Finding Partner Classrooms for Global Collaboration and Project- based Learning Dr. Rita Oates CUE TIPS session

Real classes to connect to Post your classroom profile in social learning network, ePals Teachers create own projects or join others No charge 16 million students and teachers in 200 countries and territories

Finding a project to join ePals ProjectsProjects –Way We Are –Climate Change –Water and others ePals Forums, such as Book ClubForums –Book talk on a specific book, age group Global SchoolNet (California-based)Global SchoolNet United Nations' Cyber School Bus Taking It Global (Canadian)Taking It Global

Using project ideas from others Intel –Monster Swap: How can I communicate so others will understand? Gr. 1-3 students give their imaginations a workout by creating unique monsters. They hone their writing skills by writing descriptions for cyber pals who try to re-create the students’ terrible beasts! ReadWriteThink

Monster Swap: How can I communicate so others will understand? Grade: 1-3, Language Arts (from Intel database) Primary students give their imaginations a workout by creating unique monsters. They then hone their writing skills by writing descriptions for cyber pals who will try to re-create the students’ terrible beasts! wap/ wap/ Elementary students create monsters no one has ever seen before. After students draw their monsters, they write descriptive paragraphs about their creations. The descriptive paragraphs are swapped with a partner class through , and cyber pals try to duplicate the monsters, basing their interpretations on the written descriptions. Resulting illustrations are scanned and swapped, and kids get to see how powerful language can be. Along the way, students learn descriptive writing skills and find common ground in the universal appeal of ugly monsters.

StarquestStarquest: What can we learn from the night sky? Grade: 6-8, Science, Language Arts Students relate our modern view of the night sky to that of the ancients. Studying the changing views of stars in the night sky helps students know more about astronomy and culture. Help students appreciate how other cultures see the sky by organizing a cooperative sky-gazing project with teachers and students in other parts of the world. Search for a class wanting a partner class to study astronomy at the ePALS Web site*. If none exists, set up a project proposal. Do this as far in advance as possible. Have students pair with assigned ePALS partners and discuss with other students what they see in the night sky at their respective latitudes and longitudes.ePALS Web site In this study, students choose a celestial body or constellation and study how it has been explained and interpreted across cultures and time. Students present their learning using technology-enhanced displays and dramatic interpretations during a culminating star party.

Posting a profile Example from ePals, the world’s largest social learning network After you post a profile, ask someone to join you! (Don’t wait to be asked.) Look at the “roll” of newest classes

Eliminate language barriers with translation tool!

English version of the Spanish profile

A Successful Profile Includes: 1.Age-range of class (grades are different in other countries) 2.Language(s) the students speak 3.Location of the classroom Three blocks from Pacific Ocean 4.Location of desired partner(s) Southern Hemisphere is starting fall semester in late March/early April! 5.Number of students

A Successful Profile Includes: 6.Collaboration tools ( , postal mail, blogs, video conferences, chat, etc.) 7.Length of desired collaboration March 25-May 15 7.Frequency of desired collaboration (twice a week, weekly, monthly) 8.Topics of desired collaboration projects Be sure to update this when you have a new project!

Searching in Project Forums Forums –ePals Projects/Teacher or Student –Other projects ePals Book Club IT Administrators Hardware

Loudoun County Public Schools (VA) Students in grade 3 learn about communities. They contact classrooms from around the world and exchange information about their communities. It is great to see children grasp the idea of "rural," "urban," etc. as they communicate with peers from these areas. Teachers culminate their projects with videoconferences. This way students use presentations and Google Earth to showcase their own communities. Grade 4 classrooms collaborate across the state of Virginia to meet some specific state standards, using different types of communities (urban, suburban, rural).

San Diego-China exchange Candace Pauchnick, language arts teacher at Patrick Henry HS in San Diego, has partnered her students for the past seven years with an ESL classroom in China They , blog, podcast, and also do Skype and videoconferencing between the two schools. Hear her: noon-1 p.m. Saturday –Smoketree F Room –See her International HS Literature blog

Students from the Guangxi School, China

Collaborating with Their California ePals………