students really knew what they were doing with the project.

Yikes! It sounds like a mess when I look back! But, all in all, it went over quite well. The kids are having a blast with the blogs and they’re developing their writings skills while connecting with wider audience (by the way: we’re looking for grade 5 partner bloggers - please leave a comment for me if you’re interested!).

So now that I’m starting this new project with grade 3, I have a chance to do things better - don’t you just love those opportunities!

Here’s how I’m planning on setting this one up:

Step One: Start Small

I’ve set up this project in the simplest way I can think of (thanks to Susan Sedro) in the hopes that the easier it is to maintain, the more interested our students and teachers will be in building it up. The more manageable it starts out, the more open everyone will be to adding more exciting pieces to the puzzle. One blog, one username, one password, one e-mail account - simple, simple, simple.

Step Two: Introduce the Project

This week, I’ll be spending 3 language arts lessons with Mrs. S’s class to introduce this project. We’re going to start with an adaptation of Anne Davis‘ fantastic WebQuest: Blogging: It’s Elementary!

Lesson One:

We will spend the first lesson reading the ABC’s of Blogging blook in small groups or partners. Most likely we’ll have each student pick a favorite letter and read only that page and then come together to discuss what we’ve learned - the whole book is a bit too much for one grade 3 student to read in one sitting. Then, we’ll create a class Inspiration mind map of the big ideas we learned from the Blook - later, this will be posted on our class blog for commenting by students and parents.

Lesson Two:

For our second lesson, we’ll take a look at some student blogs. We may start with the selection listed on the WebQuest, but we’ll also examine the student and teacher blogs here at ISB. The focus will be figuring out the different parts of a blog - what are the pieces that make up a good blog (titles, posts, comments, date of entry, links, calendar, etc). We’ll make sure we understand how to navigate a blog so that we can find our way around our partner class blogs when we’re ready. Most likely, we’ll add some practicalities about blogs to our Inspiration map as a reflection of what we’ve learned.

Lesson Three:

During our third lesson, we’ll talk about online safety and appropriate behavior. I’ve been using the Think Before You Post video (more here) all year and I really like the discussions that come up. The first time around I usually pause the video every few seconds to make sure the students understand what’s happening - there’s a lot going on in this video! We’ll probably end up watching it a few times with pauses and a few times all the way through. This will lead to a discussion about what is safe to put online and a class guidelines for online safety - which will be posted on our class blog.

We will also go through appropriate behaviors online. We might talk a little bit about cyberbullying (but probably I won’t use that word) so that the students understand that behavior expectations online are exactly the same as behavior expectations in class with the teacher present (if we are really struggling, we might watch this video, but it’s a bit intense for 3rd grade). After reading Miguel’s post about the current cell phone scandal taking place in the US, it makes me all the more confident that we have to teach students how to behave online as early as we can - before bad habits are formed. We’ve had some great discussions about how, when and where to share your feelings with grade 4 this year. Everything we discuss can be added to our Inspiration map at the end of the lesson.

Lesson Four:

The following week, I’ll come back for one more introductory lesson. This time we’ll experiment with learnerblogs. We’ll learn about the basics of posting (basic formatting, inserting images and links), the category function, and how to find our partner blogs. We’ll also have one teacher-written post for the entire class to comment on for our first step (hopefully this will be the post with the Inspiration map and class guidelines for online safety if everything goes as planned).

Step Three: Begin and Maintain a Routine

Once we have the introductory steps all mapped out - the students understand what’s happening, the teacher is comfortable with the technology tools, and the parents are all on board - we will begin to blog regularly as part of our normal classroom routine. Making time once a week to read a partner class blog and leave comments will be a great way to connect with other students on issues and ideas that they can relate to. I’d ideally like to have a blogging “center” in the classroom that students could go to whenever they have something they’d like to write about. There’s something about forcing all of the students to blog at the same time on the same day just because it’s convenient that I don’t like (plus, it might not work so well with the one log-in option), so hopefully this personalized activity center idea will work out.

Step Four: Build

After a few months of writing, I hope that we are ready to add in more exciting elements. Maybe we’ll start some podcasting or some VoiceThread that the kids can share. Either way, although we’re starting small, I do hope to see this project grow into something bigger over time. I hope that, at the very least, it becomes an integral part of school-home communication and that parents, students and teachers see the value in this ongoing conversation about learning.

So, I’m looking forward to see if this (somewhat more thoughtful) approach to beginning blogging works a little bit better the second time around!

Tags: elementary, 21stcentury, globalcollaborations, internationalschool, flatclassroom, collaborations, blogging, grade3, blogpals,

A few weeks ago I wrote that I was looking for a project for our third grade students - the only grade level I haven’t worked with so far this year. About two minutes after I posted that tiny little statement at the very end of a long post, the always amazing Susan Sedro was texting me with a great idea for a grade three class.

We were both looking for something on the simple side - something uncomplicated that could be enhanced and further developed if all parties were interested, but basically something that doesn’t involve too much effort, and would hardly be in danger of “overtaking” the class and turning everything into a technology lesson.

So we came up with this easy-to-manage idea: Blog Pals:

• We will have one class blog for each third grade class - both blogs linked in the sidebar.
• The class blog will be maintained by the teacher, using one username and one password (and one centralized e-mail address for moderation of comments), but each student will have a chance to author posts.
• Each student will have their own category on the blog so that, by the end of the year, it will seem like they each have their “own” blog (when you click on their category name and see all of their posts on the page).
• Each week at least one student from each class will write a post on the class blog. All of the students in the partner classes have the opportunity to comment on those posts during class time.
• When needed, the teacher will write a post for the class to comment on.

Basically, our class blogs are going to be a little bit like centralized pen pals. We decided to keep them open to the public to take this opportunity to teach our students about online safety and appropriate online behavior.

Over time, if this project becomes something exciting that we want to expand, we know there’s room for:

• embedding images, video, VoiceThreads, or podcasts
• developing individual student blogs
• creating a dedicated time for blogging every day in class
• adding more third grade partners around the world (which has already started, with the addition of Anne Reardon’s class in Pennsylvania, USA)

After completing the @manyvoices project with Mrs. R’s fifth grade class this week in only two lessons, the idea of a simple project that exposes students to the idea of 21st century literacy, connects them to the wider world, gives them an authentic audience for their writing, and utilizes a new mode of communication, sounds just perfect to me! I’m looking forward to getting started this week!

Tags: elementary, 21stcentury, globalcollaborations, internationalschool, flatclassroom, collaborations, blogging, grade3, blogpals, @manyvoices,