Inventors from the Past

Posted on March 3, 2008 by Janine Lim

08-03-03inventors.jpgThis afternoon, students from Calvin Britain Elementary, Benton Harbor, are doing their first videoconference and presenting a series of skits and songs for other students in our county. The focus is on Black inventors from the past, particularly those from the 20th century.

After a welcome from the principal, the students sang Lift Every Voice.

Next, the students performed a skit showing what life would be like if there were no Black people in the world. Each part of the day featured missing everyday items like the iron, the clothes dryer, the lawn mower, the auto gear-shift, the pencil sharpener, and the traffic light that were invented by African-Americans.

08-03-03inventors2.jpgThe students then all sang the song, We Shall Overcome, including actions to the song.

After this, the students gave some clues about some famous African-Americans in the form of “I am” statements. The listening students tried to guess the person.

This program was originally scheduled for the end of February, but a snow day made us reschedule for today.

The lesson for this interaction is posted online.

Filed under: Collaborations | 1 Comment »

Mushing News from Bering Straits School District

Posted on March 3, 2008 by Janine Lim

08-03-03iditaproject.jpgThis week and next we have several schools participating in the IditaProject from Bering Straits School District. There are 30 schools participating this year, so the interaction is by emailed in questions instead of live interaction.

We learned about the stats on the race so far, looked at a map of where the race goes, and heard about the snow conditions. We watched some video clips where the students from BSSD had interviewed mushers and edited and produced the tape.

We got to see a surprise guest – Gary Paulsen! He told stories about the race and answered questions from students. He told about his first race and how he was sure, the whole race through, that he wouldn’t finish. And he finished 42nd!

A lot of the discussion in today’s program was about the difference between racing many years ago and now. The GPS units are especially controversial. The mushers aren’t supposed to use GPS to follow the trail – they are supposed to use a compass. And many of them have their favorite places to stop and rest, and other secret strategies. Having a GPS record it is very frustrating. Most of the mushers don’t like it. It was a very interesting discussion.

We’ll be back for the sessions on the 11th, 12th, and 13th. If you’re not an interactive site, you can still follow the streaming video and the discussion forums.

Filed under: Collaborations, Content Providers | 1 Comment »

Motivating Teachers

Posted on March 3, 2008 by Janine Lim

One of the questions I hear all the time is, “How do you motivate teachers to use videoconferencing?”

Here’s an answer from one of my veteran RUS Grant videoconference coordinators. Linda Johnson is the librarian at Mars Elementary, a K-2 school with 361 students and 25 teachers. At this moment they have 43 student events scheduled for the 2007-2008 school year and I know that several more are in the works. So this school is quite successful.

That said, here is a comment from Linda in my class, Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections.

While trying to get my teachers interested in having VC Pals, I had to make a point to let them know I only wanted them to share things they already do. Many times when the students do their writings they share as a classroom but that’s it. By sharing during a vc, maybe the work will become more meaningful because they are sharing it with another group of students.

Linda is planning multiple pen pal connections with a school in Ontario, Canada, and so far they are going very well.

So, keep this in mind. Teachers are really busy! The curriculum is really jam packed! So whatever teachers do with videoconferencing, it has to meet curriculum goals and fit tightly into what they are doing.

How do you encourage teachers to use videoconferencing? and what strategies do you use to help them find and create VCs that fit their curriculum?

Filed under: Implementation | 2 Comments »

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