I was really excited today to hear from one of our Preparatory School staff members, Ginny, as she shared a perfect example of ICT connecting our students with a poet that had influenced their thinking for a recent Poetry Party they hosted. I posted in October about how our students now live and learn in a global community, and also how through the use of technology they could bring experts into their classrooms, and this demonstrates that point perfectly.

The students in Year 6 had been influenced by the work of Austin Kleon, and from this they displayed their poetry in a darkened room requiring viewers to use a torch to read their creative poems. Ginny tipped Kleon off about this Poetry Party exhibition and he subsequently blogged about it over here saying:

This is the coolest idea ever! I might steal it. Thanks to Ginnie and her students!

This simply reinforces how ICT and eLearning reduces the gap between students and a global audience. It can connect students with a range of people that have shaped their thinking, allowing for direct interaction and increasing the authenticity of the student work and learning experiences.

Blackout Poetry Party

There are so many great tools that can be used by students and staff to display their work and learning for the world to celebrate and I look forward to more examples of this type of engagement with authors, poets, artists, film-makers, scientists, explorers, and sportspeople!