C4K Summary for April

For our April C4K assignments we got to be a part of the WORLD CHALLENGE. Sue Wyatt, Sue Waters, and Ronnie Burt coordinate the World Challenge. The challenge runs twice yearly and a new challenge starts in March and September each year. The blog challenge is designed to improve blogging and commenting skills while global connecting students of all ages with an audience from across the world. Our EDM310 class was asked to participate and for three weeks, we were to comment on the same student’s blog. We were to be supportive, express interest, and ask questions by commenting on the students’ blogs.  

RYDER'S ROOF

I really enjoyed having the same student for three weeks. Ryder is in the sixth grade and his friends call him RyRy. His blog was originally named Ryder's Awesome Blog but he changed it to Ryder's Roof.  The first post I read and commented on was posted by Ryder on Wednesday, March 28, 2012. It was titled Poetry. He had several poems that he had written and they were very creative. I encourage Ryder to write another poem that would tell his readers more about him. I told him an acrostic poem would be a good way to do this. I wrote one about myself using the first letters of my name and told him it would be cool if he would do the same.  I did not get a reply from him but I did not let this discourage me. Just as I would my own students, I left another comment on the same post encouraging him to post. I also let him know that I was disappointed  that he had not posted anything new on his blog. I told him that I was looking forward to his poem so I could learn more about him. I let him know that I would be reading and commenting on his blog post over the next few weeks and I would check back in a few days to see if he had posted anything new. Then on April 10, he replied and he actually wrote an acrostic poem about himself. I was very super excited! Since then Ryder has had  three other blog post. I did leave comments on each one but he has not replied. I think the world challenge is a great idea and I would have liked to have had more C4K assignments where we stayed with one student for a longer amount of time. Below is our acrostic poems.

RYDER

Runner

Yellow is favorete color

Dogs I like

Earth is a great place

Radishes are discusting

CASSIE
Crazy about my family
Azalea Trail Runner
Singing is not for me 
Summer is my favorite season
I love chocolate ice cream
Excited about teaching

ROOM 9@Pt England School

My final C4K assignment was Daniel. Daniel is a student in Room 9 at Pt England School in Auckland, New Zealand. His class is a year 3 class makde up of 28 children. On April 11, 2012, Daniel posted a video to present a personal profile; a Mihi Mihi. I had no information on a Mihi Mihi, now I understand it is talking about you, where you came from, and it is about your family history. Through Daniel's Mihi Mihi in English, I was able to learn a little more about Daniel and put a face with a name. Daniel was born in January so we shared the same birthday month. It is always exciting when you can let the students know you have something in common with them. 

My Personal Reflection

So this was our last C4K assignments and I am a little sad. Not only was I able to encourage and praise students through commenting, I was able to learn from these students. These students have motivated and taught me that blogging can be beneficial to both the blogger and the reader; both can learn from it. It has been a rewarding experience being able to make global connections with students I would have never had a chance to meet in any other way.