Blogs As A Worldwide Collaboration Tool

I have to admit that at first, I was somewhat skeptical about the idea of having a blog. I didn't think I would take interest in it and I didn't think that I would really use it all that much. However, all of that changed after the first couple of times that I posted on my Blog. For one, it is somewhat addicting... updating your own blog and then logging onto other's blogs to see what's new with them... and the cycle continues. Most importantly though, I have really come to enjoy how freely and creatively I write when I am posting on my blog. I want to make my posts informative but also enjoyable to read. Anyway, I promise that I am going somewhere with all of this... the point I am trying to make is that if the blog has proved to be this useful for a skeptical college student, I can only imagine how fun and enjoyable younger students would find blogs. Especially if they were introduced to them at a young age!

So my idea for how to use a blog as a "Worldwide Collaborative Tool" for my future students is to have them become "virtual pen pals" with students of the same age from a school in a differnt state, or possibly even a different country. Depending on the grade level that I teach, I have a couple of things in mind for how the system would work. For lower elementary, I would have the students simply communicate back-and-forth, with a student of the same age, about a variety of things such as the weather, their likes/dislikes, what they are learning about in school, what was served for lunch that day, what field trips have the been on, do they have any pets/siblings, etc. If I was teaching upper elementary, I might have my students post their favorite writing pieces and then provide feedback back-and-forth for the writing of a student their same age. These are just a few ideas but I think that the opportunities are endless!!!