Building and Maintaining a Global Perspective~ My Global Experience

The one post that forever changed my perspective on life and teaching, I can never go back, nor do I want to.

On May 5, 2011 Wanted! A Global Classroom~.was published along with a simple tweet. These humble beginnings led to global connections that are far beyond what I could have ever dreamed possible!

In Awe of Twitter~

Shortly after sharing this post on twitter I was on my way to making connections and building a global PLN. I watched in awe as the connections became a reality. I was new to Twitter at the time and had no idea what to expect. Twitter has amazing people who are there just to support and learn from one another. One such tweep is @mgraffin from Perth, Australia. Michael saw my tweet and kept it alive on the other side of the globe! Michael retweeted my tweet as I slept, making it possible for me to reach the global audience I was seeking.

The Global Classroom Begins~

Quickly, teachers like @surreallyno (Romania), @claudiaru (Guatemala), @mgraffin (Australia) and @ICT_Integrator (Cape Town) were joining my first global project! This was an amazing experience and has forever changed the way I teach and my perspective on education and society.

A Whole New World~

The students in my class became familiar with countries around the world and saw themselves as part of a global community. Often kids referred to their friends in Romania or Mrs. Stadler in Cape Town as easily and as frequently as they referred to teachers in our building. As our global classroom continued to grow the students shared more about their daily lives and asked more questions to learn about others. It quickly became obvious (even to my first graders) there were far more similarities than differences in this global community.

There’s No Looking Back~

I knew I could not go back to teaching within my four walls. We had experienced the possibilities of expanding our community, of sharing with others and  bringing others in. The students valued diversity and recognize similarities in other cultures. We learned to see people above all else, we experienced the value of collaborating in a global community. As 1st graders we came to expect to talk with people in Romania, Australia, Cape Town and other countries throughout the world.

Imagine yourself having global connections in first grade! Where would you be now?

Life Presses the Pause Button~

As lives events unfolded I found myself stepping out of this amazing project for a bit, not sure how I could manage my ever changing personal life, new curriculum and the Global Classroom. Fortunately, Michael and the entire Global Classroom community have continued to flourish. As I have begun to dip my toe back into the global waters I find my PLN still here, still willing to connect and learn as one!

You are amazing people!

A New Humble Beginning~

Last week my kids and I began a new global project, Lunches Around the World. We would love to have you join us! If you would like to join us you can tweet us @Frazier1st, tell us what you had for lunch yesterday and send a picture, we will upload your picture into the VoiceThread. We will then invite you to visit the VoiceThread and add your audio comment!

We hope you will dip your toes into our Global Waters! Click on the photo below to view our VoiceThread.

The Global Classroom has blossomed into a plethora of opportunities, taking on an even bigger reach thanks to the dedication and perseverance of Michael Graffin and the participants of this global community!

You are all amazing educators and are making a difference in our children, our communities and our world~  I can never express my THANKS adequately!

Is it really over? (Virtual Book Club)

I must have been in denial.

It has taken me almost a month to get around to listening to the recording of the final session of Virtual Book Club. This opportunity to connect with educators around the world about a topic as important as #globalclassroom with a text as rich as Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds has been an unbelievably powerful growing experience. Listen to the last session yourself and hear the multi-layered, reflective conversation yourself!

We’ve come a long way baby.

Our first session was jammed with over 30 teachers from all around the world. We had loads of Blackboard Collaborate newbies that cruised up the multitasking learning curve and learned how to listen, type, read, and talk all at once. As the sessions rolled on, we all settled in and began to develop comfort with the mike and chat room and even tried out the breakout groups and learned a lot about how to enjoy the virtual side of a virtual book club.

The content of the conversation broached a number of different critical aspects of learning, technology, and global awareness. We challenged ourselves to find ways to connect our classrooms and to break down walls that prevent students from learning about the wider world. We wondered about how to find connections, feel valued by our administrators, and how to stay motivated and energized. We listened to success stories and shared the near misses and almost great moments. We supported each other, shared links and offered words of encouragement.

Our final session was probably our most probing and thoughtful and, interestingly, also concrete. We challenged ourselves to come up with creative ways to get more students access to educational technology  (after-school tech clubs, blogging clubs and graphic novel book clubs). We explored what a digital divide might be: a lack of access to technology for educational and professional purposes. And we reflected on the idea that an education with out global connections is like a 2D world. Akram, Joanne, Elena all shared thoughts about why it is so important that we have our students working with and collaborating with students from other places.

And we really pushed ourselves to think about our

big three

This idea comes from a section in Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds called “If You Only Read One Thing, Read This.” Basically, it suggests to choose three things that you are going to work on. Just three things. So we put ourselves into breakout groups and committed to each other three things that we want to work on. It was a really nice way to begin to wrap up the group and begin to plan for the future. (My apologies if you are listening to the recording because there will be about 10 minutes of dead space while we do this.) To see what some folks committed to, check out Chapter 12: Rock the World.

And then, it was over! (I’m getting sad again just listening to the end of the recording.)

Vicki and Julie- thank you so much for writing such an important, powerful and practical book! And thank you for your professional generosity. You probably have no idea the impact your support had on me, let me just say, it was tremendous.

Lisa, Michael, Tina, Theresa- From that first tweet I saw from Michael about gathering interest in Global Classroom projects, I have thrived on the collaboration and connections that GlobalClassroomProject has created. Thank you so much for all your support, interest and ideas throughout this project and others.

Jim and Mara- For taking a risk to help me! You were both great co-moderators. Don’t worry, I’ll be contacting you again for our next book club!

All the ACPS teachers – it was so wonderful that you chose to join the Virtual Book Club, whether you came to one or all sessions, you learned more about what is out there, and tried something new. I hope you also got a little inspiration to make some global connections!

Finally, I never like to say something is really over. Please click here if you would like to add your name an Twitter handle to a list of participants in Virtual Book Club. And please click here if you would like to suggest titles and ideas for Virtual Book Club II.

Final Session of Virtual Book Club – How will you “Rock the World?”

Our final session of Virtual Book Club discussing Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds by Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis is already this Monday, March 18th at 7:30pm EST (that’s Tuesday, March 19th at 12:30am GMT)! For your time zone, click here. We will be discussing Chapter Twelve – Rock the World!

Use this link (
https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2007066&password=M.065891D192F8072208BF5756999CE0
) to log onto the live session or watch this space for a posting of the recording afterwards.

I can’t believe it is our final session. This Virtual Book Club has been a wonderful space to connect with educators from all levels that are passionate about their work, are life-long learners, and are willing to share all they know as well as question what they are still learning about.

As I plan for the final session, I am looking for any remaining questions that we haven’t addressed yet. Please take a moment to leave a comment on this blog with topics you would like to see covered in the last session. Whether it is a question you have about how global projects work, ideas about how to set up rubrics for collaborative projects, challenges using wikis or blogs, or comments about the value of connected learning, let me know so that we can take some time on this last day to chat and reflect on the subjects that are important to you.

If you missed the session last week, listen to the most recent recording here: Virtual Book Club March 4th/5th and please share your thoughts on this blog: Virtual Book Club. Our focus was Chapter Nine – Celebration and Chapter Ten Designing and Managing a Global Collaborative Project.

I think the big themes of the session were these:

• Find as many opportunities as possible to give students feedback about their work, whether it is an awards ceremony gala, a carefully written note or just pulling chairs into a circle to talk. Kids are starved for feedback – feed them!
• Be creative when thinking about time and space – using Skype, VoiceThread or Blackboard Collaborate might allow experts, parents or other teachers to be a part of your celebration.
• Take time to reflect and celebrate projects as a professional. Whether it is privately, publicly, online or face-to-face, take a breath and consider what worked well and what you want to repeat.
• Start somewhere with a global project – join one that already exists, start with a teacher you know in another place, plan your own, but START.

And if you are just finding us in time for this last session, please feel free to drop in! We welcome all educators that want to learn more about global projects or share what they have already learned.

Hope to “see” you there!

Tonight! Meeting #5 of Virtual Book Club – How do you celebrate?

I can’t believe our 5th meeting of the Virtual Book Club discussing Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds by Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis is already this Monday, March 4th at 7:30pm EST (that’s Tuesday, March 5th at 12:30am GMT)! For your time zone, click here. We will be discussing Chapters Nine and Ten – Celebrating, Designing, and Managing Global Collaborative Projects.

Add your voice to our group! Use this link (
https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2007066&password=M.065891D192F8072208BF5756999CE0
) to log onto the live session or watch this space for a posting of the recording afterwards.

I am really looking forward to sharing ideas about how to best celebrate student projects. This is a weak point of mine so I’m excited to review the ideas in Chapter Nine with teachers. And I’m already thinking about how we can celebrate the closing of Virtual Book Club at the following meeting. Ideas welcome!

Chapter Ten also has so much rich material for discussion. This chapter really walks you through how to design and manage a global project. It will be so meaningful for our network of teachers to share what they have done that works, what new ideas they got from the book and what questions they still have.

Join us and add your expert or novice voice!

Offering Choices – for Students and Teachers

Ways to offer students choices was the theme of Session #4 of the Virtual Book Club! If you weren’t able to join us, listen to the recording here: Virtual Book Club Feb 18th/19th and please share your thoughts on this blog: Virtual Book Club. We have been reading and discussing Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds by Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis  and our focus this time was Chapter Seven (Choice) and Chapter Eight (Creation).

We began with some great comments:

• @Durff shared that she tells students on 1st day that they are all intelligent (Gardner), it is her job to find out how to make them shine
• Jim shared that he believes teachers should be helping students learn, not giving them the answers
• Laurel mentioned that some students need content delivered directly from teachers before they are able to make choices in the classroom (and shared an interesting book: Why Students Don’t Like School?)
• Monica added that she likes to model how she learns so that students feel comfortable making mistakes in her classroom

We also struggled with considering how teachers can create choices in the classroom in a time of standardization and high-stakes testing (at least in the United States).

• Paul shared that part of personalizing the classroom is establishing relationships with students – it isn’t just about content, it is about connecting
• Michelle talked about the need to let teachers have choice as well – when something is working, having the freedom to pursue it, not have to stay lock-step with a scripted program
• Elena introduced the idea “of individual teachers being ‘experts’ with specific tools and working collaboratively with their peers is a more manageable and realistic approach for interdisciplinary teams.”

https://saveourrhinos.wikispaces.com/

We also shared our own struggles and challenges with creating and maintaining electronic spaces for learning with choice in mind. We all agreed that monitoring electronic spaces are difficult to maintain and that we would love to have ongoing eportfolios that follow students through their years of learning in a school (Google Sites, KidBlog, Evernote, Weebly and even PhotoStory were shared as ideas). We debated a bit about how to choose new tools – what is trendy, and what is trendy with a purpose? Paul raised a great point about involving students in planning electronic spaces and many shared stories about ways they’ve done this.  As part of this, we also wondered how to make sure more students have access to technology beyond the classroom.

From there, we talked about how to structure learning experience that offer students ways to make meaning. Rocky shared the idea of students meeting with teachers to create useful materials for them and Robyn shared a bit about a project her students are doing to save rhinos! Interestingly, we found we have less experience offering students chances to invent or build. It would be fun to talk more about how we could build these concepts into our teaching more.

We ended by trying out the break-out room feature in Blackboard Collaborate. I guess I modeled the idea of the “teacher” not being perfect but willing to take risks since I had no idea how it would work! Thanks to everyone who was there for humoring me and experimenting along with me.  I think we’ll try these small groups again next time with a focus question. Big virtual hugs to @Durff for telling me more about how to use this effectively at future sessions. And my apologies for those of you listening to the recording since there will be a long pause when you are listening (another important aspect of this tool for me to understand!).

Thank you again for everyone that participated. I’m reminded of the quote by C. S. Lewis cited on page 34 of this book:

The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.

Thank you for being in my circle and adding to my wisdom! And to Mara for agreeing to co-moderate. If anyone is interested in co-moderating next time, please leave a comment or send me an email, I’d love your help!

Our next meeting will be Monday, March 4th at 7:30pm EST (that’s Tuesday, March 5th at 12:30am GMT). For your time zone, click here. We will be discussing Chapters Nine and Ten – Celebrating, Designing, and Managing Global Collaborative Projects. Hope to “see” you there!

Meeting #4 of Virtual Book Club – Add Your Voice!

Looking forward to our fourth meeting of the Virtual Book Club discussing Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds by Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis Monday, February 18th at 7:30pm EST (that’s Tuesday, February 19th at 12:30am GMT). For your time zone, click here. We will be discussing Chapters Seven and Eight.

Add your voice to our group! Use this link (
https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2007066&password=M.065891D192F8072208BF5756999CE0
) to log onto the live session or watch this space for a posting of the recording afterwards.

We have had some powerful conversations so far about digital citizenship (see The Making of Digital Citizens), building and maintaining a Personal Learning Network (see Launching into a River of Information), and starting and joining global project (see The Virtual Book Club Has Launched).

This is a community of teachers sharing with teachers: reflecting, listening, sharing, questioning. Join us!

The Making of Digital Citizens

What a rich discussion we had during Session #3 of the Virtual Book Club! If you weren’t able to join us, listen to the recording here: Virtual Book Club Feb 4th/5th and please share your thoughts on this blog: Virtual Book Club. We have been reading and discussing Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds by Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis  and our focus this time was Chapter Five (Digital Citizenship) and Chapter Six (Contributing and Collaborating).

We confessed, bragged, questioned, shared tips and traded resources on the topic of Digital Citizenship. It seems there is always more to consider from using images in our presentations to setting our privacy settings but we all agreed that we need to model strong digital citizenship for our students and explicitly teach them how to be a thoughtful contributor in the digital world.

• Connie shared “Just as we model and teach ways to effectively present and collaborate in face to face groups, digital citizenship is just another layer.“
• Joseph agreed and asked, “Students need to understand that there are differences in communicating on facebook, twitter with friends versus using this type of media in school…but how to teach?“
• Elena commented, “It[digital communications] also provides an opportunity to evaluate how we interact with each other face to face. Sometimes in the middle school environment, speaking to others with a certain tone or attitude can become the norm.“
• Amy agreed, “Not only do we need to relate to our students using technology but we need to teach them how to communicate in positive ways using technology“

Some of the great resources that were shared to help with teaching digital citizenship were:

• For images: Creative Commons, Pic4Learning, MorgueFile
• For music: Royalty Free Music, Free Play Music, Sound Bible
• For teaching about Digital Citizenship: Common Sense Media, Digital ID, Read. Write. Think.

Some tips given about getting students to care about digital citizenship:

• Use real-life examples (read Chris’ story here) and facts (thanks to Laurel for sharing that 70% of employers look at digital footprints)
• Have students create Digital Citizenship materials (Digiteen and Digital ID are examples)
• Provide an authentic audience (when students see that others are actually reading/listening/watching their work, they care more)
• Make it easy for students – provide them with music and images that they can use
• Model by adding the URL for photos within classroom presentations
• Use your librarians! They often have lessons ready to go on this topic
• Start with a private wiki or an Edmodo class where you can monitor and give feedback to students before collaborating with another classroom.
• As Rocky has done, actually contact authors and artists to request permission to use their materials. (Read more about what Rocky has done here)

We wrapped up by sharing a bit of advice about getting started with global projects and we all got really excited about trying Mystery Skype. And, as usual, the time flew by. I never knew an hour could pass so quickly!

A huge thank you to Vicki Davis for joining us in between prom planning and Flat Certified teacher training. Your professional generosity is unending. Another thank you to Jim for picking up as co-moderator. It is so helpful to know someone else is listening, reading, typing and talking as fast as I am! And a thank you to all the busy educators who took time out to share, question, and connect.

I’m looking forward to our next meeting on Monday, February 18th at 7:30pm EST (that’s Tuesday, February 19th at 3:30am GMT). For your time zone, click here. We will be discussing Chapters Six (Choice) and Seven (Creation).

Join the conversation! Virtual Book Club – Session #3 starting soon!

Our next meeting of the Virtual Book Club, discussing Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds by Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis, will be Monday, February 4th at 7:30pm EST (that’s Tuesday, February 5th at 3:30am GMT). For your time zone, click here. We will be discussing Chapters Five and Six.

Join the conversation! Use this link (
https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2007066&password=M.065891D192F8072208BF5756999CE0
) to log onto the live session or watch this space for a posting of the recording afterwards.

New Project: Travelling Rhinos Project – Save Our Rhinos!

Photo taken by K. Stadler – July 2012

In November last year I launched a new Global Classroom Project at school and it went national and global on 7 December.

Inspired by this photo that I took of five rhinos drinking in unison at a waterhole in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, in July, I had five small rhino soft toys made out of genuine African fabric (one side shweshwe and the other an African print). Each rhino was given a truly African name (through a competition amongst our students). These rhinos are on their way to classrooms far and wide – one to South African Schools and then into Africa, one to Australia and New Zealand, one to Canada and America, one to America and South America and one to Europe and Asia. Through global connections I have made in the Global Classroom Project and via Twitter, I have sourced schools to send the rhinos to and currently have 35 classes signed up for the project which will run until December this year, or longer. (It is similar to a Flat Stanley project, but this time with Travelling Rhinos).

Each class will host the rhinos for a week or two and in that time the teacher is asked to educate the students about the rhino situation (in the world, but especially SA), they are asked to dispel the myth that rhino horn is medicine and then they are asked to get their children to contribute to a class page in a wiki that I have created (I have put together information they can use and provided websites for more information). They can write letters of appeal/make videos/do art work – anything which gives the children a voice in the fight against rhino poaching. They are then asked to send the rhino on to another class in their country. Of course they must also document the visit with photos and we will track each rhino’s journey on a Google map. The rhinos will travel for the whole year (or more).

The motivation behind my project is to educate and to use the children’s voices to highlight the gravity of the problem to other countries. After all, it is their children and grandchildren etc. that we want to save the rhinos for, and we rely heavily on tourism in South Africa, so I believe we can make a difference in this way.

Ultimately, once we have many classes participating and contributing, I would like to bring the project to the attention of the powers that be in government. I’m not sure how or who yet, but I have time to work that out!

Currently we have three rhinos in classrooms around the world: Siyanda is in Surrey, Canada; Zindzi is in Ballycurrin, Ireland and Lilitha is in Fish Hoek, Cape Town. Makulu is on his way to New York, but he is running very late and we are concerned about his safe arrival and lastly, Lesedi is on her way to Australia and should arrive within the next week.

Take a look at this lovely video put together by Mrs Thiessen from Green Timbers Elementary in Surrey, BC, Canada (Click on the image):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To find out more about this project visit the wiki: 
http://saveourrhinos.wikispaces.com

Visit our Facebook page: 
https://www.facebook.com/TheTravellingRhinosProject

Follow us on Twitter: @travellingrhino

This is a cross-post from

http://karenstadler.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/travelling-rhinos-project-save-our-rhinos/

New Project: On The Same Day in March

Marilyn Singer wrote a children’s book “On The Same Day In March” that describes the weather and climate for countries around the world. I would like to give elementary classrooms an opportunity to compare the climate and weather in your area with others around the world. You can also add pictures and tell a little about your area.

Join us for a project based upon the book: On the Same Day in March by Marilyn Singer. Classrooms will compare weather with each other. This can be as simple as adding data to the page and writing about YOUR school or you can go a step further and pick out other activities to do.   Are you interested in joining the project?

The project is located at:
http://samedayinmarch2013.wikispaces.com
, and you can contact me on Twitter – @chrisgrnbc.

In the News: Willowbrook Students Visit Antarctica Via Skype

We’re really excited to share this great article from Northbrook Patch, which features the work of @DKarnoscak, one of our Global Classroom teachers in the USA. This article was originally published here, and is reproduced with permission of the author.

Willowbrook School third grade teacher David Karnoscak and his students have visited 14 countries and six continents so far this year, and they haven’t even left the classroom. By using Skype and The Global Classroom Project, Karnoscak connects his class with educators across the globe.

On Thursday, Jan. 17, all the third grade classrooms met in Willowbrook’s Collaboration Cafe and used Skype to meet with penguin research scientist Jean Pennycook, who is currently stationed in Antarctica. It’s summer on the continent, but temperatures remain below freezing.

Pennycook answered the children’s questions and talked about how a scientist lives a “very rustic” life, while conducting research in Antarctica.

Pennycook said her favorite penguin is the Adelie, because it is an active and engaging animal, as opposed to the Emperor penguin, which just “stands around.”

She says there are more Adelie penguins than any other penguin species, they live in the south and have to cross many kilometers of ice to reach where they can build their nests in the spring.

Students heard about the living conditions in Antarctica — a solar panel is the scientists’ only source of electricity, which they use to charge their computers, cameras and radios.

All waste products are stored in big drums and must be hauled out by helicopter after the scientist’s eight week stay. Pennycook showed the students the tent where she lives, as well as the outdoor scenery, which consisted of rocks and ice, and a view of the ocean. She said Antarctica is “stark, like the moon.”

Melted snow is used for washing, not drinking, because of its high salt content. She stated that there are no plants, trees or bushes in Antartica, nor is there a permanent population of human beings. Animals that live there only survive by eating creatures and fauna from the ocean. Students also heard about the different types of seals, whales, seagulls and skua that live in the region.

Karnoscak, the Willowbrook teacher, emphasized that his passion for Skyping around the world has rubbed off on his students. In December, the class Skyped with students in Greece and exchanged holiday greetings. He says he enjoys seeing the kids becoming global citizens, who are learning about different cultures and people. They recently visited a school in Nepal, and everyone was very surprised at how different it was from Willowbrook School.

“Our favorite game is Mystery Skype, where students take turns asking geographic questions about an opponent’s location. Students must use geographic knowledge, map skills and logical reasoning to find where another class is located,” said Karnoscak.

The other third grade teachers who collaborated with David Karnoscak on the Antarctica activity were Allison Safran and Jessica Gomberg.

Edmodo Pen Pal Project – Round 2

Edmodo is an excellent platform for creating connections between classrooms in different parts of the world.  In the past, I’ve always had “snail mail” pen pals for my 3rd grade students, but once I found Edmodo, I realized it was the perfect place for online pen pals.  So last year I created the Edmodo Pen Pal Project for the Global Classroom Project.

How Does It Work?  Classrooms are grouped into age appropriate clusters of 4/5.  The teachers of those students will create an Edmodo group for that cluster and take turns providing discussion topics for the children.  Sample topics might include favorite foods, holidays, school subjects, free time activities, sports, etc.  Upper grades might discuss current events or topics for a certain historical event.  Teachers in a cluster may decide to put students into small groups for a book discussion or to collaborate on a writing project.

Join Now! The next round of the Edmodo Pen Pal Project will begin in February and run until about May.  It is appropriate for students ages 7 to 18 and will help students learn to respect and appreciate the opinions, cultures and customs of others.  To get more information and sign up visit the WIKI page.

Launching into a River of Information

We had a wonderful second session of the Virtual Book Club discussing Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds by Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis,.  Our focus this time was Chapter Three and Four which discuss ways teachers and students can connect and communicate with a global audience. If you weren’t able to join us, listen to the recording here: Virtual Book Club Jan 22nd/23rd and please share your thoughts on this blog: Virtual Book Club.

We had fun exploring different social media tools that we each use to broaden our PLNs. Some of the tools that were highlighted were: Google Reader, Flipboard, Zite, Diigo, Twitter, LiveBinders, Scoop.It, Storify and two that were new to me: Paper.li and Feedly. We all agreed that these tools helped us curate the web and share what we are learning with others. However, we also discussed the feeling that as we reach out to take a drink from these nourishing waters, we are sometimes met with a firehose blasting back at us with an overload of information!

Suggestions for dealing with this “River of Information”

• from Michael in Australia – “Follow Quality, Get Quality, Quality Beats Quantity.” That might mean only following 4-5 blogs in your Google Reader or using hashtags to search in Twitter instead of following 1,000 people. (#globalclassroom, #flatclass, #sschat, #2ndchat were all mentioned)
• from Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds by Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis – designate two times a week where you read through posts and links for 15 minutes. Think of it as a PLN workout.
• many thought that starting with Diigo was a good plan. Here two groups to follow: Flat Class Educator’s Group and EdTechTalk.
• from Sharon in Mumbai – don’t suffer from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). You can’t read everything.  It is okay.
• from Theresa in IL – sometimes you need to “Mark as Read” and move on. See above point about FOMO.

After sharing what the term “teacherpreneur” meant to us, we engaged in some thoughtful conversation about how to work with Standards, Administrators, Colleagues and Hardware limitations. There was definite collective agreement on the following:

• “teacherpreneurs” can and should embrace state or national standards for their curriculum and expertly weave these in with innovative, collaborative projects.
• reaching out to administration and colleagues is important and necessary for long-term sustainability of projects but it is hard and takes resilience
• hardware might  not be exactly what you want, but make it what you need
• connecting with other “teacherpreneurs” keeps you motivated and inspired. As Michael said:

when you are part of a community, you will surprise yourself. this is not something you need to do alone

Finally we talked about getting started with global projects. Here are some of the resources and projects mentioned. We will definitely talk more about these as the weeks go on. And remember to check out the numerous projects mentioned in the book!

• Flat Class Project
• Global Classroom Project
• Quadblogging
• Student Blogging Challenge
• 100 Word Challenge

Thank you to everyone who joined us or who has been posting on the blog. It is wonderful to hear and read the insights, doubts, mantras and beliefs of teachers who care about the work they do with students. Your students are lucky to have you!

Our next meeting with be Monday, February 4th at 7:30pm EST (that’s Tuesday, February 5th at 3:30am GMT). For your time zone, click here. We will be discussing Chapters Five and Six. Hope to “see” you there!

Penguin Science Project

A year ago Lorraine Leo from Jackson School, MA (USA) suggested that we join the Penguin Science Project running from November 2012 to January 2013. This year we joined – four classes from Vonsild School, Denmark – from 1st to 8th graders.

The project is organized by Jean Pennycook, who stays near the penguin colony at Cape Royds, Antarctica – following the Adelie Penguins day by day from the building of nests to chicks running around.

The goal is to learn about penguins, the environment and Antarctica in general.

You are able to join the project on different levels. In Vonsild we have had 8th graders learning about climate changes and weather. All classes have been following the nest of Mary (the penguin we have adopted) daily. We share the nest with Jose Lopez´s class in Spain, who has adopted the male – called Pocolo 2. Pocolo 1 was left by Mary after she had laid one egg. What a drama to follow!

           

1st and 2nd graders have been making postcards to be send to Antarctica to get stamped. They have also made a flag to be sent to Antarctica where it will wave near the nest for a period before it will be returned to our school, as they have been writing penguin stories.

We ended the project with a skype call to Jean. Three classes (1st, 2nd & 6th graders) were asking questions about penguins, Antarctic surroundings, tent lift, etc. One of the eye opening facts was that human waste was transported by helicopter and ship to the States to keep Antarctica 100% clean. It was also interesting to see the temperature was -2 deg. Celsius both in Antarctica (summer) and in Denmark (winter). We were also asked to give the chick a name, which was a fantastic opportunity for our students.
     
See more on our class blog!

I can highly recommend to join this project, which resumes in November 2013. But make your arrangements now. Please e-mail Jean for further details: jean.pennycook AT gmail.com, or visit the website:
http://www.penguinscience.com
.

#EVPD Classroom Blogging Workshop – Join Us!

Join us in attending this insightful virtual workshop hosted by technology teacher and Global Classroom Project member, Theresa Allen. Educators from around the world and from the Global Classroom Project will demonstrate excellent ways to blog in the classroom.  Details are below:

Educator Virtual Professional Development

Blogging in the Classroom

February 1, 2013

Watch for links to session soon on the EVPD wiki:  

http://educatorvirtualpd.wikispaces.com

Learn from several veteran bloggers around the world about ways to blog in your classroom!

Schedule:

(time and date link)

12:05-12:25 Blogging to Motivate and Engage Learning
(Effie Kyrikakis, principal of Winners Education and #globalclassroom educator)

12:30-12:50 Blogging Platforms Intro – Blogger, Kidblog, Edublogs, WordPress, Posterous, Google Sites, Edmodo
(Theresa Allen, Technology Teacher and #globalclassroom organizer)

12:55 – 1:15 How to Blog Weekly with Writing Activities and to Connect w/ Other Classrooms
(Louise Morgan, 2nd grade teacher and #globalclassroom organizer)

1:20-1:40 Blogging as Reflective Math Journals w/ 4th Graders
(Paula Naugle, 4th grade teacher and global educator)

1:45-2:05 (TBA)

2:10-2:30 Bloggin’ to Reach Parents and the Community (Joe McNulty, Technology teacher and global educator)

2:35-2:55 Blogging and the Common Core (John Miller, 7/8th grade Science teacher and global educator)

*There will also be pre-recorded presentations from educators who couldn’t present live, but wanted to share their knowledge and experience with us:

Larisa Tarasevich - Studying Different Cultures through Blogging (English teacher and global educator)

Karen Lirenman – Kidblogs as Digital Portfolios and Windows to the World (Grade 1 teacher and #globalclassroom educator)

Dana Racanelli – Blogs for Student Support  (Junior High Social Studies teacher and global educator)

Anne Mirtschin – Basic Essentials of a Blog (ICT teacher and #globalclassroom educator)

Claire Buist – Class and Individual Blogs – Engaging the Learners (ICT and #globalclassroom educator)

Looking forward to a wonderful day of learning and sharing – hope you can join us!