Careers Unit

The third graders at Alsup Elementary will be starting a unit about careers in January. We have built a wiki page that includes a survey for people to share with us about their careers. The survey is very short!!! It asks two main questions: Why do you work? and What skills do you use in your work?

We are trying to get as many people to fill in information for our students. Please take a moment to answer these questions on our wiki!

The wiki survey will help our students learn about the variety of careers and connect with hopefully a global community.

Here is the survey: http://thirdgradeinquiry.wetpaint.com/page/A+Path+to+Follow


Thank you!

Project Fall

I thought I'd give an update on Global Learner stuff so far. It has been a busy semester. I'm finding it hard to fit in all that I want to do with my students.
We are currently working on a Fall Project with Tita Martinez' class in Center, CO. The idea behind the project is to compare some pictures and share some fall writing with another classroom. We set up a wiki to show our work. So far the students have taken a lot of pictures, charted some weather, done some leaf rubbings, and shared a book, The Leaf Man, with Mrs. Martinez' first grade classroom. We are working on some poems to include too. We look forward to finishing up the project when Center comes back from Fall break.
The project can be found here: http://projectfall.pbworks.com/FrontPage
More updates will be forthcoming as we add to the wiki.

Crossposted on http://mrfishergloballearner.blogspot.com/

Poetry Wiki

I'm not sure how everyone else is holding up this month, but I am totally CSAPed out and exhausted. My third graders finished testing today...so that is good! Good luck to you all and the testing yet to come.

I've also been having some technology blues lately-I start a project and then don't finish it, or encounter some issues that I didn't expect, and spend too much time on something ridiculous. Does this happen to anyone else?

One thing I am excited about is the poetry wiki I created. So far my students have published their acrostic name poems there. Soon they will comment on them on the wiki. Please visit and leave your comments if you are so inclined! I decided to use wet paint, which Kelly S. recommended to me. I like how it looks visually, but discovered it doesn't allow for Voki widgets. Oh well, I guess I will keep searching for my favorite wiki site. Any suggestions?

Wiki work

I'm attempting to use my wiki in a "blackboard" sort of way. My students are posting their work to the wiki....this is as far as I've gotten so far! I feel good to have gotten this concept across to my language learners but please check it out! Today they will be posting paragraphs on pages they create themselves! I have small classes so I'm not too worried about stealing or manipulating other students' work....I don't think they have it completely figured out to be able to sabotage their classmates....hopefully it won't get to that!

check out our wiki and see what we're up to!

There is a link to American History Three and we are currently at causes of WWI! I would appreciate input and ideas! Feedback is awesome!

Getting started with blogging and wiki's

On Monday, August 13, at 10:30am I'm going to begin a chatcast using Skype with a first grade teacher from Canada. Kathy Cassidy is going to answer some getting started questions about blogs, wiki's and technology in the classroom. Kathy teaches first grade Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. Comment if your interested and I'll make sure your invited!

Kathy's Blog
http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=1337&l=1143592742


Kathy's Website
http://news.mjsd1.ca/~kcassidy/cassidyhome.html

Global Learners in High School Math

Darren Kuropatwa is by far one of the most prolific and creative teachers that is generating usable online content and testing emerging technology (and integration ideas). Mr. Kuropatwa is a high school math teacher in Canada that is widely known for his various math blogs. Last year I read the now defunct Ellie's 7th grade math blog (I assume because Ellie has moved to 8th grade). Mr. Kuropatwa used this blog to help teach his niece math. The blog included innovative lessons and opportunities for Ellie to practice skills. A Difference is the blog where Mr. Kuropatwa reflects on his practice and talks about strategies that he is trying with his students. I am blown away and humbled by this individual's extraordinary efforts. He uses wikis, blogs (checkout today's post on probability), vaestro (checkout the thread with the EFL students from China...talk about Global Learners), SmartBoards, slideshare, and any other technology he can get his hands on to reach his students and find ways for more effective learning. My hat is off to Mr. Kuropatwa...thanks for providing a shining light.

Join the Discussion (in more ways)

Global Learners hereby invites all readers of the Principiante Global Blog to join the 21st Century Teaching and Learning Wiki. With the wiki we hope to achieve the following: (1) Define what a student needs to know and be able to do in the 21st century, (2) articulate what teaching must look like to meet the demands of these students, and (3) outline the professional development and product-based learning that must occur for students to be successful.

We have designed this space as a wiki because we want open collaboration and input. Please join the discussion.