Interactive Story

The can't think of a more fitting artifact to include for the Collaboration Web Tools in Education course than the Interactive Story.  When we were first assigned this task, I was a little nervous about collaborating with my group members without being in the same room.  I was worried about not being able to communicate as effectively. As we started working on the assignment, my worries were pushed aside and replaced with eagerness to collaborate in a way that I hadn't before.  We were all able to work simultaneously and build off each others' ideas.  We also had a lot of laughs throughout the process! I think the key to this type of collaboration is to set up a time frame in which all members are working on the project at the same time. I heard that another group did not set up a time to work together, and it seemed as though the process dragged on because they were waiting on each other to complete portions of the story.  This is a great activity to encourage collaboration and I look forward to doing this activity with my own 5th graders!     

Connecting with a Classroom for Global Read Aloud Day

My students connected with students in Texas for Global Read Aloud Day.  During this activity, students from each class took turns reading dialogue from the book Super Narwal and Jelly Jot. Overall, this was a great experience for myself and my students. Not only was this an opportunity to collaborate with with another class, but it was also an opportunity to collaborate with my MRC director.  I learned that there are many avenues to connecting with other students and that it doesn't have to be complicated in order to do so.  Through this activity, I also learned to utilize my MRC director more.  As a media specialist, she can introduce me to resources and ideas that I'm not familiar with.  I look forward to continuing to collaborate with her, especially as I'm taking these technology courses!