The Flat Classroom Experience: Virtual Valentines 2017 (...with an update on Snapchat)

Does anyone still read this blog? Ha. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't...seeing how I haven't posted for going on a year. When you decide to switch schools each year (two schools in two years,) you might be like me, and need the time to adjust to the new campus culture and curriculum. Oy. Both transitions were rather smooth, actually, but the blog, Twitter, and the additional flat learning experiences I like to include have been neglected.  Until now!

So, in my last post, I said that I'd share about the task learners' did in my class last spring when I entered the absolutely entertaining world of Snapchat. We're going to scratch that idea because I've decided that the (video) camera, along with its filters and tools, are a great addition to any project, but not really a tool I want to use in class just to use it. I still believe it offers fantastic opportunities for learning on a variety of topics of interest, like outdoor adventure, for example, but that's a personal choice for learners. I'll leave a photo here, though, to show you a student example of a snap with a short French expression and the category for the photo. They had to submit their snaps with the text on Canvas, the chosen LMS of the district. They enjoyed it, but it didn't take off in any way that inspired me to make it an integral part of the world language experience. By the way, my new school is out in the countryside, so there isn't good phone service to use Snapchat anyhow.

As I mentioned above, we are beginning to enjoy some flat learning experiences again now that I feel settled into the new school. As a matter of fact, last week, we participated in the K12 Valentine Project 2017, and sent virtual valentine cards to English learners in Morocco and French learners in Kentucky. Below is the link to the wiki I made for the cooperating teachers to access all of the cards and some links to learn about our town, school, and state. I must share that one of my learners has been to Morocco because his father comes from there, and we learned that one of the students in Morocco is from South Carolina originally. How cool is that!  If you'd like to see more of this project as it happened in classrooms around the world, check out the Twitter project hashtag #k12Valentine. 

Our Valentine Project 2017 

Stay tuned! I might blog again soon about the Skype session we will have with a United Nations peacekeeper later this week. I'm just not going to make any promises. hehe