Students Blogging for a Global Audience

Recently, I presented a session at the National Council of Teachers of English Convention on "Students Blogging for a Global Audience." Lots of people expressed an interest in access to the site I created for the conference, so here it is.

You'll find tips and resources to get students blogging. Poke around, and let me know what you think.

Click on the image to access the site:

Thanks for stopping at the site. If you have a few minutes, leave a reply to this post.

How Well Are We Preparing Students For the World in Which They Will Live?

Over the last month or so, these images have been floating around on Twitter and other social media, and at this point, the original source for all is not known.

Thought I would share them with you, as each asks us to re-examine our teaching and how we prepare students today for what lies ahead for them.

http://www.edudemic.com/new-skills-world-looking/

Which of these images speak to you and how?

Haven't Joined the Global Read Aloud Yet: What Are You Waiting For?

No matter what grade you teach, there's something for you and your students to gain from the Global Read Aloud.

We all believe in the importance of developing a love of reading in children today, starting from a young age. We also like to hear a good story read aloud.

Join the Global Read Aloud held each fall. It starts at just the right time of the year to get your students on board. With a month into the school year and routines established, the Global Read Aloud starts at just the right time to introduce a new concept into the classroom.

Check out the selections for the fall.

Regardless of the grade you teach, Peter Reynold's illustrated books are a win. I've used his books with graduate students, watched as the book was read to young children, and participated and watched Skypes in which children from around the world discussed his book The Dot.

Image credit: http://bit.ly/SqOjT7

Happy to see he is one of the features authors for next year.

Not to spoil the fun, check the selections from Pernille Ripp's Global Read Aloud blog. Recently, she posted

The Top 10 Reasons to Join Global Read Aloud

And more recently, she created this post, "Why The Global Read Matters," showing how this project through books has connected children globally.

http://bit.ly/1kuCtUr

These 2nd 3rd Graders Say It Best: The Benefits of Blogging

For some time, I have been keeping up with California 3rd grade teacher Linda Yollis and 2nd grade Australian teacher Kathleen Morris. Both have been using blogs with their students for several years, and they have participated in projects such as Quad Blogging.

Students in each of their classes made these videos a few years back, but they are still very relevant today, especially for teachers who are in the initial stages of thinking about implementing blogging in their classrooms.

What I love about these videos is that the students have a voice. Not only do they speak about the benefits of blogging, but they also practice oral presentation and video production skills.

3rd Graders: Meet Linda Yollis's Students

Listen to these 3rd graders from Linda Yollis's class talk about blogging. They offer a wealth of information in this short video.

2nd Graders: Meet Kathleen Morris's Students.

In this video, 2nd graders outline several ways that blogging promotes literacy skills for 21st century learners.

• What do you consider the best piece of advice these 2nd and 3rd graders offer? 
• How convincing are they about the power of blogging?
• If you visited the blog of Linda Yollis or Kathleen Morris, what resources did you find helpful ?

Peeking Outside Your Window: Introducing Young Learners to Twitter for Forging Connections

I came across this idea that Karen Lirenman used at the beginning of this year to not only introduce her students to the power of Twitter, but also to pique their interest in learning about places where their age-mates in different parts of the world live.

Basically, students go to the window of their classroom or somewhere else in their school where there is a window and take a picture of what they see outside. They then use Twitter's option to post a picture asking others to tweet back where they think the photo was taken.

Check Karen's blog post, "What's Outside Your Window," to learn of the process and to see the photos uploaded to Twitter and the tweeted replies.

Here is one example:

Similar activities could easily be done in other schools and at other grade levels. Students could find pictures of their capital city and take pictures of it and ask others to guess the state or country. They could take pictures of land formations and tweet those. However, the idea of taking pictures in the students' immediate setting also could lead to asking questions about what their school is like or what kinds of activities students like to do outdoors in their part of the world. A lesson in the seasons in the varied parts of the world could also be incorporated. It would be fun for students to check their class Twitter accounts daily to see who replies and what they say and if they in turn post a picture. This process is an easy way for classes to connect. It is a perfect idea for schools where Skyping with other classes is not possible due to limited technology, but also assumes that Twitter is not blocked. If nothing else, this kind of activity where students share pictures of the place where they live and learn geography in the process helps skeptics to see the educational benefits of a simple classroom Twitter activity.

What are some other activities students could do with posting pictures on Twitter to generate interest in their community or what they're studying?

Global Collaborations

Recently, Jess Lussier and Michelle Gohagon of Regional School District 13 in Connecticut, shared an excellent Google Presentation of the variety of ways in which their students, K-6, have been collaborating globally.  These collaborations include Global Read Aloud, International Dot Day, World Blogging Day, and Poem in Your Pocket Day. To see their presentation, click on the image below, which will take you to the post with the embedded slide show. It's worth your time to learn about the ways young students forge global connections. Each slide about a project indicates how it aligns with Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Have you considered ways to connect your students globally, or even regionally? Share your plans or any projects you have already done to connect students with people beyond the walls of your classroom or school? What do you see as the merits of global collaborations?

Cranes for Peace: A Global Project

Once we introduce technology in our classrooms and schools, we open up opportunities for students to collaborate in ways unfathomable before. One excellent example is a quad blogging. The Cranes 4 Peace Blog, a collaborative project, follows this format, with students from countries around the world contributing to a common blog. Here is an image from just one of the posts on the blog,

http://cranes4peace.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/st-thomas-more-cps-peace-cranes/

Check the About page for the project, and then go to the blog itself, The Cranes 4 Peace, to see what the children in this collaborative blog are posting.

http://cranes4peace.wordpress.com/about/

Take some time to look. Don't rush. Leave your comments on this post after you've looked around. Have you gotten any inspiration from The Cranes 4 Peace blog? Would you consider implementing a similar project in your school?

See this website to learn more about the Peace Crane Project. The site will offer ideas for ways you can celebrate in your own schools and bring awareness to world peace.

Here is a video about the project:





For more information about the International Day of Peace, celebrated, Sept. 21, 2013, also  check this website: International Day of Peace, Education for Peace.

Amazing: Hearing Impaired and Deaf Students Connecting Globally

This morning, procrastinating about shoveling snow, I checked email, and saw an incoming tweet from a Connecticut teacher (Joyce Blum) who tweeted 80% of schools closed in Connecticut for Monday.

To verify the identity of this person, who tweeted a response to another teacher, whom I had already tweeted, which put my Twitter name in Joyce Blum's tweet out, I wanted to ensure the tweet was coming from someone in "the know."

Well, once I got to Joyce Blum's Twitter profile, I saw she was a high school teacher of English for the deaf and hard of hearing.

In her tweet stream, I found a link to a blog. Curious about the blog, I checked the link, and there I found myself exploring a neighborhood of blog posts from students around the world, all apparently hearing impaired or deaf. Not only are these students afforded an opportunity to communicate with the written word, which makes sense, but they are also making connections with peers globally and learning about these peers from all corners of the world. This exploration opened my mind once again to the power of blogging as an amazing tool for communication for a variety of purposes.

I invite you to take a few moments, or linger longer if you like, to see how this blog is unfolding. I am wondering what your reactions will be. The blog is at Welcome to the 2012-2013 School Year. The number of schools throughout the world who have joined and the students who have contributed speak to the power of blogging to connect students in ways not easily possible just a decade ago. As I tweeted back to Joyce,

I also learned that she is using Edmodo as another communication tool.

She calls herself a "rookie," but she is already doing amazing things with technology tools to help her students express themselves and expand their literacy skills and global understandings. 

Well, back to shoveling, but blogging surely can draw us in, as we explore the world through the comforts of our own home. I am just amazed at how this teacher has used the medium of blogging to enhance students' literacy skills: including reading, writing, visualizing, connecting, and gaining world views. For students who cannot hear or have limited hearing abilities, the opportunities to explore blogging as a communication medium seem amazing. What do you think? What is your reaction to Welcome to the 2012-2013 School Year blog?