Xtreme+Learning+Ning

== = = =Fifth grade students have joined the [|Xtreme Learning Ning]= The goal of the project is to promote enthusiasm and excitement about reading! Our goal is to promote a love of reading for all students. Our hope is to have our students share their love of reading with students in other international and public schools around the world. The students are using a private Ning ([|www.ning.com]) to discuss books with students in a global collaboration with classes from four other countries including Thailand, China, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Ning is an easy to use, free, online networking tool that allows students to share their ideas in a blog format, respond to others’ ideas through discussion board posts, and to post a range of responses including images, voice, and video. One exciting feature of a Ning is that it allows us to collaborate with other students around the world. This means that students around the world can begin to discuss and share their thoughts about their favorite books.
 * More About Ning**

Currently...
==students have created avatars, started to design their main page, and are beginning to connect with and respond to other students involved in the project. We are looking to engage students in xtreme dialogue, xtreme thinking, and xtreme collaboration. As a class we agreed to using the following guidelines when responding to others:==

**Responding to Forum Posts** **On our Connected Classroom Ning**
· **Connect to the person’s ideas and extend them** · **Represent your school** · **Be open to differences** · **Have voice using a careful selection of words** · **Use complete sentences and proper grammar** · **Use accurate punctuation** · **Be positive**
 * Remember a thoughtful response should:**

· **ALL CAPITAL LETTERS** · **Repeating words** · **Soooooooooo many of the same letters** · **Abbreviated IM words** · **Typing of emoticons :-) :-(** · **Unfriendly tone –No anger or sarcasm** · **Ask personal questions including phone numbers, last names, email address, home address**
 * Your response should NOT include:**