I found this site last year and was quite excited at the prospect and opportunities it represented for the kids. It was exciting, when I first bought it into the classroom the kids picked it up very quickly, excited to be able to 'chat' to each other in this way and immediatly began comparing it to Facebook.

I hadn't done enough ground work though. No real thinking or planning on how to effectively integrate it into my general practise, naively I expected Edmodo would develop it's own place in our room.  Accordingly I was never able to take the next step and bring it into the learning environment. Further, I had no other audience for my kids to connect with beyond themselves; any of the ideas for use I arrived at seemed contrived if it were only between eachother. These tools can not replace face to face and all of my ideas seemed to be trying to do this. After a while the excitement died off and I became distracted by other things. Hence Edmodo died a slow death last year.

Edmodo was never very far from my thoughts as I began to plan the learning for the new school year. Then, when I found Twitter in October I began to realise that I had a new opportunity to make connections with people outside my classroom - bringing use of the technology into the real world, rather than the contrived uses I plagued myself with last year. Literacy seemed to be the place to start - talking about books, authors, specific genres or titles. With such diversity in reading material I have no way to keep up with everything that is being read - but others are reading, why not try to connect the kids with each other?

This week marked my real foray into the Edmodo world. I have connected with an experienced Edmodo teacher and the kids are writing more than ever. It's still early days, we've given them a chance to meet and greet and they are loving it. Discussions about books and learning have already begun. They've been learning about similarities and differences in school populations across continents (Europe and USA). As the kids left the classroom on Friday, for a long weekend holiday on Monday, they were making plans to connect to each other. Each time they connect they will be writing and publishing their ideas, they will be sharing their thoughts and developing relationships. They have already (after only 5 days) begun to use the group setting to ask for support or ideas. They are sharing their learning, a student on Thursday taking a photo of his planter box and uploading it to ask for adivice and feedback on the next steps - design and colour.

They will do all of this without complaining of the writing they are doing along the way. I can see that their expression, spelling, punctuation and grammar are all improving with each new day. They are writing for a purpose, connecting and extending the ideas which the individual connects with, it's self differentiating.

I'm excited to be a part of this style of learning, as kids take control of their own learning and develop deeper understandings of the the world around them. As they find real-world audiences for their writing. This would not be possible without the support from my PLN, where I was able to send out the request and find likeminded teachers who were willing to give me a chance. Thank you.