Unit 6: Respectful and Ethical Minds

There are several ways that I allow my students to collaborate online.  One that I have used for two years now is Kidblog.org. I have implemented the use of student comments in Kidblog to teach online etiquette.  I did this by modeling, modeling, modeling and role playing and assessing comments over a period of weeks to help students understand appropriate and helpful comments as opposed to feel good or hurtful comments.  We discussed in length magic words that should always be in comments and ways of wording suggestions that make their classmate feel supported and help them to learn.  For instance when giving a push students can say, "You can make your writing even better by...". The students connect with other classrooms in our building through Kidblog as well.  My students can share ideas with others through commenting on their posts and vice versa.    

Another more recent discovery I have made is ePals Global Community.  I signed up for a project with Macedonia to collaborate on solving a global problem with another 2nd grade class and I put a project out called Mystery Skype, that allows my classroom to collaborate with another second grade classroom in a mystery location (hopefully in South America).  The two classes will have to create questions and research their own answers. Then they will ask the questions over a Skype call to find out where the other classroom is located.  In addition, we will be creating a Prezi presentation with our ePal to showcase our locations. This will support collaboration among students and allow students to practice being respectful and using ethics.  

All of these activities support respectful and ethical minds because it lets students have the opportunity to work with diverse students and consider different perspectives. As noted in the interview with Vicky Davis and Julie Lindsey, this will also help students understand that "they are not the center of the universe" and that other countries in the world have different schedules, holidays, time zones, ways of life and priorities.  The more we expose students to these experiences the more we can instill in them respect and ethics.  Students need real world exposure in order to learn this type of thinking and acting.  It is not something that can be taught in isolation.  


Works Cited:

Juliani, AJ. (2013, March 11). Flattening classrooms and engaging minds with global education: an interview with vickie davis and julie lindsay. [Video file]. Retrieved from  http://educationismylife.com/flattening-classrooms-and-engaging-minds-with-global-education-an-interview-with-vicki-davis-and-julie-lindsay/