What's New With You?

What's new with you this year?

At the Iowa 1:1 Conference (#i11i) this week, Jimmy Casas (@casas_jimmy) posed this question during his session-

"When was the last time you did something for the first time?"

I hesitated at first.

Not because I couldn't remember doing anything new lately -- far from it.

I hesitated because I didn't know at first where to begin......

Since this time last year, there have been many "firsts" -- joining conversations on Twitter, attending EdCamps, starting a blog, creating an after-school STEM club, implementing new strategies and technologies in the classroom, and more.

But one thing that I think brought many conversations, smiles, and excitement to my classroom was the connections I was able to make between my students and other students outside our classroom walls.

Just as I have appreciated making new connections this year and learning from others with different situations and experiences, my students have appreciated these opportunities as well.

Here are a few examples of how my class has connected with other students to learn!
* Mystery Skype activities
* Google Hangout chats about books
* Global Read-Aloud activities and connections through Google docs, Padlet, Tackk, & more
* International Dot Day shared activities through Skype and artifact exchanges through the mail
* Student blog comment exchanges

All of the activities listed above are new experiences both for myself and my students this year. Not only did my students get experience in interacting with others in real-time (Skype, Google Hangout) but they also really enjoyed the fact they could create or write something -- share it -- and receive a reply in return.

I'm looking forward to the next opportunity for my students to connect & learn.