My Life, So Far...

International Blogger, part 2

This is a picture of Mr. Hamilton's Senior Business Education class from Scotland, UK. Mr. Hamilton teaches at Stirling High School in Scotland. His blogspot is primarily used to keep his students updated with classroom information that they may need in order to keep them up-to-date with their studies. He leaves thinking questions for his students to ponder and then to respond to. He also leaves links for his students to follow in order to do the work given. The students do not have individual blogsites or e-mails through Mr. Hamilton's blogsite.
Click here to visit Mr. Hamilton's class blog.

International Blog

My first International blogging experience was with a school in Victoria, Australia. The teacher is "Mrs. C", and she teaches 5th and 6th grades. This blog is full of choices in which to navigate. It contains online-learning games, a calendar, maps, a special place for visitors to leave comments, and even a visitor counter. Each student in the class keeps up with his or her own blog, and exceptional bloggers are even awarded occasionally. The site contains links to other schools' blogs that they keep in contact with. There is a long list of resources available to the students. The site contains a lot of great information for both students and teachers.
To visit this site, click here: Australia bloggers

Using Blogs in the Classroom, part 2

The second blog that I found was at another school in Missouri. The blog was for Mr. Langhorst's 8th grade American History class at South Valley Jr. High School, in Liberty, Missouri. In this blog, students are extremely encouraged to participate in blogging. Students are required to summarize their classroom activities almost daily in their class blog. Mr. Langhorst chooses one or two students each time there is a blog to be made. This blogsite contains not only blogs, but also podcasts and studycasts. The studycasts are a review session of what the students should expect to see on their unit tests. The students also have their own e-mail system in order for them to keep in touch with their teacher and their peers.
If you would like to visit this site, click here: Mr. Langhorst's class

Using Blogs in the Classroom - Noel, Missouri

The first blog that I found was for Mr. Chamberlain's 5th grade class in Noel, Missouri. This class not only posts its own blogs, but also follows other blogs. They are currently communicating with a class from Australia that happens to be reading the same book that they are reading right now.
I think this sort of technology is necessary to our students' futures. These students are learning that they can communicate with people from all over the world. Even if you are not privileged enough to have the opportunity to physically visit foreign places, you can still visit from the internet. You can immerse yourself in other countries' cultures, religions, and beliefs, just by using your computer.
Here is the link to their class blog: http://www.mrcsclassblog.blogspot.com