My Flat Classroom
Is our Country so big after all? Not so big for these Grade Five Students:
By: Zoe Branigan –Pipe, May 18, 2009
I have learned that a Flat Classroom is students blogging with an astronaut on the space station, or talking to a team of explorers standing at the tip of Antarctica or children around the world partnering together to speak out. I have learned that a Flat Classroom is expanding the classroom walls to include global communities and includes forms of communication such as blogs and wikis. (Seven Steps to flatten your Classroom)
It has always been a goal of mine – to flatten my classroom – to connect my students to the world around them, to make learning more authentic for them. A few years ago, we connected to a classroom in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Our classes began writing letters back and forth. It became the platform for the children who experienced the trauma of Katrina to share their stories and it helped my own 7-8 year olds to empathize with others, even when they didn’t know them. Without out much planning, it became a lesson in character education.
Only a few years later, I have been experimenting with a variety of social media platforms to get my students more connected with the world around them. In December, our class followed (virtually) a team of men on an expedition to the South Pole as a charity fundraiser. Using blogging and podcasting tools we read and listened to their stories, sometimes in real time. A true highlight for me was when the team called our classroom using cell phones and satellite technology and allowed my students to talk and ask questions. (Link to the event here).
But still, for my students to talk with other children their own age, in real time through video steaming (Skype), there is no comparison. A couple of weeks ago, Jen Deyenberg, a grade five teacher in Lethbridge Alberta and myself made connections through Twitter (@jdeyenberg and @zbpipe). We began blogging and podcasting with our classes (Alberta Podcast) (Ontario Podcast). As teachers, both Jen and I were thrilled to see how engaged our students became when their work, their thoughts, their poetry was being used for an authentic purpose. The students wanted to learn about their counterparts and actively discussed how ‘their lives’ and ‘their’ perspectives of their world is different and why. Ontario students learned about the watering systems in Lethbridge while the Alberta students learned about the Niagara Escarpment and how it impacts Hamilton.
Since both our classrooms are equipped with webcams, interactive whiteboards and sound systems, the logical next step for us was Video Conferencing. While only a 2 hour time difference and over 1000 km’s, these two grade five classrooms have managed to become a partner in learning. Short Video of the VC. Each week, students participate in focused discussions (example – You know you’re from Ontario…if). In a short 20 minutes of dialogue, sharing and questions, students are truly experiencing another culture and community. Students are traveling across their Country and learning that there is more out there then their own lives. They are becoming more curious, more critical and more understanding and accepting of others.
What’s next? Jen deyenberg and her class have agreed to participate in a VC at a Symposium held at our school next week. This is a great chance for educators to see the varied use of technology across the Country.
