Going Global!

          EPals is a website designed to connect students, teachers and classrooms across international boundaries. This website provides opportunities for students and teachers to discuss topics in forums, to create new collaborative projects and to upload work and lesson plan ideas for sharing with the global community.

         One of my favorite parts of this website was the page for ePals Projects for Classroom Collaboration. On this page, there are numerous project ideas that classrooms from around the world can collaborate on. For example, one project idea that I thought would work well in an ELA classroom was the "Digital Storytelling" project. This project was designed for ePals to work collaboratively in creating a story digitally. By creating the story online, you can have one student working in the United States working on the same story as a student in China or Germany. I think this is a really neat idea and can provide students an opportunity to broaden their knowledge about other countries and cultures.

            Another interesting part of this website was the Teacher Media Galleries. In this section of the website, teachers can upload lesson plans or activity ideas, as well as work they might have done with other teachers in the system. Students also have an opportunity to do the same in their own forum, Student Media Galleries. This gallery can serve a different purpose for students. Students can use this gallery to publish their work that they are proud of and it can give them a sense of accomplishment for their work. So many times in school, students are asked to do projects, to write stories, create movies, posters, books, etc. that no one other than the teacher ever has a chance to see. With this forum, however, these projects can have a real purpose for students because they can be published for students all over the world to view and to comment on. I think that knowing that someone else will be viewing their work could really help to motivate students to put more time, energy and thought into their work.

         Another aspect of this site that I think is really useful is the forum, one for teachers, one for students, one for families, one for projects and one for focus areas. I think forums are always a great way to help people to communicate and to share ideas with one another. I think this is especially useful on a global website because there are not many opportunities for students or teachers to share ideas with students halfway around the globe. I thiink that this global sharing of ideas can really help to generate a deeper understanding and appreciation of other cultures and customs.

          I think this website could become really useful in an ELA classroom for a number of reasons. First, I think the digital storytelling project could really translate well into an ELA classroom. It would give the students an opportunity to work collaboratively on creating a story, and it can also help students to develop empathy of other people who lead vastly different lives from their own. I also think the forum could be a very useful tool for students to use. In the forums, I noticed a lot of book clubs and I think it would be great for students to participate in a book club with students from different parts of the country or world. The sharing of different ideas and multiple perspectives is an invaluable experience that students could capitalize on while using these forums. In addition, I think opportunity to share lesson plan/activity ideas with teachers around the world provides many amazing benefits. It is really neat to see the kinds of activities that are being taught around the world and to get fresh ideas from teachers who are working within other cultures. At a basic level, I really feel like the more chances we have to share and to learn from others unlike ourselves, the more worldly, accepting and knowledgeable we can become. This website is a great tool to help us gain all of those characteristics, plus some!