Encouraging Cultural Awareness
It is amazing how the use of technology can assist in developing a students' understanding and respect for diversity. For example, "The Case for Cultivating Cultural Awareness," is an excellent article written by Lyn Hilt that really proves this point. Her school has done multiple Skype activities with classes in other states- talk about raising understanding of the world around us! In addition, students have done projects and shared blogs with other people in countries such as Canada and Haiti. Students have responded incredibly well to this and always seem to be interested in learning more about the cultures of the people they communicate with. In today's world, I don't think kids really think about how big our world is and how different and unique various people groups are. However, doing projects that involve other people and other cultures will give students a broader perspective. I also came across a fabulous program called iEARN that encourages collaboration among students worldwide. The description on their website states: "iEARN is a non-profit organization made up of over 30,000 schools and youth organizations in more than 140 countries. iEARN empowers teachers and young people to work together online using the Internet and other new communications technologies. Over 2,000,000 students each day are engaged in collaborative project work worldwide." I love this idea, and I want to see what our school would need to do to be a part of something so fantastic. Check out this short video that gives a great overview of this program:
Diverse Needs
Students are so different and have so many different needs that sometimes it can seem impossible to teach them ALL. However, technology can change all that. In their book Differentiating Instruction with Technology in Middle School Classrooms, Smith and Throne (2009) state: "As a differentiator, technology helps us to personalize learning for our extremely varied students through collaborative learning and problem solving, which are excellent activities for the growing brain and for our students’ future professions in the world of work." I love this, and even though her book is specific to middle school students, her ideas can apply to anyone. She discusses the huge focus on a student-centered classroom, and I love that topic. It's a great way to differentiate because it allows for students to have a say in their own learning. Once this happens, students will take ownership over the material being learned, and as a result, engagement levels will shoot through the roof!
Blogging
Blogging has the potential of having a tremendous impact on the way we communicate and collaborate with students, parents, peers, etc. I have been doing student blogging usingKidblog all year, and I started very small - I only allowed the other students to view the class blogs. I didn't open it up for any outside viewers. Recently, I opened it up to members of the administration at the school as well as various other people such as our LSTC, literacy coach, and school counselor. The students have LOVED this because they are now receiving feedback on their writing from other people besides just me. Within the next few weeks, I want to open the blogs up to parents as well so that parents can go in with their kids and read the blogs that are being written. Another great blogging idea I am storing away for next year is to develop a teacher blog that parents/students will have access to all year. This blog will contain important information such as a calendar of events, parent forms (such as field trip permission slips), and other pertinent information that would be valuable for parents and students to have access to at all times. Speaking of blogs, I found a fabulous blog by by Pernille Ripp titled "14 Steps to Meaningful Student Blogging" and it gave some great ideas for how to incorporate blogging into the classroom. According to this blog, an excellent way to get student blogs out there for others to read and comment on is to useComments4Kids. This idea originated from Will Chamberlain - basically, how it works is kids can link their blogs to his website and ask people to comment on them. This can also be done via Twitter by using a hashtag - #comments4kids.
Basically, there are SO many ways blogging can be used in the classroom to reach outside the classroom walls. The possibilities are truly endless!
Basically, there are SO many ways blogging can be used in the classroom to reach outside the classroom walls. The possibilities are truly endless!
Resources
Smith, G. E., & Throne, S. (2009). Chapter 2. In Differentiating instruction with technology in middle school classrooms (pp. 29-39). Eugene, Or.: International Society for Technology in Education.