Interwebs

// December 10th, 2009 // Comments // Twitterkids

After we explained offline status and @ replies we stayed outside to talk about the internet.  The goal of this activity was to explain to the kids who have never been on the internet how the internet can be used to connect people all over the world.

This activity was created by my husband AJ to explain the internet and how it effects communication.  Each student had an index card and wrote a country on it that they wanted to represent.  One student had an index card that said ‘internet’ he was commissioned to go to anyone that needed the internet to transmit messages from one country to another country.  The idea of this activity was to show the kids how easy and quick it is to communicate with people all over the world using the internet.

I’m trying to think of  other cool ways to explain to children who have never used the internet how it works.

What are your ideas? Add them in the comments below.

Twitter Kids – Explaining the Internet from AJ Leon on Vimeo.

Offline @ Replies

// November 30th, 2009 // Comments // Twitterkids

The second day of our time teaching class 5 at Shepherds Jr. was on a Saturday.  We worked with the kids for 3 hours.  This was the first day we got internet and the kids we really excited! However, before the kids went online I did an activity with them to explain offline replies work in a very real way.  So we went outside and this is what it looked like.

Twitterkids – a brief look back

// November 12th, 2009 // Comments // Twitterkids

So we have returned from Tanzania and have been back for a week and a half and I’ve had some time to reflect on the trip and everything that it meant to me.  It was extremely fun and inspiring to work with the students at Shepherds Jr School.  However, it was more than just a fun time.  I have been working on twitterkids in New York City with middle school ESL students in Spanish Harlem for the past two years.  It was a long two years where no one recognized or appreciated the twitterkids curriculum.  The NYS school system is archaic and doesn’t understand the need or uses of the social web and could not appreciate the academic and social gains that the students achieved.   So for me to go across the world and bring this same curriculum to kids in Arusha and to work with a school that was open and accepting of this new type of teaching/learning was refreshing to say the least.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for their support and encouragement while we were in Tanzania.  A lot of people have been asking about the curriculum, I will be posting it on this blog.  I am still sorting through all the wonderful video that AJ took and will but I will be posting the curriculum here bit by bit.  I am also going post a comprehensive edition of the curriculum as well.

Here is a video of the first day of teaching.  We talked about offline twitter status updates.  I felt it was important for the students to be familiar with the look and feel of twitter before they logged in.  I did not tell them this activity was for twitter we just did it as a stand alone activity.  Later when they logged into twitter for the first time they were able to make sense of the twitter stream they were seeing because it looked the the twitter stream we created in the classroom.

Twitter Kids Offline Updating from AJ Leon on Vimeo.

Curriculum for Epic Change

// October 1st, 2009 // Comments // Twitterkids

So I have been friends with Stacey Monk and Sanjay Patel co-founders of Epic Change for a while now.  A few months ago Epic Change won 10k from idea blob to build a tech lab at Mama Lucy’s school in Tanzania.  After talking a few times I volunteered to write the curriculum for the 2 week introduction into social media for the school.  I used to teach ESL in Spanish Harlem and social media was a large component in my classes.  My students used twitter, tumblr, goodreads,flickr, tweetworks, and the list goes on and on.  It was incredible how much social media I was able to infuse into my lessons.  The reason social media worked so well was because it was another way for my students to express themselves in English and communicate with other people around the world.  SO I am using that curriculum that I used with my students in NYC and I am adapting it for the students in Tanzania.

So when Stacey asked me about writing the curriculum for the kids in Tanzania I was thrilled.  Below is the first draft of the curriculum map.  I always like to start out with a visual map and write down what is teh teaching focus and what the social media integration.  Its a little rough but should give a good look at where I am so far in my planning process.  Will update soon with a more detailed look at the curriculum.