Tech Savvy 8th Graders Videoconference with their Blog Pals

Some people may read "tech savvy 8th graders videoconference with their blog pals" and wonder what that even means!  But the PHMS 8th graders didn't bat an eye when they were given this assignment. 

Tracy McGuyer, a friend and fellow teacher of mine (used to sub and coach at PHMS) also teaches "The Outsiders" to her 8th graders at Herington Middle School in Herington, KS.  We collaborated to come up with some opportunities for our students to talk about their experiences while reading this novel through a blog.  Basically, they had the 21st century's version of pen pals.  After finishing the novel, we decided to let the students "meet" by using skype for free video conferencing. 

The students asked some intriguing questions and had some good dialogue about the novel, and they seemed to really enjoy it.  We are hoping to plan another novel study together later in the year. 

The 7th graders also had blog pals with HMS over their novel study of "The Watson's Go to Birmingham", but our schedule didn't allow us a chance to video conference.  Hopefully we can arrange something like that for them later in the year, too!

There are links to both the 7th and 8th grade blog conversations with their pals from Herington on the left side of this page if you're interested in seeing the discussions.