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The Connected Classroom

“Information on and from Cooperating School Districts of Greater St. Louis' Learning Division”

Monthly Archives: June 2010

30/06/10 Happy 4th of July – Videoconferences on the American Revolution

Here are some videoconferences that help celebrate America’s Independence:

George vs. George: The American Revolution as Seen from Both Sides: Using plenty of lively illustrations, presenter and participants will have an interactive discussion about the ways George Washington and King George III were both alike and different. The program also cover the rollicking history of the colonies, the troubles leading up to the Revolutionary War, the role propaganda played on both sides of the ocean, many of the main battles and the amazing armies on both sides who fought them, how the book was made, and much more.

The First First Lady: An Audience with Martha Washington: Students will meet the very first First Lady, Martha Washington, and hear her tales of life at Mount Vernon. In this program, Mrs. Washington will bring her 40 years at Mount Vernon to life, recounting the daily adventures of her children, grandchildren, and many pets.

From Independence to Interdependence: A program designed to help U.S. students better understand the concept and reality of our interdependent world through the work and experiences of James Wilson, signer of the Declaration of Independence and Founding Father of the United States of America.

Windows Through Time: Journals of American Revolutionary War Spies!: Engage your students in The Ward Melville Heritage Organization’s literacy based distance learning program about America’s first successful spy ring… Your students will need all of their reading skills to learn about the methods and motivations of spies on Long Island and in New York City during the American Revolution as they create their Spy Design–an espionage plan that they will develop as a team from the pre-activity kit sent to the  teacher.

Of course, there are many more programs highlighting the Revolutionary War! These are just a random sampling of that is offered by various content providers.

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30/06/10 Sharpen Those Pencils: 2 Months to Register for ACT Class

Through 20 hours of instruction over interactive videoconference, high school students learn concepts and skills to master the ACT, including revolutionary test-taking techniques and tactics specific to each section of the test, all from an instructor from The Princeton Review. Three real ACT practice tests afford students the opportunity to practice what they learn and track their improvement during the five week vc course. A computer-generated analysis of each practice test provides detailed information identifying strengths & weaknesses, allowing students & teachers to focus on the areas where students need to improve.

The registration deadline for this interactive h323 videoconference course is Tuesday, August 31. Late registration run through September 13. If you register by the end of business on August 31, the course costs $140. If you register between September 1 through 13, the prices raises to $190 for the Fall 2010 ACT prep class. This is not an online learning course. Class is held at participating St. Louis area schools.

Classes run 3:30 – 5:30 PM Central
Tuesday, Sept. 21 | Thursday, Sept. 23
Tuesday, Sept. 28 | Thursday, Sept. 30
Tuesday, Oct. 5 | Thursday, Oct. 7
Tuesday, Oct. 12 | Thursday, Oct. 14
Tuesday, Oct. 19 | Thursday, Oct. 21

Saturday tests (*which are not over videoconference) run 9:00 AM.
Questions?  Contact Cooperating School Districts

pencil photo by D Sharon Pruitt

30/06/10 Find Us!

The Virtual Learning Center of Cooperating School Districts is on Facebook. To see photos, posts and news from the VLC in your Facebook feed, click that “like” button today!

29/06/10 SMART Board Classes in the Virtual Learning Center

Ruth is teaching SMART Board today

29/06/10 Upcoming Activ Promethean Trainings @ CSD

Nancy George

Each of the following Promethean Activboard classes at Cooperating School Districts are 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and are $149 for a CSD member and $189 for a non-member. Please note that there are prerequisites for both workshops. Additionally, 1 graduate credit is available for the July 8 class, though none is available for the July 28 class. Nancy George teaches our Promethean classes. To register, click here.

Creating Activboard Lessons to Engage & Motivate Students (Level 2 Training) on July 8:
Do you already have a Promethean Activboard and consider yourself a user? This intermediate class is for you! Come learn the advanced features of the ActivInspire and create flipcharts. We’ll develop lesson plans that organize lesson resources, make use of sound and images to motivate students and create a story or problem where your students demonstrate knowledge or creativity in a fun way. You’ll be able to create your own usable Activboard lesson, either from scratch or by tweaking a downloaded lesson. Prerequisite: basic knowledge of ActivInspire or Level 1 Promethean class.

NEW! Using Activotes in the Classroom on July 28:
Gauge your students’ understanding using a “clicker” system in your classroom! ActiVotes or ActivExpressions (voting devices), the ActivHub (receiver) and ActivInspire software to allow you to create tests and manage, track, and evaluate the results. Come learn how to set up formative and summative assessments for your students and obtain immediate results that can be used to guide instruction using the ActiVotes or ActivExpressions. In the first half of the class, learn the basics of the hardware and software. In the second half, you will have an opportunity to create your own assessments either from scratch or by tweaking downloaded questions sets. NOTE: The ActiVote/ActivExpression integrates seamlessly with the Activboard, but must be purchased separately. Prerequisite: Promethean Level 1 or confident with the ActivInspire software.

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28/06/10 Videoconference with Marzano Research Laboratory

Last Friday, administrators from The City of St. Charles School District came to Cooperating School Districts of Greater St. Louis and connected via videoconference to Dr. Robert Marzano in Colorado at the Marzano Research Laboratory.


Among topics discussed during the 90 minute interactive videoconference was his upcoming book, which will be released in 8 to 9 months. Dr. Marzano also spoke about using coaching and reflection, and the recognition of expertise in teaching.


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28/06/10 (Official) Welcome to Megan Moncure

Megan Moncure officially joins the Virtual Learning Center staff full-time on July 1. Megan has been working part-time with the VLC since October, assisting with METC, videoconferencing, and grant writing, in addition to working for Cooperating School Districts’ International Education Consortium (IEC).

Megan has worked for CSD for almost nine years, and as a member of the VLC, she will continue to  work on the Midwest Education Technology Conference and New Links to New Learning. Welcome to the VLC, Megan!

24/06/10 Web Literacy for Educators Workshop

Web Literacy for Educators
Wednesday, July 21  | 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
$149 CSD member; $189 non-member (One Graduate Credit also available)

Today’s K-12 students must know how to find, evaluate and utilize electronic resources for classroom assignments. However, do our students know how to validate information found on the Web?  Too often, information published on the Internet is viewed as truth, but is it really?  Also, what about copyright?  Do students have the legal right to copy and paste information from a website into their multi-media presentations and/or their own documents and websites? This class will include:

  • Reading URL web addresses to find their hidden meaning
  • Locating owners of websites
  • Conducting an efficient and effective search
  • Evaluating the validity of a website
  • Investigating fair use as it applies to student-created digital documents
  • Locating and using new Creative Commons sources
  • Recognizing the intent of a website

To register for this class, click here.

24/06/10 Computer, Camera, Flip

Today in the tele (and outside CSD on this gorgeous day) Stephanie Madlinger is teaching twelve teachers how to incorporate Flip videos into their classrooms. In Digital Media w/ Flip Cameras, participants recorded and then effectively removed an image from the video segments using the FLIP software.

Stephanie asked the class members to purposely goof on recording their videos so they would have material to work with using editing software. Also in this workshop, participants learned how to convert videos using ZamZar.

Since teachers flipped out for this tele class, I think you can expect to see if offered again during the 2010-2011 school year!

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23/06/10 Technology-Rich Lessons Increase Achievement

Today is day two of Martha Bogart’s Creating Technology-Rich Lessons to Increase Student Achievement workshop in the tele.

During the two day session, participants learned how to combine software applications and Web 2.0 technologies for K-12 classroom use. They created search engines of approved websites for student use; they found lesson plans online; they also made assignments that require students to use technology. Topics like Discovery Education streaming and Google Books were discussed as well.

To see a complete list of all tele classes offered by the Virtual Learning Center of  Cooperating School Districts, click here.

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