I love looking back on the last 2 years and see how becoming a connected educator has enriched my teaching experience. But it isn't just for me. The more I keep my students connected, the more enriched their experience is as well.
I love getting involved in the many opportunities out there. We connect through Projects by Jen for some fun interactive learning, which then leads to sharing with others. We solve problems with students around the world using #GMTTC and I'm excited about the added #GMTC24 that was added this year. Beverly and Heidi have set up a great way for us to share strategies and ideas for problem solving. I also love the projects that come up such as Dot Day, Global Read Aloud and Not Perfect Hat Club. So many fantastic ways to bring in student voice, broaden our vision, flatten the world and increase our learning!
Last year my class also hosted two slow Twitter chats hoping to connect to classrooms around the world. We loved participating in Leka DeGroot's math talk in 1st grade, and last year added math talk for 2nd grade. We also did a #k2tweetpals which was a get to know you slow chat about our classrooms, geography/location and our culture. With a couple of twists, we are going to get both chats started again.
So, the first is a weekly math talk. This chat is a very opened ended slow chat where students can explore and think about math in the real world. There are no "correct" answers or "right" ways of doing it. The question is usually, what math do you see in this photo? It is a great tool for the teacher to listen and observe and see how students see and understand math concepts. The original idea came from Leka DeGroot, @lekadegroot, a first grade teacher in Iowa. Last year when I moved to 2nd, I wanted to still be involved so I created another hashtag and started posting my own weekly post. I am excited to announce, I am now moving a grade level again, but we now have 3 teachers involved. So, this year there will be a #mtgr1 (for 1st grade), #mtgr2 (for 2nd grade) and #mtgr3 (for 3rd grade). We would welcome a volunteer to do 4th and 5th grade if you are interested! Here is my post from last year that describes a little bit on how this works. Here is Leka's post that describes it as well. This year Mary Carlson, @mcarlson110 will be hosting #mtgr2. We hope you will join us. I will begin posting #mtgr3 the week of September 12th. Remember there is one post per week and answers are posted all week long, making it easy to put it somewhere in your schedule during the week.
The other is another slow chat that evolved as I changed grade levels as well. Last year it was #k2tweetpals. This is a slow chat just to see how we are different and alike across the world. A question or two is posted weekly, and we answer it throughout the week. My students have loved to hear how things are the same and or different. I would love to continue this as well. Please help me in getting the word out to classrooms across the world. This year we will make it #k5tweetpals to include all elementary classrooms. Here is the post that explains how this slow Twitter chat works as well.
No project works well without involvement. I would appreciate you Tweeting and Retweeting about these projects this week and help me get many involved. We will start both slow chats the week of September 12th.
We look forward to connecting, hearing your voices and sharing our learning together!
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