Internet Projects... The Final Frontier

So I've been mulling over various internet projects for the past few weeks, considering ways that I can bring the web into my classroom in a safe and productive way that allows students to experience the power that the internet has to bring people together. I've spent a lot of time looking at various projects, like those on kidlink.org and Voices of the World, and I searched a lot at Global School Network's registry of sites.

Thinking realistically about my comfort with this technology, and the time, effort, and energy I will have to commit to engaging in internet projects in my first year of teaching (yikes!), my emphasis is placed on finding existing projects rather than creating one of my own. At this point, I'm considering using a combination of classblogmeister.com student blogs and an interactive project such as pen pals or letter writing with international schools, such as the one found here.

The goal of this combined approach is to address different standards and provide students with the opportunity to see the connective capabilities of the internet from two different perspectives: 1.) as a publishing resource for their thoughts, writings, and (potentially) podcasts, and 2.)  as a correspondence medium that promotes a dialogue between people from around the world. In particular, I want for students to connect with children from one of the four countries we are studying in our social studies year long curriculum: China, Egypt, Italy, or Brazil. 

For the purpose of this Module Assignment, I will focus on the classblogmeister.com portion of my efforts, which I feel I can kick off independently within the first eight weeks of the school year (fingers crossed!). I would like for the students to collaboratively decide on a name for the project, but for starters, I'll call it Our World, since the yearlong classroom theme is Windows on the World. I've also been explicitly instructed by my administrators *not* to reveal any information as to our grade level, school location, or school name in the interest of student safety, and feel that this project title is anonymous.

The goals of the project include developing student writing for an audience, publishing our work in authentic ways, sharing our classroom accomplishments through pictures and words, and becoming comfortable with internet technology. I see blogging as a logical extension of the writing process, furthering the act of publishing to include an external readership beyond the classroom. Families, friends, and other classrooms will provide an audience for the students' work, which I hope will bump up the quality and the concern with which students complete written assignments. The blogging capabilities of classblogmeister also include creating neighborhoods of other classroom blogs from around the country, which will increase the sense of community with other students outside our small school.

The state standards addressed by this project are varied and broad because the intent of the project is for students to spend the majority of the year publishing blogs that pertain to ongoing written assignments and projects that take place in our classroom. Some assignments will be web-specific, meaning that I intend for students to develop work and respond to prompts designed exclusively for their blogs. Some of these assignments may include journaling efforts, writing responses, and observations about other blogs we're exploring. Other efforts may take the form of publishing: the production of a "Final Draft" of a piece that has been worked on in class (pencil and paper). Particularly as we delve into our social studies units (which is integrated across language arts and some science), I would like to see student work reach a final form at least in part on the web. One of the assignments, for example, is a personal narrative the compares a student's life to an ancestor's, and to have artifacts such as pictures or newspaper articles scanned into the computer to accompany these pieces would be ideal. Viewing the blogs as a publishing forum is key to my projected usage of the project.

State standards for many of my projected assignments will include Language Arts requirements such as:

Reading 

3.0 Literary Response and Analysis

    1.4 Punctuation

    1.6 Capitalization

    1.7 Spelling 

 Writing

1.0 Writing Strategies

    1.1 Organization and Focus

    1.3 Research

    1.4 Evaluation and Revision

2.0 Writing Applications

    2.1 Write brief narratives based on (their) experiences

 Other state standards will be addressed through specific assignments that pertain to our social studies curriculum or those that synthesize science or math concepts through writing. I may have students collaborate with each other through their blogs, to practice their literary response and letter writing skills, as well as critical thinking. Much of my actual project will have to be established and implemented on a case-by-case basis, depending on student response to the material and the best practices for each child.  However, I would like to see all children in my class comfortably navigating some level of internet technology (basic typing and blogging, even if that becomes a small group or partner effort).

Special materials for this year long project include: computers, scanner, internet access, headsets and microphones. Our class has access to our school's computer lab, and my intent is to have students in the lab beginning around the third week of school becoming comfortable with the equipment, and using typing programs to familiarize themselves with the keyboards. Ideally, we would go into the lab 2-3 times per week as a class, or in small (half-class) groups. My teaching assistant and I could take turns supervising and assisting the groups. Because of my larger class size, I think half groups may be more practical.

During our blogging work, I expect there to be a fair amount of noise in the lab. We also have two classroom computers (my room is VERY small and cannot accommodate more), which may be used as students complete different phases in writing workshop and are ready to publish. Obviously, there is a difference between on-task noise and off-task chatter, and keeping a handle on that will be challenging at first, but I expect for most students to be excited and committed to working on their blogs. Those that feel differently or are unable to work independently without creating major distractions will either work at our classroom computers during independent work time (when I can assist them individually) or will lose the privilege of working on the computers and be asked to publish their work in a more traditional format (paper and pencil). It is my opinion that using the computers is absolutely a privilege, and if students are not responsible and mature in utilizing that privilege, it should be rescinded.

Off task students will likely remain in the classroom (especially if we decide to work in half-groups, where one teacher remains in the room working on another curricular unit or another stage in the writing process with 10 of the children at a time). Students typically have a Work In Progress folder or handwriting books that they can work in independently. I really hope that most of my students are motivated to stay on task, as this is their first year using the computers for non-art programs (like Tux Paint). Of course, it will be my job to inspire that creativity and excitement, and I intend to show students examples of other class blogs, internet projects, and Wikis to promote that level of interaction.

Many of my ideas are still in their inception, and I intend to commit to more resolute and structured plans as I firm up the rest of my curriculum and begin to visualize my schedule and student learning goals before the beginning of what is certain to be a tremendously adventurous first year in the classroom.