Facilitating a Teacher-Generated Project

Lately I've been facilitating a few project connections between teachers. Here are some tips based on what I've learned.

It starts by one of my teachers generating an idea for a videoconference project. Then I submit the idea to various places: the Collaboration Collage listserv, the K12IVC listserv, and the CILC Collaboration Center. Lately I've been getting the fastest response from the K12IVC listserv.

After we get a response (or sort through a whole bunch of responses), I send an email to all the people involved: teachers, techs, media specialists, etc. on both ends of the project. Here's what I include:

Introductions
I give both teachers all the information I can find on each other. Sometimes I google to fill in the details. School name, city, state/province/country, phone number, email. This way they can talk to each other directly.

Dates
Then, since most of the connections currently go through me, I suggest some dates & times based on my knowledge of our teacher's request, their distance learning schedule, and my distance learning schedule. I try to include the information in both time zones (checking TimeandDate.com to make sure I'm right). That way we are all on the same page for the time.

Format
For my teachers new to videoconferencing, if they don't already have a suggested schedule or format, I suggest one for them. Here's an example of my wording. Feel free to copy & paste. 🙂

Here are some suggestions for format. Hopefully, teachers, this will give you an idea to work from and you can tweak it however you want.

Use the Read Across America Format:
5 min. Introductions (be sure to prepare a map for each other)
15 min. One class presents
15 min. The other class presents.
10 min. Ask each other questions.

Or some classes like to rotate:
5 min. Introductions (be sure to prepare a map for each other)
30 min. Classes rotate sharing something (poems, stories, choral reading, song).
One class shares one thing, then the next class shares, back & forth for the time.
10 min. Q&A.

Here's a lesson plan on preparing questions:
http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl/QsLessonPlan.htm
It's a good idea to plan questions for your partner class ahead of time. Or at least have the students think of categories – recess, school subjects, favorite activities, info about the local community, home countries, etc.

Action Items
Finally I end with a reminder of what to do next. Test calls, nailing the dates, teachers working out the details. These are all things that need to be done to get the connection scheduled.

After this, I make sure the test call happens, the teachers get in touch with each other, and the dates are set. After that I leave it to the teachers and enjoy watching the connection when it happens! 

Upcoming Registration Openings

There are three wildly popular content providers who are opening registration before August on a specific date. If you want to connect to one of these providers, plan to schedule soon!

  • The Columbus Zoo is my all time favorite zoo. This last year their programs were booked solid for the 2006-2007 school year by early September. Their registration for the 2006-2007 school year opens on June 1.
  • The Museum of Science and Industry offers the highly popular Live from the Heart program. Registration for the 2006-2007 school year opens on May 1.
  • COSI Columbus offers live open heart surgery and live knee surgery. Their registration opens on July 1, and last year they were booked solid for open heart surgery an hour after registration opened.

So plan ahead! (But don’t register before me! :>)

Cephalopods: The Jet Set

Did you know that squid have three hearts? This afternoon a class from Brandywine Middle School is connecting to the Alaska Sea Life Center for their Cephalopods program.

The lesson started with an overview of Alaska and the Sea Life Center. Then after some background information on squids & cephalopods, the students worked in groups to dissect squid (mailed to the teacher ahead of time). The presenter asks the students many questions to help them guess & understand what they were seeing on the squid as they dissected them. Some of the squid had ink in them and the students had a chance to use the ink to write. Pretty cool.

This is a great hands-on program. Our class thoroughly enjoyed the program and it brought resources & activities to our students that would have been difficult or impossible otherwise.

Note added later in the day: Here’s the evaluation comments from my teacher.

My sixth graders thought it was great.  It had the right balance of instruction and dissection time.  The students were allowed to ask questions as they went along, and they had the expert right there to answer their questions!  The material was presented in language right on their level, it was not above their understanding. It fit right into our curriculum, and was well worth the money spent to bring it here. (The squid were shipped in ice, and were not the smelly ones in preservative–that  was a plus for me-the teacher.)

Worldwide Folktalkes

This morning we’re starting a series of 6 connections with the University of Texas Institute for their Worldwide Forktales program.

The presenter is a professional storyteller and she tells the students stories. The teacher can request ahead of time certain stories or areas of the world to be featured during the program.

The students and distance learning coordinators alike were enthralled with the stories. This was a great program to listen to. Not so much interaction, but very interesting stories told by a great storyteller! She is very willing to tailor and adapt the program as requested by the teacher, even negotiating during the program.

More Notes on Posters

Posters in MysteryQuest continue to be a challenge. Here are some more examples that worked today for MysteryQuest USA. Notice how the most important information is the largest on the poster (as opposed to the title or subject of the poster).

Even though the camera isn't zoomed completely in on the poster, you can still read it.

Here's a poster that clearly didn't work. But notice how the poster is on an easel. This helps keep the poster still so the camera can focus and so a camera preset can be set for the posters.
 

The Pardon of Richard Nixon

This morning Brandywine High School connected to the for their program on Gerald Ford MuseumThe Pardon of Richard Nixon. (It’s free!) The preparation materials includes primary source documents and information for the students to read to prepare for the videoconference. Students are divided into 5 groups for the program and each group focuses on a different aspect.

The presentation comes from a replica of the cabinet room. The program started with a tour of the cabinet room and the various features & paintings.

Then the students discussed various in depth questions with the presenter, including reaction of the public and if the pardon was constitutional. Students used background knowledge of government, U.S. history, the amendments, etc. to answer the questions.

Then they participated in a simulation that included voted and a choose-your-own-ending type scenario with different video clips shown based on the students’ choices.

The program was well done and the students were engaged. This was our first time with this program and I think we probably will have some other classes connect for this program next year!

Geography

This morning a third grade class from E. P. Clarke Elementary connected to the for their Intrepid Sea.Air.Space MuseumGeography program. The museum is actually an aircraft crarrier and the presentation comes from inside the ship.

The program started with an overview of how the aircraft carrier happens and an introduction to geography. Then students start working with a black-line master map of the U.S. and adding geographical features to the map.

After an introduction, the class divided into two teams for an activity moving across the U.S. The classes are looking for treasure in the different states and they practice using the cardinal points. Along the way they learn about resources in the different states as well. 3rd graders really enjoyed the game show format, and ended up with a map labelled with many features of the U.S.

Another MysteryQuest International

Today we have another MysteryQuest International session. The class from Canada had a very creative presentation. They presented from a tour bus including driver, running commentary on the site, and Q&A about the country. Creative presentations are harder to take notes on, but they are much more fun to listen to!

In yesterday's session the classes guessed the answers too quickly. But today we had a bit harder clues and another presentation was added, so the students had to work harder on the answers.

Afterwards we took time again for the classes to ask each other questions. Of course they really enjoy this interaction getting to know students in another country. 

Since we started so early in the morning, the class in Canada had morning ceremonies halfway through the question and answer part. During the Canadian national anthem, the students in Pakistan also stood out of respect. It was a moving moment. As the head teacher in Pakistan mentioned, the classes start their day in a very similar manner. How far apart we are, yet how similar we are. What a wonderful feeling of connectedness!

My Favorite Clue

This afternoon we have 6 classes from around the US participating in MysteryQuest USA. This program is very popular and usually fills up within a day or two of setting dates. It is always a delight to have a class from Alaska participating. And so I’m sharing here my favorite clue from their presentation! This tells you how remote this school is!

The best method to reach our city is by helicopter…

We also had a class from St. Joseph, MI put their clues online in a wiki in addition to presenting online. This made it easy for other classes to access the clues if they weren’t able to get them.

Finally, we had a great time asking questions of the class in Alaska. They had 5 students and live on an island with 140 people. One class asked their favorite food – and the answers included blubber! A great experience for students to see how people live in other areas of the US!

MysteryQuest International

Today we have a very special event, a MysteryQuest International session with 3 countries represented (Canada, the US and Pakistan). I was a bit concerned about the various accents represented in the session, but with PowerPoints and visual clues and time to repeat the clues, everyone was able to get the clues written down.

We had a nice variety in the presentations, with a news show, a National Geographic show, and clues presented in amonst many beautiful pictures.


After asking clarifying questions, we realized that everyone had probably guessed the right answer. So we didn’t give the classes time to reconsider their answers as we usually do. Then one of the classes had opening ceremonies with the national anthem and school announcements, so we listened to their opening ceremonies. It was nice to have time in the schedule for the little interruption.

The classes were creative with their clarifying questions as well. Some questions were: “Is there a TV series named after your city?”, “Does your city have a hockey team?” (you can guess which country asked that question!).

This is the first time in all of the MysteryQuest sessions I’ve run that everyone got the right answer right away. I think it was partly because the classes chose large cities in their countries to present, and there were less classes participating so many heads found the answer quicker.

After finishing the usual MQ agenda, we took an extra 30 min. or so to ask each other questions. The conversation covered a broad range of topics such as weather, time, textbooks, teaching methods, lenth of school day/year, languages, snow, sports, especially hockey and cricket. We had a friendly rivalry interchange between the Toronto Maple Leaf fans and the Red Wings fans. The sports teacher in Pakistan also explained the game of cricket. Our Michigan students were concerned about the after effects of the earthquake and wanted to know how the students in Pakistan were affected by it.

This was a very special MysteryQuest event and it was a wonderful experience. I’m sure we’ll be doing it again. If you are outside the US reading this and interested in participating in the future, please email me! jlim@remc11.k12.mi.us