Library, Marblehead Village School, .75 hours

 My observation on 2/28/13 was of an EDU named Books and Blogs.  (An EDU is an elective bock that can be run by a staff member or a community volunteer.)  While an initial glance made me think of focusing on a reading guideline, I quickly was drawn to the collaboration aspect of the EDU.  After creating a few book review postings on the Village School Library EDU web page, the majority of the students in the EDU were happy to just read or post another review.  However, there were two groups that sought out Mrs. Soghomonian to take it further and create their own blogs.  One of the students was familiar to me, so with Mrs. Soghomonian’s approval, I asked the student if I could observer her blog planning discussion.  

She and her partner received a planning sheet and directions from Mrs. Soghomonian.  This sheet required:

1.   Your blog topic idea
2.   Your target audience
3.    5 Ideas for subjects you can post about

The girls seemed to easily come up with a blog main topic of “In the News” and blog subjects such as Oscar Pistorius, the California Shooting, the Pope Stepping Down, wild weather, and illegal immigrants.  Their blog would target the world, school and town, in that order.  Once the girls filled this sheet out completely, Mrs. Soghomonian told them to agree upon a title and plan out what they are going to say in their 1^st introductory blog post.  She discussed how this post should explain to their audience of what they can expect to read on their blog.  A final thought was to prioritize the topics in the order that they will be posted.  Mrs. Soghomonian really wanted students undertaking this blog creation to be able to maintain it and have a well thought out concept and ready source of postings.

This prioritization brought up the most discussion as the girls brought up points that their blog needed to be current so people would be interested.  In the end, Oscar Pistorius followed by wild weather won as the initial topics to blog about.  They also were concerned about making their blog layout reader friendly and discussed the merits of paragraphs versus bullet posting.  Their finalized intro blog showed their personalities and flair as they decided to “promise reliable opinionated news.”  They also discussed the need to involve their readers and eventually decided to incorporate a poll.  They brought their planning sheet and post outline to Mrs. Soghomonian.  She naturally loved the concept and praised the girls for their concise introduction and creativity with the inclusion of the poll.  

I really enjoyed watching the true “give and take” nature of collaboration that came easily between Mrs. Soghomonian and the two girls.  Each idea was met and validated.  While not all ideas were accepted, each student felt comfortable to present their ideas and they often built upon the other’s thoughts and ideas.  I was awed with the creativity and open-mindedness that these 6^th grade students exhibited.  Working their way through the requirements of the blog’s inception and creation can be daunting, but their positive, hardworking natures could inspire many adults to emulate in their own professional collaborations.

Village School EDU Blog Site