Genocide Discussion

Today I’m really excited to be watching a videoconference planned by two of my local teachers at New Buffalo High School and Lakeshore High School. This VC is an assignment in my Kid2Kid Videoconference Connections online class, where teachers plan project connections over a period of 5 months.

The lesson began with classes working in groups (muted) to come up with a definition of genocide. Then each class shared their definitions and negotiated a group definition.

Next each class worked to brainstorm a list of genocides they know of… both historical and current.

Then the classes brainstormed what they remembered from their December connection with a local expert who discussed prejudice and racism and how it might connect with the genocides listed.

Each class had a copy of an article on fighting hatred. The classes read the article separately and then discussed it together.

Finally students came up with possible solutions/responses to genocide.

  • Loosen the legal definitions that determine genocide so that intervention can happen quickly.
  • Make ourselves more aware of current events.
  • We need to educate people to treat those of all races the same.
  • We need to stay open-minded to hear the different sides to a story.

I really like the format of a team teaching here where the classes were led through a discussion and students had time to brainstorm in groups locally and then share with both classes. This format worked really well.

Spellers of Note, CIM

This morning 2nd and 3rd grade music students from Eagle Lake Elementary are connecting to the Cleveland Institue of Music for their Spellers of Note program.

CIM is wonderful at how they get students engaged right away in the program. Mark George had the students telling what they knew about music and Mozart, and as they answered, someone played music or sang off screen. It was very fun and you could tell the students loved it.

Students also sang with the presenter and the ensemble, and the students also presented a play they had prepared ahead of time.

This program was definitely well designed for young students. There’s lots of variety and interaction in the program. I highly recommend it!

Chris Crutcher Interview

(From January 11)

After a few tense moments with the network (love the Internet these days), we successfully connected St. Joseph High School students to the Orange County Department of Education, coordinating a videoconference with author Chris Crutcher on his latest book, The Sledding Hill.

We started with introductions, and then started with questions. Here are some of the more interesting ones:

  • How was Billy able to come when his dad was not?
  • How did you write the part for Eddie? His comments are quick but for the most part incomplete. Is his personality like yours?
  • Where did you get the idea for Montana West?
  • Why did you use religion in this book?
  • Why did you criticize one of your books in your own book?
  • Have you ever written a book that has not been censored or banned?
  • At one point should schools ban books? or should they?
  • Are there any topics that you are hesitant to write about in a novel?
  • How long did it take you to write this book? Which of your books take the longest to write?

It’s always entertaining to hear the author interact with the students. The author sees how students have thought deeply about the book, and the students hear interesting stories behind characters, names, and ideas in his book. Both seem to enjoy the conversation and students definitely increase their understanding and appreciation of literature and the writing process.

Some fascinating quotes from Mr. Crutcher:

  • “When does innocence turn into ignorance?”
  • “It’s fun to poke fun at myself in the story.”
  • “Every human in the world has some creative way to express him or herself.”
  • “You hear 5 stories, 10 stories, and 50 stories, and some truth rises to the top.”
  • “I will tell you the truth in its native tongue.”
  • “Any issue that comes up, we need to be in a position where we can talk about.”
  • “Your body of work does represent what you’ve learned in life.” in answering a question about the message in the book.

Thank you to Orange County Department of Education for sharing this program with us.

Our Internet is Down!

I know a bunch of you fellow distance learning colleagues are trying to get a hold of me for Read Across America, MysteryQuest and other distance learning events. The TWICE website and of course my Distance Learning website are hosted on the BCISD webserver, and our web & email is down. Both my read@remc11.k12.mi.us for Read Across America and my jlim@remc11.k12.mi.us account is down too.

For those of you trying to finish up your Read Across America registration by Jan. 11. Please don’t worry. I’ll give you through the end of January 12 if it’s back up tomorrow; and if not, then through January 17. I’ll be offline anyway the 13th through the 16th. Good time for a long weekend! 🙂

Time to take a break, rest, and consider what’s most important in your life. We can live without the Internet. Right?!

The Power of ASK

My VC friend and colleague, Sue Porter, just received letters for author Ethel Footman Smothers in response to the videoconference we did in November on her book The Hard Times Jar. Sue coordinated the program and is collecting all the letters from the participating schools to send to Ms. Smothers.

These letters are an incredible testimony to the power of ASK programs! Get out your Kleenex box!

Dear Ms. Smothers,

I cannot tell you how much our videoconference meant to all of us. Paris, Texas, is a small town, and many of our students have never been outside the city limits. Opportunities for low-income and minority students are limited.

In one stroke, this videoconference enlarged these students’ world. They loved the snowball! (It rarely snows here, and it was about 60 degrees that day.) Although we had already located Grand Rapids on the map, the moderator’s comments really made distances understandable to my students. But the most wonderful event for my class was seeing an African-American woman as a successful author.

I am sending letters that my students have written to you. One of the African-American girls in my class states in her letter that she was surprised to see that you are “chocolate brown and not buttermilk.” (She paid attention!) It shocked me that after all of our class discussions on the book, that she imagined its author to be white. She simply couldn’t imagine it.

This videoconference opened my eyes as well. It brought home to me the importance of putting before my students images of successful adults who look like them. Thank you for sharing your wonderful stories, your home-made toys, and your time with us. Please continue to visit students through the technology of videoconferencing!

Sincerely,

Nancy Bratteli

Third Grade Teacher

Aikin Elementary

Paris, Texas

The first letter written by a student was difficult for me to read, but was followed by the following letter from the teacher with the note at the bottom.

Dear Mrs. Smothers,

You inspire me in many different ways. You are an African American and fulfilled your dream. You have courage, and you stick to what you say. You care about children. You are my role model, just like my teacher. You are an encouragement!
Your friend, *A*

Note: *A* struggles with severe dyslexia, but as you can see, she is a very bright young lady. She also just lost her “best friend,” her grandmother who lived with their family. Your book, and our visit with you, came at a wonderful time for her.

Incredible! To read more about the ASK process, visit www.projectask.org. See also the ASK programs we’re doing in Berrien County, the ASK programs TWICE is running, and the ones that Polycom is sponsoring.

If you are coordinating distance learning for a large district or an educational service agency, you too can offer these types of programs to your schools. Start with the book list on the www.projectask.org website or with books suggested by your media specialists. Look for local authors or local specialists you can interview related to the books. Start with local presenters so that the cost is less than with nationally known authors. Your districts will greatly appreciate the service, and as you read above, with these programs you can make an astounding impact on student learning!

Have your kids present at Megaconference Jr this year!

Have you watched Megaconference Jr.? Then you should present this year!

Never heard of Megaconference Jr.? Then you should participate AND present this year!! Don’t be shy!

Think of a class doing something really cool in your building: music, drama, reader’s theater, science experiments/research, an invention, etc. Present!!

Here’s the official announcement that has gone out on the various VC listservs.

Deadline for presenter proposals/activities – January 23, 2006

We look forward to your involvement!
————————————————————–

WHAT IS MEGACONFERENCE JR.?
Megaconference Jr., now in its third year, is a project designed to give students in elementary and secondary schools around the world the opportunity to communicate, collaborate and contribute to each other’s learning in real time, using advanced multi-point video conferencing technology. Presenters will design and conduct videoconference-based presentations and activities focused on both academic and cultural issues. Participants will be able to address questions to presenters and to collaborate with geographically diverse peers in collaborative learning activities, thus building international cultural awareness.

WHEN IS IT GOING TO BE?
The event will be on May 18, 2006, and it will run from 7:00 am until 7:00 pm EDT (UTC-4). The 12-hour duration will make it possible for schools from many time zones to participate during their regular school hours. We strongly encourage schools to open up participation to parents, administrators, and the community and to stay connected for as long as possible so that they can actively participate with sites from around the world in different time-zones. Museums and libraries are especially encouraged to invite children and library patrons to participate during non-school hours.

HOW CAN I CONTRIBUTE?
You can propose a 10-15 min. interactive presentation or showcase an interesting collaboration project that you have been doing in your school. You can also suggest activities that could be organized at “downtimes” between the blocks of presentations. Or you can join us as participants, with no special presentation given from your side. (Questions at the end of presentations are more than welcome from everyone.)

WHO CAN BE A PRESENTER?
Students and teachers can be presenters. Presentations with multiple sites are strongly encouraged.

HOW DO I SUBMIT A PROPOSAL?
The proposal submission process has been streamlined again this year to ensure a successful conference for all. Anyone who wishes to submit a proposal must first register as a presenter for Megaconference Jr. 2006. Once registered, sites will be contacted about testing their network connections. Upon successfully testing, those who wish to submit a proposal will be able to do so. This will ensure that all sites proposing presentations have passed a preliminary connectivity test and will allow presenters more time to focus on their dress rehearsals.

HOW WILL PROPOSALS BE EVALUATED?
Proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria:
1. Title: The title is catchy and unique and related to the objective of the presentation.
2. Presentation is Related to Theme: Student presentations should focus on academic or cultural issues and incorporate global awareness and collaboration.
3. Collaboration/Interactivity: The ideal presentation should include collaboration with students in another geographic location. If your project includes another site please identify that in the “Overview” section of the proposal submission form.
4. Creativity/Uniqueness: The presentation is delivered in a creative way and presents a different or unique topic.
5. Multimedia: Without distracting from the proposal objectives, the students use a variety of media resources and appropriate distance learning activites.

WHAT TECHNOLOGY DO I NEED TO PARTICIPATE?
Most sites will need Internet2 or comparable high-speed connection and access to H.323 video-conferencing equipment. Presentations must be made using H.323 technology, preferably at 768 Kbps, and they will be made from the presenter’s location. Presentations with multiple remote presenters are encouraged (see evaluation criteria above).

WOULD I BE ABLE TO REHEARSE?
Yes, all presenters will be required to hold at least one dress rehearsal prior to the event to rehearse and refine their presentations.

HOW TO REGISTER AND SUBMIT A PROPOSAL:
Presenter registration and subsequent proposal submission (upon successful testing) should be completed online at: http://megaconferencejr.org/?id=registration

DEADLINES:

Submit your presenter proposal(s) by January 23, 2006.
(If you are unable to submit by this date due to special circumstances such as extended holiday break, please let us know and we will do everything possible to accommodate your schedule.)

General registration opens February 10, 2006.
General registration closes April 28, 2006.

AND….
Please forward this message to anyone you feel would be interested in being a presenter site, anywhere in the world.

Check out the NEW Megaconference Jr. 2006 website at http://megaconferencejr.org

Questioning Lesson Plan for Videoconferences

Something that’s been on my todo list for quite a while is to write up something for preparing questions for videoconferences. We’ve all seen VCs that were less than ideal due to lack of preparation. So here’s a lesson plan: Preparing Questions for Your Videoconference. If you have any ideas, suggestions, or links to add, send them along!

New ISTE Article

Linda McDermon, Rural Hall Elementary School, North Carolina, has a nice article on videoconferencing in the December/January issue of Learning and Leading with Technology on pages 28-30. (Access restricted to ISTE members)

She lists several videoconferences and content providers they’ve participated in, including Megaconference Jr., NASA programs, local programming, and the one that caught my attention, TWICE’s Read Across America celebration. A little sidebar delves into the issue of costs & the rationale for using videoconferencing in the classroom.

Find an ISTE member near you & read the article!

VC Islands 2.0

It used to be in the “old days” with videoconferencing that educational organizations, consortia, states, etc. put in videoconferencing islands for shared classes. The main use of videoconferencing then was sharing high school and college level classes and usually an organization just shared classes within their network.

We’ve made great progress in moving away from these VC islands and doing more collaborative, creative activities with videoconferencing. Now we participate in events like Megaconference, Megaconference Jr., connect to content providers, and create collaborative videoconferences.

But with these new activities, we’re running into VC Islands 2.0: The next generation of videoconferencing islands, if you will. These new islands are created by special dialing schemes and the never-ending challenges with firewalls.

Lately I’ve been working on test calls for Read Across America, along with our wonderful Verification Partners. I also just began serious work on the implementation of the 2005 USDA RUS DLT Grant we were awarded last week.

It’s amazing to me that many vendors still don’t get it! We really do want to connect easily to ANYONE! And that generally just means a plain old simple IP address or ISDN number. None of this alias stuff or dialing extensions (which I’ve seen for both IP & ISDN connections). Very annoying! Not all units can connect. Not all bridges can connect to these extensions. Why they even recommend this type of dialing scheme to K12 education is beyond me!

Admittedly I’m not a network technician, though I’ve learned more about the network than I ever thought I could. So I don’t know everything about how these things could work. I just know that I want to connect to my VC colleagues around the world as easily as possible! No extensions!

Enough ranting. Get to work! As my colleague Kevin says.