A Week in the Life 14-1 Teacher kickoff meeting

A Week in the Life Project 14-‐1 Welcome!

Teacher kickoff mee:ng February 18/19 2014

The Project wiki can be found at h"p://aweekinthelife14-‐1.flatclassroomproject.org/ The project Teacher Guide can be found ath"p://<nyurl.com/awlflatconnect This project is part of the Flat Connec:ons group of global projects h"p://flatconnec<ons.com

Meet FuzeBox! Our virtual classroom for Flat Connec:ons

Where are you from? Add to chat your name, your city/state/country and :me.

Agenda

Part 1: AWL and Flat Connec<ons

•  Introduc:ons •  What is Flat Connec:ons? •  What is A Week in the Life? •  Places and spaces

Part 2: Project details •  Project content •  Project aims and challenges •  Project structure •  Project outcomes •  How to get started •  What to do now….and next

Introduc:ons •  Project Manager

– Michelle McGarvey

•  Lead Teacher – Tina Schmidt

•  ‘All Projects’ Coordinator – Yvonne Caples

•  Flat Connec:ons founder –  Julie Lindsay

A Flat Connec:ons project is about…..

CONNECTING ●  Being informed -‐ making sure you receive informa:on

●  Making valuable connec:ons with other par:cipants

●  Building a learning community -‐ teachers and students

●  Being comfortable with project spaces and places


COMMUNICATING ●  Synchronous teacher mee:ngs ●  Asynchronous Ning, wiki, Edmodo work ●  Sharing resources and ideas for learning to improve project outcomes

●  Observing project workflow and informing partners of school breaks and interrup:ons


COLLABORATING ●  Contribu:ng to all aspects of the project ●  Being reliable and responsible global collaborators

●  Monitoring and being part of the project conversa:on with students

●  Suppor:ng co-‐crea:on objec:ves

What is ‘A Week in the Life…’? 'A Week in the Life...' is a Flat Connec:ons Project for Elementary School students of approximately ages 8-‐11. The curriculum focus is Interdisciplinary, including concepts for how we live, how we communicate, cultural understanding and global awareness.

The aim of the project is to join Elementary School classrooms globally with a view to exploring what life is like in each country through discussion, sharing and collec:ng mul:media to create final products together. These are then compared and contrasted and become the focus of further educa:onal ac:vi:es aber the project.

Teachers will meet most weeks to discuss project goals, aims and progress. Classes will be grouped into teams on each topic.

The project is designed to develop cultural understanding, skills with Web 2.0 and other sobware, experience in global collabora:on and online learning, awareness of what it means to live and learn in a flat world.

Places and Spaces…… Getting a handle on where to go

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog

AWLTeacher Community

• Flat Connection network (Ning) o  Join teacher group (http://flatconnections.net) o  http://flatconnections.net/group/a-week-in-

the-life-14-1

• AWL Google group o Set your own email preferences and make

sure you are receiving mail during the project

For private email communication •  https://groups.google.com/group/flat-classroom-elementary-project •  Email: [email protected]

Wiki http://aweekinthelife14-1.flatclassroomproject.org/

Good Tips for Wikispaces

1. Take this week to get yourself comfortable with Wikispaces. Make sure you join!

2. Topics are always on the leb to click on

3. To edit, first make sure you are on the page you want to edit, then click “edit” in the top right of the screen. Always preview your changes before saving.

Ning Group – Important resources hgp://flatconnec:ons.net

Essen<al Ques<ons Which Will Be Answered as Part of the Project

•  What are the similari<es and differences among children around the world?

•  How can we connect with each other through our commonali<es?

•  How does your geography where you live impact your topic?

1. Do some research in your school around these NINE topics:

•  School <me •  Languages •  Clothing •  Housing •  Transporta<on •  Leisure <me •  Holidays •  Celebra<on •  Environment

2. Collect mul<media and share with team members

•  Mul<media choices: 3-‐5 second video, audio, slideshow, cartoons, etc.

•  Share mul<media online via VoiceThread and team wiki pages

•  Discuss differences and similari<es between mul<media

3. Complete a final project

•  Each classroom will be responsible to assemble a number of team projects

•  Upload finished projects to the wiki •  View all the group projects and compare and contrast the results.

Project Tools -‐ Students

•  Edmodo – Our ‘social’ educa:onal network – Students in teams –  ‘Handshake’ – introduc:ons – Share ideas, converse, solve problems – Answer essen:al ques:ons

•  Wikispaces -‐ Our collabora:ve working area – Co-‐create wiki pages with material share for each topic

How many of you have used Edmodo?

Good Tips for Edmodo

1. Take this week to get yourself comfortable with Edmodo before we add students.

2. YouTube official Edmodo videos

3. Think of Edmodo as an educa:onal Facebook

How will Workflow support AWL 14-‐1?

•  Online Teacher Informa:on Mee:ng: before March 1

•  Classroom and Student Handshake: March 1-‐15 •  Team Forma:on and Project Discussions: March 15-‐April 15

•  Mul:media Collec:on and Sharing: April 15-‐30 •  Media Colla:on and Product Development: May 1-‐15

•  Celebra:on, Summits and Reflec:ons: May 15-‐June 1

A Week in the Life Project Structure

Edmodo, Handshakes, Wiki

Team Forma<on, Mul<media Collec<on

Project development and co-‐crea<on

Celebra<on, Reflec<on, Sharing outcomes

Adding Your School on the Wiki •  All Teachers will need to join the wiki •  Add their school on the home page with

–  Their school logo –  A :me stamp from clocklink.com –  A school photograph of students or the school

What are Project Outcomes for Students?

•  Online learning community interac:on – Real :me interac:ons e.g. Skype – Sharing mul:media -‐images, videos e.g. class handshakes

•  Collabora:ve learning and team skills •  Major outcome 1: Contribu<on to one of the Team topics

•  Major outcome 2: Co-‐created ar<facts

Crea:ng the Handshake

●  Handshake phase ○  Reach out and “shake hands” over the next week ○  Share this experience via the Ning or the Wiki

●  Tools for the Handshake ○  You decide ○  Skype -‐ Mystery? ○  Video

What now?

•  PM will email a mee:ng summary and recording link for this kickoff (and this info will be on the Ning!)

•  Invita:on to Google group, Ning group, Timebridge, join the wiki

•  Week star:ng February 24: – Another teacher mee:ng run by Michelle and Tina – Teachers start introducing students to the project – Real :me connec:ons explored

Badges -‐Teachers & Students

Flat Connec<ons will introduce ‘Badges’ this semester. More informa<on coming soon! h"p://credly.com

Discussion and Ques:ons

Final words………

•  Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. -‐ Albert Einstein

•  The important thing is not to stop ques:oning. -‐ Albert Einstein

FLAT professional development Flat Connec:ons Global Educator

FLAT encounters Sydney June 2014

FLAT projects for K-‐12 hgp://flatconnec:ons.com

Global Portal flatconnec:ons.com Teacher Network flatconnec:ons.net Email admin@flatconnec:ons.com Twiger @flatconnec:ons Julie Lindsay julie@flatconnec:ons.com

A Week in the Life 14-1 Teacher kickoff meeting

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