Part of being a part of a “global teaching community” should be getting our students involved in the collaboration. Here is a collaborative project which will allow you to get your class collaborating with other classes around the world.
I am Heidi Raki of Raki’s Rad Resources, and for this collaborative project, I am asking you to ask your students what it’s like to go to school in your country, state, city etc.
This project can be made as simple or as complex as fits your students, your classroom and your technology. Here are the steps we would like everyone to complete:
1.) Sign up – before you get started, let us know in the comment box who you are, where you are and who will be participating. (This project is open to students of all ages. You can sign up an entire class, or you can sign up your own individual child(ren) and do this project at home.)
2.) Get student feedback - we really want this to be student 
oriented, so that the students feel like they are connecting with other students around the world. So, gather the information about your school from your students. You can have them fill in the provided cloze word activity form, which you can grab free from Google Docs. You can have them write about their school in a simple writing activity. You can create a Google Form and let them fill in the answers, or you can simply gather them all together and ask them to provide you with the information orally. All we are asking is that each entry includes:
- the country and region you are located in
- the grades/ages of the students responding
- the number of students and the age levels at the school
- some information about your school
3.) Let your students share their answers. This share can be as simple as typing your students’ answers into the comment box on this post, or as complex as you’d like to make it. Here are some other ways you can share your students’ answers:
- Scan in your students’ writing and/or cloze word forms in as pictures. Upload the pictures into a photo album in a website like www.photobucket.com. Add pictures of your school. Share the photo album with those participating in this project by placing a link in the comment box of this post.
- Allow your students to type their writing into a Google Document. Make the Google Document public and share the document with those participating in this project by placing a link in the comment box of this post.
- Use your students response and pictures of your school to create an online project, like a prezi, animoto video or a glog. Share the project with those participating in this project by placing a link in the comment box of this post.
- Use a flip camera or web camera to tape your students talking about their school. Upload the video to YouTube or Photobucket or another sharing site. Share a link to your video with those participating in this project by placing a link in the comment box of this post.
++ For any images and/or videos you post of your students, please make sure to have permission to post images and/or videos of your students on the internet.
4.) Check back regularly with your class to see what school looks like around the globe.
Because most teachers are finishing up their school year, this collaborative project will start now and continue until the End of August. So, technically you can do this project twice, once with your current class, and again with next year’s if you choose to start your year out with this project. This project is not restricted to teachers either, if you are a parent who would like to do this with your children at home, you are welcome to participate in that way too!
Enjoy – I can’t wait to see what school looks like in your hometown!
My first graders in Morocco are excited to participate.
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