Guest Post from William Kist (@williamkist)

What are the implications for a “brick and mortar” English classroom in an increasingly globalized world?  What are the implications of legislation that is increasingly common across North America requiring all high school students to complete at least one online course?  How will English teachers leverage this new boundary-free classroom space?  Will many English teachers be able to cross these borders when they work in districts that block many sites that enable international student collaborations?  What are texts that aid in making for a globalized English classroom?  These are some of the many questions related to the global English classroom that we will be discussing on the next #engchat! 

I’m a former high school English teacher who now teaches pre-service teachers at Kent State University.  I’ve been profiling innovative teachers since the late 1990s and have collected my work in two books, New Literacies in Action, and The Socially Networked Classroom.  I’m currently writing my third book which will describe the work of teachers who are attempting to take advantage of being able to communicate with colleagues and students in distant time zones.  What are teachers doing with this new power to be globalized?

William Kist will host #engchat on November 7th at 7 PM EST.  He will be leading a discussion on leveraging Web 2.0 tools to bring global educational opportunities to our students.  Please join us for another engaging conversation via #engchat.  Thanks!