Monthly Archives: October 2009
21/10/09 Winter Holidays Videoconference Registration Deadline Approaching!
World renowned children’s author, Patricia McKissack, teaches students how to write over distance learning. During hands-on and highly interactive videoconference sessions, participating students discuss plot, themes, character development and more. Patricia will also post to her blog and answer students questions during her series. Next up on her three part writing series: Winter Holidays Around the World.
Chinese New Year
In the first videoconference, the author meets with the participating teachers to discuss the goals of the author visit and refers them to the book she will be discussing, Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters. In the second, the author dialogs with the students, discussing winter holiday traditions and how she wrote her book about Christmas on a Virginia plantation in 1859. In the third videoconference, she gives feedback to students about the writing and illustrations the students have done. Past winter holidays students have written on include Chinese New Year, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Ramadan.
We hope to see you this holiday session! Here are the dates – please register no later than November 1 with Rebecca Morrison:
Teacher Session: Thursday, November 5 at 4 pm CT
First Student Session: Tuesday, November 24 at 11 am CT
Second Student Session: Tuesday, December 15 at 11 am CT
The cost for this three part series is $650 for New Links to New Learning members, $750 for nonmembers.
Tags: Chinese New Year, Christmas, Hanukkah, holiday traditions, Kwanzaa, New Links to New Learning, Patricia McKissack, Ramadan
21/10/09 Virtual Learning Center & Flickr
To see pictures of the latest Virtual Learning Center activities, make sure to visit our Flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/virtuallearningcenter
.
We have current and past photos of our academies, videoconferences, tele classes, the Midwest Education Technology Conference, and special events gathered in one place. The photos above are of the most recent Ritenour iTEA Cadre I meeting in October. All of the pictures are public and most can be found in Creative Commons!
Tags: Creative Commons, Flickr, iTEA, Midwest Education Technology Conference, tele, videoconference, Virtual Learning Center
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- Posted under Tech PD, VLC Programs
21/10/09 October 2009: Creating SMARTBoard Lessons to Engage and Motivate Students
Creating SMARTBoard Lessons to Engage and Motivate Students
October 28 & 29, from 4:00-7:00 pm
$138 CSD member; $214 non-member
(One Grad. Credit Available)
Do you already have a SMART Board and consider yourself a user? This intermediate class is for you! Come learn the advanced features of the SMART Board and create lessons. Become adept at creating recordings of what you do on the SMART Board for future playback! Find out how to use the video player that comes with your SMART Board to annotate videos. Learn how to attach audio files to objects on the SMART Board, and how to save items that you use often and want to share to the My Content folder. We’ll show you how to find hundreds of lessons that have already been created for use on the SMART Board. You’ll be able to create your own usable lesson, either from scratch or by tweaking a downloaded lesson.
There is limited space available- sign up at www.csd.org/tele.
Tags: Cooperating School Districts, SMART Board, tele, Virtual Learning Center
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- Posted under Classroom Technology, Collaboration, SMART Board, Tech PD, VLC Programs
20/10/09 Baikonur and the Soviet Space Race
Recently, Lafayette High School in the Rockwood School District participated in Baikonur and the Soviet Space Race, offered by the Inner Asian & Uralic National Resource Center.
This free videoconference attempts to fill in the gaps in our understanding of the Space Race, as seen from the other side: namely, the Soviet Union. The content provider looks at both their successes and failures, as well as the modern reality of the Russian space program being located in the independent country of Kazakhstan.
I’d like to share some feedback I got from the school on this interactive videoconference from the Inner Asian & Uralic National Resource Center:
Our interaction today was one of the most educationally engaging and valuable that our school (read that, 48 videoconferences last year) has participated in. Your “product knowledge” was extensive and complex, and, truly, we would LOVE to spend another hour discussing this topic with you. As videoconference planner, I try so very hard to locate conference experiences of relevance and quality, such that the deviation from class lesson is no deviation but enrichment, and, wow, this presentation was off the charts. Thank you, sincerely, and thoroughly. If you could really speak with us again, please let us know. We don’t want to overextend our welcome, but, you and the information and passion you shared are the rare real deal.
Tags: Baikonur, Inner Asian & Uralic National Resource Center, Kazakhstan, Soviet Union, Space Race, videoconference
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- Posted under Classroom Technology, Collaboration, Distance Learning, Links, Videoconferencing
19/10/09 A Spooktacular Good Time!
Jack o’ lantern,
Jack o’ light.
Jack o’ darkness,
Jack o’ night.
“Thrillsome, shocking, bewitching — Halloween! It’s the only night of the year when a being can truly be . . . itself! But Halloween’s not just for goblins. Read along and see for yourself as bats, witches, daring adventurers, even ordinary kids (especially ordinary kids) come out for tricks and treats. Spooky fun poems and winning hand-beaded illustrations perfectly capture the spirit of this much-loved holiday…”
Today author Amy Sklansky connected with a group of second graders at Castlio Elementary in the Francis Howell School District 
for her videoconference Inside a Poet’s Mind. Today’s program had a Halloween focus, with Amy working exclusively from her book, Skeleton Bones and Goblin Groans (illustrated by Karen Dismukes).
To learn how you can connect your class to one of Amy’s fabulous videoconferences, visit the New Links website on
http://csd.org
.
07/10/09 Videoconference Kickoff
Amy Sklansky, Pat McKissack, Lisa Suggs
Today is the Virtual Learning Center‘s Videoconference Kickoff celebration!
Taking place- right now!- this all day event features New Links to New Learning content providers (see left), Alan November, plus demos from Polycom, SMART, and IDSolutions.
Educators from all over the St. Louis area are in attendance to take in this great day of professional development. Visit the VLC Flickr page to see photos of the day!
Tags: Cooperating School Districts, Flickr, IDSolutions, New Links to New Learning, Polycom, SMART, Virtual Learning Center, Web 2.0
05/10/09 Limited Space Left in Federal Reserve Bank Videoconference on the First Bank of the United States
Alexander Hamilton
We still have space on October 16, 2009, high school students can connect at 10:30 a.m. CT or 1 p.m. CT to learn about the First Bank of the United States. The free videoconference lasts one hour. Register by noon on October 7 with school name, tech name, tech email address, tech phone, IP address, plus the number of participating students and what grade they are in.
During the videoconference, Dr. Andrew Hill, the economic education adviser at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, will discuss the politics, operations, and importance of the First Bank of the United States (1791-1811).
05/10/09 Plight of the Polar Bear Videoconference Series
Today author Carolyn Lesser is connecting to Linda Altoonian’s journalism classes at Martin High School in the Arlington (TX) Independent School District for the first of two customized videoconferences.
Carolyn will be discussing the “Plight of P
olar Bears” with Ms. Altoonian’s students. She will share her work and her stories of traveling to visit polar bears in their natural habitat. The participating students will then be assigned a writing project to work on between now and the next videoconference connection on October 13. Carolyn will then review the writing assignments and share her critique.
Tags: Carolyn Lesser, Linda Altoonian, polar bears
05/10/09 “Executive Briefing” on SMART Classroom Suite
Kansas City Audio-Visual and SMART Technologies invite you to an “Executive Briefing” to discover how new SMART Classroom Suite software can be the heart of your 21st century computer-enabled classrooms at CSD. Spend some time with us and learn how SMART Classroom Suite enhances student achievement and teacher productivity– from creating and delivering lessons, to the engaging and assessing of students.
If you attend this free event at Cooperating School Districts on Friday, October 9, you will have a chance to win a FREE SMART Classroom Suite License for up to 199 students!. If you have any questions, or for more information, please contact Jerry Bernard at (800) 798-5228. Morning refreshments and lunch will be provided. Please send your RSVP to tsmutz@kcav.com by Tuesday, October 6.
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- Posted under Classroom Technology, Collaboration, SMART Board, Tech PD
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