1. What activity did you select to use for your global assignment? Describe the activity and what makes it global.

I did my lesson plan on pen pals working together to better their community. The lesson was in three parts and ongoing throughout the year. I chose to do this lesson with my third grade students. The first day we read the book, City Mouse, Country Mouse and went over compare and contrast. Then we discuss communities and the different types, rural, urban, and suburban. I followed with asking the questions about other communities in different parts of the world. We then looked at the map and adopted a country to connect with. After we chose the country we used the Internet to research the country’s area and culture. The second part of the lesson had the student connecting with their pen pals via emails. Before the students emailed we went over “netiquette” and the Acceptable Use Policy” that we talked before in previous lessons. We also looked at the form of a letter and writing formal emails. The students prewritten questions to ask their fellow pen pal about their communities. The correspondence was instant using emails, however the time difference had the children replying back at a later time after class was over. The third part of the lesson had the students and their pen pal collaborating a can drive for their home communities. Both students collected cans and worked on a spreadsheet to organize their data. 

2. Describe how you incorporate that activity into your classroom.

In reality I feel this activity will be an excellent proponent for the students being expose as a digital citizen and accomplishing a global awareness collaborating project. I will do this with third grade and higher. I will do it weekly and ongoing through the school year. Have a student or a whole class writing to pen pals has been around for a long time. Now, emails can incorporate the 21st century student   in becoming a digital citizen. The website, epals.com, makes the this activity easy to incorporate in a classroom. 

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Replies to This Discussion

I really like the collaboration aspect of this project.  I really wanted to try to create a lesson where the students identified and collaborated to find a solution for a problem, but I sort of drew a blank.  I really like your lesson plan and how it works...  I think the students will enjoy the communication and the opportunity to assist their community.   

What a neat lesson!  I remember being in elementary school and having actual pen pals-you know the old fashioned kind where you had to use a paper and pen :)  But I think with this lesson, it not only incorporates technology (and all the responsibilities that go along with it (Netiquette and AUP).  Plus with you taking a step further and having students make use of the communication with research and communication.  I think the kids would love this, especially using emails since maybe a lot of the kids think using email is a grown up thing and kids are so anxious to grow up.

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