The Wired Classroom

While I wasn’t able to make it to NECC, many of my Cooperating School District colleagues were able to, as well as my v/c community friends. Roxanne Glaser and Janine Lim are in San Antonio, Texas, and they are updating their respective blogs with all the stuff that is taking place! To check in on what’s going on, visit VC Rox and Videoconferencing Out on a Lim. Janine has several interviews linked on her blog with content providers, including Tonya Muro and Lisa Inks from Global Nomads Group. Roxanne & Janine, thanks for being so thorough and timely with your NECC blog posts!

 Janine Lim and Sue Porter talk about Read Around the Planet

(Don’t be confused by my screen shot (I liked the picture)!
Please click on “talk” above to see the clip).

To read up on NECC, visit http://www.necc2008.org/.

Here is the rest of Carolyn Lesser’s 2008-09 interactive videoconference offerings through New Links to New Learning. For pricing on programs, contact Rebecca Morrison at CSD.

Custom-designed writing videoconference for educators and/or students… This program is offered to give the most flexibility to planners and educators.  Embedded in this program is total control over the content, the number of presentations, the issues and concerns most important to your district or schools, making your enrichment dollars pinpoint accurate at addressing your needs.  Collaborative planning is one of the riches of this custom planning as it brings the element of support and professional development for the efforts of educators concerning writing.  It is a real collaboration between educators and an author.  To view some of the possibilities, visit Carolyn’s website for presentation options.  

Writing Nonfiction Prose or Poetry…#1
Session #1…30 minute conference call from teachers to plan for students
Session #2…45 minute interactive presentation to students…assignment
Session #3…45 minute interactive reading/positive feedback to student work

• Carolyn will choose writing topics appropriate for grade level
• Students will participate in a professional nonfiction writing process
• Teacher input is important…come to conference call with ideas
• Carolyn engages students with enthusiasm for the nonfiction process

Writing Nonfiction Prose or Poetry…#2
Session #1…45 minute conference/call from teachers to plan for students
Session #2…60 minute interactive presentation to students…assignment
Session #3…60 minute interactive reading/positive feedback to student work

• Specific writing topics chosen by teachers/students
• Professional nonfiction writing process tailored & relevant to curriculum, teacher requests, goals
• Teacher input/requests/goals discussed in the conference call
• Added time for student questions following our work together
• Carolyn brings inspiration & enthusiasm to each session

Custom add-ons to any series bring depth and relevance to students & staff~

Now that the school year is over, I think people are starting to this about next school year-  and for high school students and their parents-  about college prep. Cooperating School Districts’ New Links to New Learning offers both an ACT Prep Class and now a PSAT Prep Class, both over videoconference. Trained instructors from The Princeton Review conduct the course and CSD gets you connected to the course. For more info, contact Rebecca Morrison.

Here’s some info to think about:

• Public Missouri high school students who completed The Princeton Review PSAT Clinic averaged of 12.1 pts higher on the PSAT, and the top 50% of student scoring 21.6  points higher, which is equivalent to an SAT scaled score increase of 216 points.
• According to The Princeton Review, when students attend all of the sessions, take all of the practice tests, and complete all assigned homework, average ACT score improvement is three points. 

Today was the Boundless Learning in Videoconferencing tele class. Districts represented were Hazelwood, Ritenour, Francis Howell, Normandy, and Parkway. During the day, participants learned about videoconferencing- everything from the equipment to programs to funding. We connected the class to three content providers- across town, across state, and across the country! Saint Louis University (AIMS), The Discovery Center in Springfield, and the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY all provided v/c demos, sharing what they bring into classrooms. In addition to learning about different kinds of content offered, participants learned where to find programs and the best ways to schedule them. 

We told participants where to find free videoconferences (government agencies like Library of Congress and NASA). Multipoint versus point-to-point were covered, as was “upon request” and set times- common buzzwords. Participating teachers happened to be in New Links to New Learning districts, so we also shared what membership means. Of course, we gave them time ask questions, to click around the Moodle, to check various v/c content provider databases, and to skim all those v/c blogs out there!

Last year’s videoconferences on forgiveness & empathy were so popular that we’ve decided to do a series on forgiveness this upcoming school year! We’re working with Lynne Lang of BJC School Outreach & Youth Development to put together five or six professional development sessions together. These sessions will be part of New Links to New Learning’s Mental Health videoconference series. Our target audience is high school staff for the forgiveness series. We’re still working on dates, fees, etc., but once those are set, we’ll post them.

We are also doing three of our traditional one hour videoconferences. Those will start in January and run through March. The interactive videoconferences always run 4 to 5 o’clock central.  2009 topics include: dealing with the death of a classmate on January 8; media literacy and teen behavior on February 12; and peer versus sibling bullying on March 12. 

If you have questions about the Mental Health series or if you want to sign up for any of the videoconferences, contact me, Rebecca Morrison, at rmorrison@csd.org. 

Author and former teacher Carolyn Lesser has created a new menu of interactive videoconference programs for New Links to New Learning! Here are just a few of the new videoconference opportunities with Carolyn. The others will be up soon. Contact the Virtual Learning Center for costs and scheduling - all programs are upon request. Carolyn works with students second grade and up.

Writing Nature Prose or Poetry
Session #1… 45 minute conference/call from teachers to plan for students
Session #2… 50 minute interactive presentation & student assignment given
Session #3… 50 minute interactive reading/positive feedback to student-read work

• Sessions will concentrate on nature writing specific to relevant curriculum
• We will connect science with the writing/research process in prose or poetry
• Research will be stressed for scientific accuracy for topics
• Teacher input is very important…come to conference call with ideas
• Carolyn will engage students with enthusiasm for her nonfiction process

Multigenre Nonfiction Writing
Session #1… 45 minute conference call from teachers to plan for students
Session #2… 60 minute interactive presentation & student assignment given
Session #3… 60 minute interactive reading/positive feedback to student-read work

• Teacher input/requests/goals discussed in the conference call
• Each nonfiction topic will be written in poetry, prose, letter, journal entry, dialogue, newspaper article, broadcast, report, etc.  
• My professional nonfiction writing process tailored & relevant to specific curriculum, teacher requests, goals
• Specific writing topics chosen by teachers/students
• Time will be taken each session for student questions
• Each session will be full of inspiration, enthusiasm, and positive feedback

Crafting a Play
Session #1… 60 minute conference with teachers to plan for students
Session #2… 60 minute presentation & student assignment given
Session #3… 60 minute presentation of scenes from students’ plays… feedback to and from groups

• Professional play-writing, techniques presented
• Teacher input/requests/goals discussed in the teacher conference
• Curriculum for the basis of the plays discussed with teachers
• Topics chosen by teachers/students
• Time for student questions in each session
• All sessions interactive

We’ve set up the following dates/times for Pat McKissack’s upcoming videoconferences. Pat is an award winning author who has written over 100 books! She does three part series, the first session always with teachers, the second and third with students. For more details and descriptions on the interactive programs, visit www.authorvisit.wordpress.com.

Winter Holidays Around  the World 
November  4, 2008-  4 pm
November  25, 2008-  9:30  or 11 am
December  16, 2008- 9:30  or 11 am

Creative Writing
Fall dates/times:                        Spring dates/times:
November 11- 4 pm                  February 24- 4 pm 
November 25- 1 or 2 pm           March 3- 9:30 or 11 am 
December 16- 1 or 2 pm           March 17- 9:30 or 11 am

Fact vs. Opinion with Arlene Zarembka
February 17, 2009 -  4 pm 
March 3, 2009-  1 or 2 pm
March 17, 2009-  1 or 2 pm

You’ll note that we are offering Creative Writing once in the spring, and once in the fall. We are also going to bring back the Historical Fiction/Biography series, but we haven’t set those dates- yet- but check here and at Pat’s blog, Can You Imagine? for updates. All times listed are central- Pat videoconferences live from St. Louis, Missouri at Cooperating School Districts. The cost for each series is $650 for New Links to New Learning members, and $750 for non-members. For information on New Links to New Learning, click here.

There are quite a few technology in education conferences taking place in July. As you know, I will be attending and presenting at the Missouri Distance Learning Association (MODLA) Annual Conference at Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach (that’s July 9-10).  Ruth, Martha, Nancy and Stacey will head to San Antonio, Texas the first week of July to attend NECC- the National Educational Computing Conference.  In addition, Successlink is holding the 6th Annual Technology Innovations Conference  July 17-18, also at Tan-Tar-A. There, Stacey will present on Web 2.0. Martha and Nancy plan to present at Successlink’s conference on several topics: Internet Safety, SMART Board, and Discovery Streaming.

In other education conference news, CSD’s CHARACTERplus is holding its 14th Annual Character Education Conference in St. Louis this summer. Dorothy White, who does an awesome job on the Midwest Education Technology Conference with Nancy and Joan, also works on CEC with a great group of folks from CHARACTERplus. CEC runs July 16-18.

As noted in my earlier post about World Environment Day, videoconferencing is a great way to cut down on fuel usage & reduce your carbon footprint. We just got an e-mail about Polycom’s Go Green Assessment and I wanted to share the info with you. This assessment includes an evaluation of current travel patterns and practices, an assessment of how users currently work and would prefer to work, and provides formulas that can be used to increase productivity, improve time efficiency, and reduce travel costs.  To take a closer look at the assessment, click here.

RoundTrips has paleontology virtual field trips scheduled for the third week of June.  In conjunction with the Saint Louis Science Center, RoundTrips will produce three interactive videoconferences over three days live from the Montana badlands! 

Virtual Paleotrek:
Paleontology in the Comfort of your own Classroom

Each of the hour and a half sessions will include:

• Interaction with geologists, paleontologists, and teachers participating in the Saint Louis Science Center’s Paleotrek program in Montana
• Participation in “virtual” field activities taught by geologists and paleontologists from the Saint Louis Science Center during their field program, Paleotrek, in Montana
• Sharing your successful field activities with teachers engaged in the conference
• Professional conversation on how best to include field activities in the science classroom
• Professional conversation about the strengths and weaknesses of “virtual” field activity experiences and how best to incorporate them into the science classroom
• Evaluation of the “virtual” field activity you participated in 

Additional materials are available upon enrollment: 

• an agenda for the videoconference including the virtual field activity, plus professional conversation & sharing
• lesson plans & other resources related to each day’s virtual field trip activity
• national science curriculum standards related to the activities

Here’s what is on schedule:

Tuesday, June 17—11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. CDT

                Go to the Science Center’s Montana field site. Learn about the use of topographical maps, fossil identification & prospecting in the Montana badlands.

         

Wednesday, June 18—11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. CDT

                Participate as the Science Center explores fossil microsites. Interact as they prospect & collect the fossils that make up microsites.

 

Thursday, June 19—11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. CDT

               Engage in field orienteering using GPS technology. Interact with Science Center experts & teachers as they excavate an actual dinosaur fossil.

If you have questions, or to sign up, contact Tim Gore at RoundTrips: roundtrips@clayton.k12.mo.us