Staff Development – Accidentally
November 2nd, 2009 by Linda McDonald
Check out this post from Janine Lim.
Realized I’ve been doing the same thing out of neccessity. Teachers are learning as they go and becoming champions for their campuses. They are bending projects to meet their needs.
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Monster Match
October 29th, 2009 by Linda McDonald
Great info. on Monster Match from Roxanne Glaser! Roxanne has helped me think through how to empower teachers to be independent with content focused VC projects. The teachers are doing a wonderful job. The higher level thinking across the grade levels is precious. The examples are precious.
http://vcrox.com/archives/1855
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High School Video Conference projects
October 25th, 2009 by Linda McDonald
Mystery Quest: Latin America! What a pleasure to work with high school geography teachers and their 9th grade students! A JAZZ graduate designed the project. I helped her structure her vision and come up with a plan that could be shared with colleagues from other campuses. Two 30 min. sessions scheduled a week apart resolved MOST scheduling issues. I was very impressed by the level of flexibility I did find at this instructional level.
The student engagement was amazing! The kids had a great time constructing their own knowledge of Latin American countries.
We hope to replicate the project and expand it to include even more classes next time.
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When it Rains, it Pours 2
October 9th, 2009 by Linda McDonald
I can’t believe that I survived!
1. National Poetry Day – Europe… was a fail for us….they did not have the technical side set up properly for us. Lesson learned….if you are dialing internationally….you’ve got to work with people who are going to give immediate response to email or a backchannel.
2. NASA….they always do a great job!! Teachers and kids loved all three sessions. Teachers prefer 1 school at a time within a virtual field trip but in order for me to justify my time….I general set up sessions for 3 schools if possible. Anyone have ideas on how to find the balance here?
3. Smithsonian American Art Museum…Again teachers and kids loved all 5 sessions for 4th graders. Issues – how do I tackle the issue for those who don’t choose to read the directions that I send? How do I convince teachers that it is OK if every single class doesn’t participate in this session? 4 classes of 4th graders for a 45 min. session was a challenge for all.
Other lessons learned….keep a work flow chart to make sure you have covered all the tasks for your sessions/projects. In this ADD world/job….it is easy to overlook a details that could result in a fail for learning….double check your schedule….(I ended up with 2 sessions ….at the same time …at the same school…with one endpoint….luckily, I have the Polycom PVX software and my laptop worked as an endpoint)…carry “spares” – headphones, microsphones, powerstrips….don’t assume the cmapus will have what you need….arrive early….communicate….smile….praise the effort!
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When it Rains it Pour
October 6th, 2009 by Linda McDonald
What a great week. I’ve got 3 big video conferences on Thursday! WOW
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