Just a bit of an update on our international Web logging efforts. Our collaborations with two Polish schools and a local elementary school has been slowly but surely coming to fruition. Regardless of the ability to bring everyone to the same Web space, it would still be a lot easier to plan and create these projects if everyone was in the same room. I still think the potential is there for some valuable exchange of ideas, but it’s now pretty much up to the teachers involved to make it happen. The other bit of news is that we’re also starting a “cultural exchange” Web log with a class in Brazil which should be up and running later this week. Also, we’re on the trail of a possible collaboration with a school in Israel.
I’m really hoping these come off and are done well because they are obviously potential best practice examples of what Web logs can do. And if anyone has any thoughts or ideas for other connections, please let me know.
Will,
first of all let me thank you for keeping such an amzingly detailed journal on using blogs in education. I am having many of the same experiences as you (and I wish I kept track of them a little better).
International Web Logs: As part of our teacher academy for world language teachers, we introduced about 30 teachers to blogging this past summer. There assignment was to create an electronic fieldtrip with digital pictures (their own or from the web) about their hometown. In this case: Louisville, Kentucky. They also created some pre, during, and post reading activities to go along with their fieldtrip. The idea was, that they could do this with their students and a potential partner school (in our case either in France or in Germany). I think the idea of electronic fieldtrips as a lot of potential and blogging just seemed the most natural and easiest approach to it. If you are interested you can take a look at the site that the teachers created: http://www.germaninkentucky.org/academy/
Would love to know what you think.
p.s. Some of the teachers that participated have now started their own blogs, doing similar projects. Once I find the addresses, I will forward them to you.
http://jej.notatnik.net/ Polish semi-bi-lingual;
http://www.thedissidentfrogman.com/dacha/index.html & http://merdeinfrance.blogspot.com/ French-English.
I think there’s a HUGE potential in bi-lingual blogs, and even learning through them. I don’t quite know how to do it yet, though (with tables, etc.).