Another great MACUL conference is over. All of the TWICE sessions worked so we’re all very happy! Here are a few highlights.

The Voices of the Twin Cities Past presentation was phenomenal. We connected back to the two classes at E. P. Clarke Elementary, St. Joseph; and Sorter Elementary, Benton Harbor. The students presented to us about the project, and also answered questions from the presenters. One of the questions asked of the students was, “if you were to give advice to other 4th graders doing videoconferencing, what would you say?” Here’s a few of their tips:

• “Speak loudly and clearly and enunciate.” Rachel, age 10. (Clarke)
• “Introduce yourself.” Brittany, age 11. (Sorter)
• “Be patient because sometimes it looks like they are frozen.” Carey, age 9. (Clarke)

This project is packed with great teaching: the Big6 process, primary sources & documents, group work, presentation skills, writing skills and more. Clearly the quality of the project is evidences by the confidence of the students in presenting, asking, and answering questions.

Content Providers
The TWICE sessions featured two content providers. The Alaska Sea Life Center won the prize for the highest attendance for the TWICE sessions. The room was packed and the activities of analyzing scat was very popular and discussed with enthusiasm at many restaurants Thursday evening. If you haven’t connected to them, you definitely should. High quality content!

Coming in a close second was the Cleveland Institute of Music. Top notch programming in many subject areas.

Wireman Meets ASK
A low attended but high quality program was with author Sue Stuaffacher connecting to students at Hull Middle School in Benton Harbor. A powerful example of the quality questions developed in the ASK process and an inspiring example of how the Wireman Comics are reaching at-risk kids. Sue clearly has a heart for at-risk kids and writes books accordingly. Wonderful experience!
It was great also to attend the TWICE annual meeting and hear the highlights of all the various activities. Now back home to rest and integrate new knowledge into daily practice!