Fresh Faces, Fresh Ideas

This summer, one of the professional development classes that we offered was on Web 2.0 tools. It was a face-to-face version of The Power of Web 2.0 Tools. One of the teachers that participated has already put into place a class blog. We have only had three weeks of school at this point but what her students have done with the blog is quite amazing.

She simply requires the students to comment on at least one of her blog posts, post an article themselves - stick to science!, and comment on one of their classmates' blogs each month. One of the things I really like about what she is doing is that she is modeling for her students what she wants. Take a look at Science in Our Lives and read some of her posts.

I guess it is no wonder that she is getting student posts like this one: What Will the Future Be Like? Students are reading information about different science concepts as applied to the world and sharing what they find. Another post I read was Baggy Eyes . . . Why Does It Happen? The teacher is getting the kids to "wonder" about the applications of science in their world and then follow-up that wondering with research. They are linking to information found on the Internet. No doubt, as they go along, the students will get even better at evaluating the Internet sources they find and thinking critically about the information.

Having used a class blog for about five years now, I am impressed with what this teacher, new to the web 2.0 scene, is doing. She's not afraid to try things with her students. She's not afraid to give a structure and then let the students take off. This teacher is a fresh face with fresh ideas in my personal learning network.