One of the premier worldwide events for K12 Videoconferencing is Megaconference Jr. Today’s event was exceptional! The presentations from students around the world were informative, interesting and creative. Student facilitated multipoint videoconferencing was a great learning experience for all involved! Participating in Megaconference Jr. is a great way to learn good VC etiquette, both by examples of good etiquette and observing not-so-good examples. 🙂

Most schools participate by having classes rotate through the various presentations. Once the schedule gets posted, then local coordinators can encourage teachers to stop by the VC room for the presentations that are interested/relevant to their content area. Some classes get up really early in the morning to participate: Hawaii checked in at 4:00 a.m. their time for the first roll call.

Consider participating next year in Megaconference Jr., a wonderful celebration of videoconferencing and innovative educational projects around the world!

One of the best reasons to use videoconferencing is to connect to people who would be difficult to bring to your classroom otherwise.

Today’s ASK videoconference with United States Poet Laureate Rita Dove, Commonwealth Professor of English at the University of Virginia was an amazing experience.

The program was a collaboration between SAXophone, providing registration and coordination, Berrien County ISD, providing coordination, Macomb ISD, providing ASK training and event facilitation, Broward County Schools, providing bridging services, and Polycom, providing funding.

The ASK reading and journaling process culminates with incredible thought provoking questions from the students. Here are a few samples:

On the poem, Maple Valley Branch Library, 1967:
*Why did you use the word rhapsody in the line about historical dates?
*How did the librarian in the poem treat you, and why did you call her improbable?”

“What was the process you went through to write the poem, Lady Freedom Among Us?”
“You said in the poem we should never forget her. What other things in the world do you think we shouldn’t forget?”

Besides journaling, preparing questions, and writing their own poetry, students participated in a poetry blog. Students shared in-depth thoughts and questions, as well as their own poetry in response. Here’s a sampling:

A clip of a poem in response to Maple Valley Branch Library, 1967

The Books have whispered many things:
“You can eat an elephant…if you take small bites.”
“You can win soccer state…one game at a time.”
“You can help humanity…one life at a time.”
“You can end a war…if you take small steps.”
All between the bindings of books. by KJ

A response to Rosa

I love how with “Rosa”, Rita Dove creates very vivid images with very few words. This poem relates a hugely important moment in history, but instead of using elaborate detail to make the oft-told story seem new and real, Rita manages to do just that by picking out certain choice images that quickly give you a sense of who Rosa was and what that moment on the bus was like. by LL

Read all the student thoughts and poems at the Poetry by Rita Dove Blog.

At the end of the videoconference, Rita commented that she was very excited about the blogs and the students imagination shown in the posts. She also commented that she was asked several questions that she hadn’t been asked before. “Poetry can help you realize that you’re not alone on this planet and others have similar thoughts and fears. Read! Read! Read!”

Thank you to everyone who made this event possible, and especially we appreciate Rita Dove for taking the time to talk to high school and middle school students in Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota.

Just finished one of my favorite annual videoconferences that we do. Students from Buchanan, Coloma and New Buffalo High Schools interviewed Senator Levin on current issues. Clearly the students had given much thought to their questions and included facts and information they had researched when asking their questions. A few highlights include:

• On a daily basis what are your duties? How much time is spent in Michigan vs. D.C?
  Senator Levin shared how he comes back to Michigan for events on weekends, to visit his family here and enjoying travel throughout the world on various trips, such as a recent trip to Iraq.
• Several questions were asked regarding ANWR, the gas prices and other such energy issues. Students asked questions about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and there was discussion of balancing security needs and environmental issues. In addition, students asked questions about the pollution in the Great Lakes system.
• Students asked questions about jobs going overseas and Michigan’s unemployment rates. Senator Levin shared his thoughts on the problems of not taxing overseas profits for U.S. companies and the need for a tough trade policy with countries like China, which impose tariffs on U.S. products.
• One student asked about the tension between Senator Levin’s support for raising the minimum wage and support for small businesses.

A very valuable experience for students, indeed! Videoconferencing brings the real world into classroom studies, again!

This morning St. Joseph High School hosted Congressman Fred Upton and shared the videoconference with Decatur High School and Lakeshore High School via videoconference. High school students asked questions about many topics including energy, No Child Left Behind, social security, funding for adult education in Benton Harbor to address the low literacy rate, and steriod use in sports.

Mr. Upton has shared his time with our local schools annually in the videoconference format since 2000. He is especially skilled at giving succinct answers and using illustrations that help students understand the issues. For example, when discussing oil drilling in Alaska, he shared his preferred restriction for 2000 acres used for drilling. He compared that to the size of the Western Michigan University campus to clarify the numbers for students.

Videoconferencing with legislators is a great way to bring real-world connections and substantive conversations into the social studies curriculum! Students certainly enjoy the opportunity to ask their legislators questions about day to day issues.