Full Circle

On August 28 Jabiz Raisdana writes a post on his blog Intrepid Teacher.
His post for that day is School Should Not be Considered Work, stimulated by a link sent out by William Chamberlain to an exemplar student blog about learning.
Stephanie Dunaway is assigned to read by Intrepid Teacher by Jabiz Raisdana.
She goes to the post cited above and adds a comment after 8 other comments posted by Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Raisdana, Ira Sokol and Monika Hardy.
It is clear that she has read the preceding comments as well as the post. Her comment was left on 8/29.
Mr. Sokol responds, challenging Stephanie's argument.
Mr. Chamberlain is notified that Stephanie has commented on Mr. Raisdana's blog (not uncommon where several teachers regularly exchange ideas).
Mr. Chamberlain tracks down Stephanie (easy to do - he just clicked on her name in the comment even though she did not include her URL in her comment) and leaves a comment on her EDM310 blog at 4:32 pm Sunday 8/29.
I am notified that Mr. Chamberlain has commented on Stephanie's blog and that he asked how she came to find Mr. Raisdana's blog. He also compliments her for her argument and says he agrees with her.
I reply by email to Mr. Chamberlain at 5:51 on Sunday 8/29 and answer his question about how Stephanie found Mr. Raisdana's blog. I do not know - yet- whether Stephanie has replied to Mr. C by email. She has not left a follow up comment on her blog which would be a nice thing to do.
Today (it may have been yesterday since Mr. Raisdana is in Indonesia and the time difference is 12 hours) Laura Scott joins the conversation with a comment.
Laura also comments on a post that Mr. Raisdana wrote on July 24.

Full circle.

Who is Mr. Chamberlain? Teacher in Noel, Missouri who taught me about the importance of blogging. The William Chamberlain Award is awarded annually to a student in EDM310 who displays outstanding interest in and ability to use technology in teaching. You can read about it in a post announcing the establishment of the William Chamberlain Award on the EDM310 blog.

Who is Mr. Raisdana? Teacher (formerly in Qatar and now in Indonesia) and father of Kaia.

You will read more about these three people (Mr. C, Mr. Raisdana, Kaia). And some of you will also be assigned to read a blog by by Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Raisdana, and/or Mr. Sokol.

The world is small indeed.

What more can we learn from this?
1. I know what happens in this class.
2. Now Stephanie is involved in a larger conversation. She can continue with that conversation if she wishes. That is what Anthony has done with Mr. Raisdana and Mr. Chamberlain. Laura has also joined in and may continue the conversation as well.
3. I can also join the conversation, and I might.
4. Mr Chamberlain started this particular conversation with this link to My Learning Manifesto by Yolanda S (an 8th grader). Mr. Chamberlain explains his assignment for his students in his post Student Learning Manifesto . In June 2009 Mr. Chamberlain started all of this with his post on At The Teacher's Desk entitled A Teacher's Manifesto.

You can be certain that you will hear about this again!

Other things to note:
Four EDM310 students were assigned to comment on Mr. Raisdana's blog. Two have done so: Laura Scott and Stephanie Dunaway. Thanks Laura and Stephanie. What about the other two of you? Know who you are? Just check the C4T Assignments on your Google Docs. Or I can tell you if you wish. But it would be better if you already know or find out before you talk with me.

Five EDM310 students were assigned to comment on At The Teacher's Desk. One has done so: Garrett Council. Thanks Garrett. What about the other four of you? Know who you are? Just check the C4T Assignments on your Google Docs. Or I can tell you if you wish. But it would be better if you already know or find out before you talk with me.