Connected Classrooms

"The Art of Social Media" by mkhmarketing, licensed under CC BY 2.0 

The thought of connecting an early years classroom can be daunting, especially for a first time blogger with a brand new blog page and Twitter account #ECETammy. Where shall I begin? What can young children do? They cannot possibly write blogs or have their own social media accounts! How can we safeguard the children in the process? Where and when am I going to find the right people to connect with, and who might they be? What topic shall we connect about? How can I turn this into meaningful learning for the young learners at my preschool? 

At first I limited myself to connecting with an early years classroom in another school setting through video conferencing, where students may interact live, but will this be of interest to other classroom teachers? Then I shifted to thinking about what I would like to share as a learner-educator. What am I passionate about that is worth sharing - sustainable development! As I made my Twitter post on a DIY reusable fabric mask, I began thinking back to the virtual student exhibition that took place yesterday where our three-year-olds shared ways to save water with their classmates and their parents through Hangout Meet. It was a light-bulb moment for me and I began thinking may be we can connect the classroom by offering students with more opportunities to explore sustainable development-related policies and practices in Hong Kong and in other countries, possibly through interviewing children's relatives living overseas or other educators in Hong Kong knowledgeable and passionate about the topic, allow children to share their findings and action through posts on Twitter and class blogs that is open to public, promote our class blog and Twitter account first within our school community and then with the wider inquiry school network. I am excited to be piloting this project with our young learners in the new school year.