Between Friday and today we have three sessions with Author Ben Mikaelsen for Coloma Middle School. Since it costs so much we obtained permission to have several other schools connect as view only sites as well.

Students realize very quickly into the session that Ben is a master storyteller, not only in words but in person too! He tells the story of growing up in Bolivia, of integration into an American junior high in Minnesota, and of his experience not being able to spell. His story is inspiring to all students, no matter their skill level.

Ben also tells stories about his bear and the adventures they have together. He draws several lessons on dealing with bullies, following your dreams, and getting along with others.

Finally after the presentation, students asked great questions. One of the teachers said afterwards, "The presentation was very complete and thorough. The kids loved the session."

The program is a tad expensive, but authors have to eat too! If you have a budget for bringing in authors, this program is well worth it. 

Today Berrien Springs Middle School is participating in four sessions of Atmospheric Adventures with COSI Toledo, one of our favorite science museums.

Students are immediately engaged in conversation and interaction that helps them realize that Andy, the presenter, can actually see them! It’s a great way to start VCs and helps break the ice for classes that are new to videoconferencing. They are immediately put at ease and are ready to learn.

During the program, Andy calls on volunteers to try out various experiments that help to explain concepts such as air pressure and how it interacts with matter & gravity.

One of the ways I evaluate a program when I’m watching the program is the posture of the students. If they are sitting up & leaning forward, you know they are engaged & interested in the program! You should definitely plan to do a program with COSI Toledo sometime next year if you haven’t already…

In the last three weeks we’ve had three schools participate in 7 sessions of Aztec, Maya, and More with The Cleveland Museum of Art. This program tightly matches our 6th grade curriculum as students are studying the Western Hemisphere.

The program starts off right away with great interaction. With many questions, students are encouraged to think carefully about what we can learn about people from the sculpture they are viewing.

As you can see in the picture, The Cleveland Museum of Art, uses a very cool technology: the green screen, just as the weatherman does! This definitely adds to the quality of the program and the way students feel connected to the presenter & engaged in the content.

The presenter is willing to adapt the program based on what the teacher requests. The Cleveland Museum of Art has much (most or all?) of their collection digitized and they can easily bring up additional images based on the teachers’ preference.
Here are some comments from two of the teachers who participated:

“The presenter was awesome with my kids! She answered even their questions about how the video conference was done. She gave background on the museum, and was very patient even with some of the not-so-bright answers my kids gave. We learned so much, and my students loved it!”

” The gal was very helpful, patient, and flexible with lines of questioning. Next best thing to being there! My kids had a blast! Students enjoyed interacting with the speaker. They got to ask questions as well as answer them. The more the students participated the more they got out of the program. This program is good for an introduction of the subject or as a review to finish the topic. I’m very happy I did this videoconferencing.”

This afternoon E. P. Clarke Elementary, St. Joseph is connecting to the Cleveland Institute of Music for their Musical Geography of America program.

The program starts off with questions right away to get students engaged and interacting. Students answer questions that test their understanding of the regions of the U.S., borders and large bodies of water, major goods and services from the various regions, etc. The students also got a peek at their school compliments of Google Earth!

Students listen to different kinds of music including a hymn, a Native American melody, jazz, and mariachi.

During the program, the students play a Native American melody on plastic flutes and rattle the rhythm sticks with the mariachi music.

The program also includes references to American history events & people such as Lewis & Clark and slavery.

The 3rd grade teachers at Clarke appreciate this program and integrate it into their spring curriculum annually. There is a lot of variety in the program and it keeps the students engaged as they learn about U.S. geography and regions.

Can you identify a plant’s habitat? Students from North Elementary, Watervliet, are connected to the Center for Puppetry Arts for the Plants program.

Students are learning about plants and their various habitats. They learned about the largest flower in the world, the Rafflesia arnoldii. It’s smell, that of rotten meat, can be detected a mile away. One student exclaimed, “Cool!”

After an introduction to the habitats, the students begin making a puppet. The presenter, Patty Petrey Dees, is very encouraging to the students and gives them clear instructions for making the puppet during the program.

Students learn about the different parts of the plant, identifying, labeling, and discussing the details of each plant part. The program also includes kinesthetic movement as students learn how the plants work. These activities help students stay focused for the length of the program.

Students also look at various foods and identify which part of the plant they are eating.

We really enjoy the programs from the Center for Puppetry Arts and this one was top notch like the others!

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! :>)

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.)

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.