Sixth graders in Denise Phillips Language Arts class at Joseph Sims Elementary School took their year-long blogging project to a international audience as they joined in the February 19 Megaconference Jr. 2009 – An Event by and for Students of the World. The students logged into the annual interactive videoconference with the purpose of inviting a world wide audience into their KidsBooksBlog, a growing resource “for students who love good books.”

Megaconference Jr., now in its sixth year, is a project designed to give students in elementary and secondary schools around the world the opportunity to communicate, collaborate and contribute to each other's learning in real time, via videoconferencing. Classrooms selected for the 12-hour event are expected to design and facilitate their presentation and activities with a focus on both academic and cultural issues.

During their 30-minute slot, the Sims students connected “live” with an elementary classroom in Minnesota and in Ohio. They introduced the project to their visitors by inviting them to login to the website, take a guided tour, and post comments. They also took requests for future book reviews.

Following the KidsBookBlog presentation, the students joined “the world’s youngest writer,” Adora Svitak for a highly interactive session on how to write a descriptive paragraph.

“The Megaconference Jr. is an outstanding opportunity for students to create, connect, and share their work beyond the walls of our classroom,” said Phillips. Some student comments included: “I met people from cities I have never heard of before” (Dillon); “I thought it was really cool to listen to the other classes’ thoughts and opinions about our website” (Sean); and “It was great to see that the other creative and unique presentations” (Enoch).

Videoconferencing connectivity at the school site was made possible by EGUSD’s Technology Service’s ongoing partnerships with the Sacramento Education Cable Consortium’s (SECC) BESTNet – a regional high-speed network that connects all SECC K-20 member educational institutions – and the California K12 High Speed Network.  California K12 High Speed Network is a state program that provides network connectivity, Internet services, teaching, learning application and videoconferencing coordination and support for California’s K-12 community.