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Comment by Betsye Sargent on August 17, 2009 at 5:05pm

Sounds as if the first thing to do is get a classroom blog set up which we will begin to use. Then we will be ready to go in any direction that emerges from our group. We don't begin school until Sept. 14th.
When you mention a Favorite Toy project, Bob, how did you find this project to connect to?

Comment by Bob Greenberg on August 17, 2009 at 4:53am

Thank you for the compliment Jonah. I worked with Jonah on the My Favorite Toys project that was started by Larisa Tarasevich of Russia. I met Larisa thru the Landmark Games organized by Terry Smith of Hannibal, MO. And so it goes. We Skype with some classes, have toy exchanges with others. Some classes are better at leaving comments than others. Carolyn Knight of New Zealand has partnered individual students with my students to insure that every student receives comments on their individual blog.

Jonah has given some very solid advice. I joined the Flat Classrooms Project as a way to make additional connections around the world and expand my personal learning network.

To answer your question Betsye, we don't have pen pals and actually are more involved with some classes than others.

Comment by Jonah Salsich on August 17, 2009 at 4:16am

Hi Betsye and others,
Bob certainly has a fantastic blog with a great network of partner classes. There is a growing network of elementary teachers who have class blogs (some written by the teacher, some written by students, etc.) that regularly read and comment on each other's blogs. To me, this is the most practical way to forge connections with other classes as well as improve the school/home connection.

Most class blogs have a list of other blogs they follow, so it is easy to quickly connect with others. If you or your students leave a comment, it is common etiquette for the blog author to then leave a comment on your blog. The discussion is genuine and it grows naturally.

Of course, it takes some time to set up a blog and integrate it into daily instruction, but I feel it is well worth it. The Classroom 2.0 has some great discussions about how to use blogs here. This discussion might be especially helpful.

Finally, my favorite resources for how/why to use blogs in elementary school are:

Blogging tips for teachers - This is from Mrs. Yollis's 3rd grade blog in California. She has been teaching for over 20 years and started a class blog last year. It is a very useful guide.

Blogging with elementary students - a great resource from the "langwitches" blog with a brief discussion about the reasons to blog and then links to a unit on how to start a blog and teach the students how to use it.

Blogging is Elementary - from "always learning" by Kim Cofino. Another good resource about the benefits and challenges of blogging, with more tips for how to implement it in the classroom.

Exploring classroom blogs and their links is a great way to get a sense of how they give the students an authentic audience and show them the wider world.
Jonah

Comment by Betsye Sargent on August 16, 2009 at 9:17pm

Bob,
Not sure if this will get to you --you were the right Bob and I finally did get to your website/blog. Very impressive list of global connections. I am curious how you managed them all. Suggests to me that you exchanged similar information with them all rather than kids having a pen pal in each of these countries? This is what makes the most sense to me. Just need to figure out how to do it -- and whether this is what we all are tryinbg to do together.
Betsye

Comment by Jonah Salsich on August 11, 2009 at 6:53pm

Hi everyone,

I teach 3rd grade in Connecticut. I have done a few collaborative projects in the past, but am certainly still learning. Some good resources for networking and ideas are the ePals projects ("the way we are" might fit your goals) and Edutopia's project learning resources (they also have great ideas about distance collaboration).

This year I am hoping to do a collaborative project about rainforests with schools in Belize and Costa Rica during our habitats and adaptation unit. This would be around November.

Some other 3rd grade teachers I correspond with around the country have also discussed the possibility of sharing information about local Native American history (another common unit) to compare how the natural resources of an area influence lifestyle (food, clothing, and housing, etc.).

Finally, in April/May I do a collaborative learning project about kites around the world. We learn about kite traditions and then use measurement and division/fractions to design, build, and fly kites. Last year 6 other classes from around the world joined us and we shared our learning on this website. This year I will switch the website to an edublogs platform as that seems to be more compatible with other countries' IT.

Anyway, if anyone is interested in any of these projects, please let me know. And I am always up for other ideas! Collaboration and project learning is fun and engaging for us teachers as well as the students.

Comment by Betsye Sargent on August 11, 2009 at 3:43pm

Lin,
There seems to be several things going on at the same time because most of us haven't done this before. Find the Cultural Collaboration project through Matthew Stark's page. Several of us are going in that direction. Let me know if you are interested. Not sure who wrote the comment listed above, but haven't seen any action taken on it. If I am wrong, would someone please let us know: Mary Freeman, Cathy Wolinsky. We seem to be starting by sharing information about our different areas in the world. Nerine Chalmers is also starting a project we all are interested in.

Comment by Lin Dishaw on August 11, 2009 at 6:07am

I teach special education in a resource room setting to K-5th graders and would be willing to participate in a project. I am in Michigan

Comment by Cathy Wolinsky on August 6, 2009 at 3:41am

Thanks Betsye, I see that date issue now. I wasn't able to email Jackie from her K12 online session, but I think you are right about her transition to higher ed. I am looking at connecting with 3rd & 4th graders this year so let's keep talking.

Comment by Betsye Sargent on August 5, 2009 at 6:20pm

Cathy,
I think Jackie's post is an old one and that she now works in higher ed.
I would be interested in joining with you in a flat classroom project, but am still trying to figure out how to do it. There are several others in the same boat. It's al ost as if we need someone who has done it before.

Comment by Cathy Wolinsky on August 5, 2009 at 2:40am

Jackie (and others) I would be very interested in collaborating with you with my 3rd & 4th grade students. I work with the classroom teachers to design the technology learning experiences for these students and would like to collaborate directly with other schools this year. I just used your K12online conference session with a class of graduate students and I think we have some similar ideas about promoting creativity in students. My somewhat unattended blog is at http://yestechchat.blogspot.com. I'm starting up with students again at the end of August.

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