This week has flown by! I can not wait to take back with me Skype, googledocs, and more. This  has been one of the most interesting staff development sessions that I have experienced.

Videoconferencing can not only help motivate our students, but open up a whole new world of exciting learning!

In general, interacting with people gives you the opportunity to find different ideas, different cultures, differences… These differences may help us all learn more and have more fun. We need to be prepared for these situations and to teach students to be respectful before those differences.

Probably the biggest challenge when videoconferencing would be planning the lesson with the other teachers.

Evangelina

I loved the Mystery Quest and see so many applications in the classroom.  One of the best things about the Mystery Quest is that they can be simple or very involved. They can also be used by every grade level across the curriculum. I like that all students can be involved since there are so many aspects to a Mystery Quest. The suggestion that camera shy students could do props or be the production manager was a great idea.

The GNG conversation was great and insightful. Even in our own group the debate and answers were heated at times. It comes done to who has done the better “sales” job. 

Small group work is going ok. Still working on topics.

Can’t wait for Day 4.

In the world of budget cuts and streamlining expenses in the classroom, this article opens the window for new possibilities in expanding the horizons of our students.  I  like the way that this article illustrates how learning can become real for the students by communicating with actual students and locations around the world.  This moves the student past the paper and pencil traditional learning and provides a purpose that might otherwise get lost in the mass of words on a page.  The part that interests me most is the implication of the thousands of virtual field trips that my students can attend without having to worry about the expense of getting enough buses and chaperons.  This opens new doors for me and my students and provides additional opportunities to catch the attention of those students who might otherwise give up on learning.

Nancy

Tuesday was fun!  I knew what to expect a bit more so I was really anticipating it.  Of course the bodily fluids guy was hard to top for humor but Shane made us laugh just as much!  One new thing I realized was that there are quite a number of free VCs like Shane’s that we could do in addition to paying for one or two a year.  Also, the idea of hooking up with another first grade classroom really interests me and that would be free as well (I think).

It was nice to sit back and enjoy so many presentations but I’ll have to say that I did miss the interactive stuff we did on Monday and I’m looking to Wednesday’s collaborative project!

I’m really enjoying working with my small group on our project to present on Friday.  They are capable, creative people and we are off and running with our idea.

I really enjoyed the presentation from our Vietnam Vet.  I am so glad to have this new perspective on what “WE” did over there – the bigger picture you might say.  I know that many, many vets from that war aren’t comfortable talking about their experiences so I really appreciated Don’s willingness to share.

Beth

Wow, what an exciting day! Can you get anymore gross than doing Gross Science with Andy to learn about the the Chemical and Physical Digestion process using oatmeal and water? Yes, we demonstrated the digestion process using oatmeal and water by squeezing it through a small hole in a knee high. Yes, we created pooh and that was pretty darn gross! On a lighter side of things we connected with the Cleveland Museum of Art with Arielle Levine and The Art and Science of Natural Dyes. One dye demonstrated comes from the Cochineal which is from the female beatle found on the cactus. The Cochineal is a red dye that can be used to dye the material. Finally we met with our groups to get to know our partners. Fun, Fun, Fun!!!!!

The discussion on Vietnam War hit home for me. We need to always remember that someones fought and died for our freedom.

Peter

Region X

I think I’m more produtive today than the previous 2 days. I’m more comfortable around my friends at region X and people at other sites. The small group discussion is also improving and getting along fine. The general discussion on how America is being persive around the world is very interesting to me.

Peter P.

Region X

Amid the torrential relentless rains, Region 8 stood its ground and successfully completed
Day 1 of 123VC Jazz. After a bit of tweaking with the local Tech-Guru, Adam, we had pretty good luck staying connected to our friends across the nation.

Monsters were discribed and exchanges along with community information. The only creepy experience was handling the adorable Madagascar roaches, who complied with our bodily inspection. The simulation of the rainforest was awesome!

Small groups got to know each other and began a discussion about our Friday project.

 This brief report was humbly submitted by Melodie Wahlert and the photographer was Judy Espy.

Most of us got to the worshop on time. I had to call Vicki Allen to find the place after travelling  back and worth a few times trying to locate the address- the road construction in front of the building somehow blocking my view.

We didn’t have time to introduce ourselves to each other, but there’s no need to since most of us kind of knew each other and had seen one another from other trainings.

The workshop went well generally. We connected to other sites and got a chace to introduce one another. We devided into small group and shared our small projects.

I personally enjoyed the time that a giant cockroach crawling on my hand during the rain forest presentation.

The lunch was good and we enjoyed our first day.