C4K Starts This Week

Your first C4K assignment is now in your Google Docs. BEFORE you leave a comment for a kid you MUST read the instructions at the top of the Doc and the material in the links found elsewhere in this post. The kids ARE NOT YOUR PEERS so you approach you comments differently than you approach the comments you leave for your classmates.

I think C4K is one of the most important parts of EDM310. You will be commenting on kids blogs throughout the world. But you must PREPARE for this activity before you undertake it. Here's how:

1. Read/watch all material for which links appear in the section for Projects#3, #4 and #7 in the Projects Manual, p. 18
.....a in the opening paragraph
.....b in the General rules numbers 1-5 (on p.18) and 6c (on pp. 19-20)

2. If your C4K assignment has a Class Blog, look it over. See what you can find out about the class and the assignment. For Week 1 I have done a bit of that for you. Where possible I have listed the teacher's name, the school, and the grade. YOU must explore every week. Don't just treat this as a quick assignment. Think about the way the teacher is approaching instruction, how she uses blogs and for what purpose.

3. PROOFREAD your comment. Do not have it rejected because of your failure to use good grammar, to spell correctly, or to avoid texting techniques.

4. In this first iteration, C4K will take more time than it will later in the semester. Invest quality time in this assignment. I assure you it will be beneficial to you in the future.


Some Additional Reminders:

Many of these students have been blogging since September.

Three Special Reminders
1. If the student to whom you are assigned does not have a post, choose another student and notify me (at edm310help@gmail.com) of the student you selected instead.
2. You must find out about the teacher and the school BEFORE you leave a comment. You are a visitor there. Know where you are and with whom you are interacting! This is extremely important!
3. The primary purpose of your comment is to be an audience for the student and to encourage them to learn. You are not their peer but a visitor. Ask a question. Be supportive and encouraging.
4. Remember that you will be required to identify the class and your student and to summarize the student's post and your comment in a blog post on your blog. Start that post NOW! If you do not you will forget the class, the student's post and what you wrote. Save instead of publishing until the date specified in the Checklist.