Using Today'sMeet With Our Reading Buddies
For Reading Buddies this week, my Grade 1/2 students showed the Grade 4 students how to use Today’sMeet. The students all watched Robert Munsch’s recording of Moira’s Birthday on TumbleBooks, and then they worked together to pose questions, make connections, and respond to others about the topics addressed in this book. From the quiet students to the more verbal ones, they were all engaged, they were all participating, and they were all sharing what they learned. This Today’sMeet activity was meaningful reading and writing, and definitely a huge success!
The amazing part though came afterwards. At the end of the day, I tweeted out the link to our Today’sMeet discussion. @mthornton78, a third grade teacher in Charlottsville, Virginia, saw this tweet, and he replied. He wondered if we wanted to try a Today’sMeet room to connect our two classes. Through some discussion, we figured out that both of our classes study “communities,” so Michael is going to have his students pose questions to mine in an online discussion on February 16th. His students are going to look at our curriculum expectations, and link the questions to the expectations. This will be a meaningful reading, writing, and social studies activity that all started because of one tweet.
Then, just to make things even better, @irasocol is going to join the discussion too. If we’re lucky, @pammoran will also be able to join this online talk. I can’t wait! There’s a real excitement in making new connections and learning on a global level, and one Today’sMeet room and one tweet has allowed us to do both.
I’d love to hear about some of the great connections you’ve made before too. Isn’t that what social media is all about?!?!
Aviva
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WOW! What an awesome set of experiences. I loved how your Grade 1/2 students taught the 4th graders how to use Today’s Meet. What a powerful teaching opportunity for them.
The world-wide connections made from that one experience are wonderful! I look forward to hearing how your time together unfolds. I love how you are integrating this into your existing curriculum!
The connections made through Twitter and other forms of social media are life changing for educators and STUDENTS! I just saw Today’s Meet in action when visiting #siouxcentral. @iateachr was using it with her students. It is definitely on my list of tools to incorporate! I see tons of potential with the tool – both in the classroom and in the professional development setting!
Thanks for sharing your experiences! They are so motivating!
@KathyPerret
Thanks Kathy! My students have really enjoyed teaching the Grade 4’s how to use different tools during Reading Buddies. We’re able to focus on curriculum expectations, but use the tools to address these expectations. It’s great!
I love Today’sMeet too. I tried it out a couple of times with my students at the end of last year, and I’ve used it numerous times during PD sessions too. @mrjarbenne taught me all about it, and it’s wonderful for a backchannel. I hope that you enjoy using it too!
Thanks again for the comment!
Aviva
Thanks for sharing Today’s Meet. I’m in the middle of planning collaborations with 2 other first grade classrooms. These classrooms are in our area, but not in our district. Some students know one another, but regular communication is hindered by distance (since they’re too young to drive…lol). I’m going to be checking into Today’sMeet to see if it provides advantages for collaboration over blogs & Skype for our learning. Thanks once again, Aviva.
Glad you liked the post, Cathy! Thanks for your comment. I just tweeted you some of the advantages that I see to Today’sMeet. Hope this helps! If you have any other questions, please just let me know.
Aviva
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