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Permalink Reply by pete whitfield on May 21, 2007 at 3:40pm

My little boy has just had his 7th birthday and I'm nudging him to get into blogging. Is he too young to collaborate? I'm helping with his site of course. Are there any other 7 year olds he could connect with? He plays the drums and loves.....boy things!

Permalink Reply by Ginger Lewman on May 21, 2007 at 6:46pm

Hi Pete!

Honestly, my experience with kids that young is extremely limited. Let me invite a wonderfully creative lady in to give you some ideas, if possible. By the way--Dom is kind of a cutie!

Oh, one idea--is there an age-restriction on epals? That may be a neat thing to do.

Permalink Reply by Ginger Lewman on July 14, 2007 at 7:28am

Pete--I know this is a bit late for a response, but I finally talked to the woman I mentioned. Her CR2.0 page is: http://classroom20.ning.com/profile/honeymic

She's creative, good with technology, and has the info about young kids I just can't provide! :)

Permalink Reply by Terry Eis on May 23, 2007 at 10:47am

Hi! I'm a newly hired Program Director for a brand new charter school in Kansas. I have the opportunity (challenge) to create this school from the ground up - in 2 months! We have to be ready to enroll students by August 1.

While I have some direction, the whole notion of identifying multiple kinds of curriculum, recruiting and training staff to develop online curriculum and facilitate students in such an environment, marketing the school, recruiting students and so forth is a bit overwhelming. When I officially start on June 4, I won't know which part of the elephant to bite off first!

I'd like to collaborate with others who are directing charter schools that focus on providing project-based learning uniquely designed for students based upon their identified learning and career interests. Good advice and suggestions are welcomed!

Permalink Reply by Ginger Lewman on May 23, 2007 at 10:40pm

Terry--I think I'm going to be at the ESSDACK conference this coming weekend in Wichita. We HAVE to meet up there for a drink (iced tea or whatever) and a talk! I'm getting a better picture of what works for my kids and what doesn't, so may have some ideas for you, even though our kids are different.

Permalink Reply by Govinda Prasad Panthy on September 26, 2008 at 7:02am

Hey there, I'm a school teacher/ founder/ and I handle school. Would you like to let me come in your touch for much sharing? Below is abt my school.
SHANTIDEEP ADARSH VIDHYASADAN
Sav (School)
Estd. 1998
savschool2000@yahoo.com
Introduction
Shantideep Adarsh Vidhyasadan is one of the English Medium Schools established in 1998 with 13 students in a backwarded countryside of Bhaktapur district of Nepal. The name of the village is Bageshwori (altitude approx. 1500 metre). It lies in the eastern part of Bhaktapur district. It was established when the parents were not so aware of their children's education. We (school Management) had to struggle a lot to achieve the sympathy of the parents / villagers. They weren't convinced in the very beginning and didn't send their children to this school thinking that we can't run the school continuously for the long run. As a founder director, I tried my best to build up and uplift the situation of the school. By the end of that year, we were able to impress them showing the out put of our teaching techniques and methodologies. As a result the number of students reached 78 in the beginning of the second year. The number of students has been increasing gradually. Now we have 137 students. But we can't enroll all the new comers due to the infrastructural and financial problems. We hope we can fulfill the need and desire of our parents/ villagers (target groups) if your contribution on the infrastructural or/and academic sectors can be entertained.
Motto of the School:
The school stamp includes three words "Wisdom, Education and Creativity". We, the whole school team, are dedicated to fulfill and make the school motto effective so that we can reach our goals.
Aims and Objectives of institution:
The institution has following objectives:
In order to develop education as an integral part of a community the school run by this school will exert efforts to avail itself of necessary advice and support from local community for the benefit of the School.
To establish education as a foundation stone of the social and economic change.
To prepare disciplined, patriotic and dutiful citizens by providing students with affordable education and to maintain the gradual process of imparting practical and life skill-based education for their self-dependence.
To make efforts to children efficient and good citizen in the future by making good use of the curriculum prescribed.
To impart quality education by appointing efficient teachers for the development of originality and creativity of students as per well- recognized scale of education.
To develop children’s physical and mental potential.
To make children aware of the importance and utility of local bio-diversity, social and natural heritage, and educate them to preserve them.
To develop physical and environmental infra-structures as they play a great role in the process of getting education.
To identify poor and intelligent student for the provision of necessary scholarships considering the economic source and situation of school and educate them.
To involve students in the process of national development by creating a condusive educational environment and by making them competitive by dint of education, and to identify and use necessary educational materials for leading the school to modern scientific technology and for quality education.
To work continuously for the overall development of education by carrying out other necessary works as prescribed by government and other sectors.
To make children aware of their rights by abolishing the discrimination in caste, race, religion, sex, etc.
To encourage and offer opportunities to children who are financially handicapped and are unable to come to school to get an access to education by making education affordable and open.
To develop the institution as the leading educational institution committed to serve the community.

Target group:
All the children who are of their age to go to school.
Children of the helpless, disadvantaged, under-privileged and untouchable families who have no access to education due to various reasons.
The Children who drop out due to social and economic reasons.
The local community and others who have no access to education.
Achievements:
Though we are not financially strong, we are running school up to the primary/elementary level now. We've all together 157 students. Girls' ratio is quite satisfactory. And the children from ethnic groups also have been studying. We have been able to impress our parents / guardians our style of teaching in the context of education system of Nepal. We've also sent some children to other high schools after completion of elementary level here; they've also achieved better positions in those schools and have helped to maintain our prestige in the village. Now the parents in the village want to send more children to this school. That means they have positive look towards us, but due to the lack of sufficient classrooms, furniture and other infrastructural facilities we are not able to admit all the children in the school.
Extra Curricular Activities.
Besides teaching-learning activities in the classroom, we conduct special classes in intellectual, cultural and physical sectors in our school viz. dance, music, quiz, elocution, debate, spelling contest, drama, games and sports, and much more related to education, physical health and environment. We also offer prizes for the winners to encourage them for their more participation and better result.
Shortcomings:
 Though School management has achieved so much sympathy and well-washings from the villagers, we have still been facing some problems to run the school smoothly. Parents here are not able to pay their children's school fees though it's just a nominal in comparison to so called English medium private schools. Our school children want scholarships and sponsorships. The government here seems indifference to the community based schools like ours. But the flow of students is towards the community based English medium schools.
 Our parents demand to upgrade this school to high school level as they have to send their children far off in the towns about an hour's walk. It is about 5 kilometers dusty and muddy narrow roads to reach the high schools in the town. No public vehicles are available there. Roads here are muddy in rainy and dusty in other seasons.
 More than 70 percent of students in our school come from below poverty level financial background. They often come to school without usual proper stationery (such as pens, notebooks, crayons, etc.), lunch and more than 50 percent in improper uniform.
 School lacks good building, well managed classrooms, easy desks and benches, water facility and well equipped play-ground. It is our compulsion to run the school in a simply built school, just like a shed, where students have to be adjusted anyway.
Future plan to get Achievement
We have been trying to find the way out to handle the school in a better way. We want our school flourishing and providing better education in modern ways. For that financial condition should be made strong.
We are seeking help from any NGO's and INGO's or personal support. So that the thirst of the education of the village children (remember, only the people who have low economic status live in the villages of our country) can be quenched satisfactorily. For that the present school management has put forth the following points in their mind from our planning and suggestions provided by our guardians and well-wishers.
 The financial position of the school has to be made very strong.
 The school must have its own land and modern school building.
 Modern facilities like library, science and computer labs, etc. should be established.
 Equipments for the games and sports must be sufficient.
 The school should hire full time dedicated trained teachers.


How can these things be fulfilled?
School management has put forth some ideas to fulfill the aforesaid points.
 To request the donor agencies / charities for the financial help.
 To request the volunteer groups to help the school for some time for teaching and other social activities related to school and society.
 To request educated personnel and educationists or anyone who live inside or outside our country to help whatever they can do for the children and school.
 To start charity shows and other programs from our school children and management.
 To make requests to the parents, relatives, friends, and so on.
 To accept any kind of help (financial, materials like uniform, notebooks, pens, crayons, school bags, books, etc.) from any person who are willing to help whatever.)
 To make a request to the interested personalities to visit our school so that they also can help some way they want to.
 To start income generating programs among our parents.
Why these all?
It's already mentioned that the economic status of the parents here in the village is quite low. The future target of the school is to provide quality and modern education in nominal cost, if possible, free of cost. It's already said that the village people are those who can't harmonize themselves with the town dwellers in any way. To uplift the educational standard of the village our effort might work, we hope.
For Further Details:
Mailing Address of the school:






















Contact person:
Govinda Prasad Panthy
Founder/teacher/ manager.
Shantideep Adarsh Vidhyasadan.
Sav(School)
Bageshwori-7, Nepal.
email: savschool2000@yahoo.com
Phone (Res.) +977-01-6616559./ Mob. (+977)9841206385

Permalink Reply by Katherine Bolman on November 16, 2009 at 2:17pm

What a great thing you are doing. Do your students have internet access?
Even if they do not you might enjoy this site
ahaafoundation.org which is a history of art course divided into micro lessons.

Katherine Bolman

Permalink Reply by James Dykstra on May 24, 2007 at 9:54am

I'm a History/Social Studies teacher in a small Christian school in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Presently I'm the go-to-guy for almost anything technology related (though I still can't hook up my DVD player, go figure).

In the short term, I'm looking for ways to share curriculum (units, lessons, ideas, etc) with other Christian school teachers, preferably in Canada, but I'm not that fussy. I'm trying to talk a couple of colleagues from other schools in to pooling our Canadian history lessons on a wiki so we can all learn from each other regardless of the town or province where we're teaching. So far, though, I haven't got any takers.

Permalink Reply by Ginger Lewman on May 24, 2007 at 7:12pm

Welcome James! I hope you get some takers. As I travel around, I'll see what I can send your way!

I remember seeing that you're a secondary-level teacher. Have you considered the idea that Kevin Honeycutt has created, inspired by the MTV show, "Pimp My Ride," where teachers record a standard lecture or teacher-centered lesson, and then hand it over to the students. The students then "pimp" the lecture, by adding pictures, links, extra info, sound, music, etc to really generate something AMAZING.

This idea allows for 3 things:
1) if you've ever spiced up a movie or podcast before, you listen over and over to the lecture and REALLY know it inside and out by the time you're done
2) it allows the teacher to see his/her students' learning styles and therefore can continue to target lessons in a similar fashion!
3) the teacher is learning from the kids and it helps to develop a more collaborative and mutually-respectful learning atmosphere.

I'm planning to do this soon; unfortunately, I've run out of time this year with my kids, but I'll be SO happy to share something as soon as it's done!

Permalink Reply by James Dykstra on May 25, 2007 at 10:38am

It's an intriguing idea. I like it. I'm changing schools in September and from what I can see I have an exaggerated reputation there for my Web 2.0 savy. A project like that might be an interesting way to see if I can earn that reputation. It can also be done fairly cheaply in terms of additional hardware and software. Hmm, I like it.

Permalink Reply by Kevin on May 25, 2007 at 5:26pm

Hello,
I want to see kids work together and build, solve draft and dream. I want to talk to teachers who are doing this or have done this and hear their stories. I want to be a fly on the wall or play any role needed to help motivate learning. : )

Permalink Reply by Christine Southard on May 28, 2007 at 8:23pm

Hey! I'm Christine, a special education teacher from New York. I work in a 5th grade collaborative classroom. My co-teacher and I are eagerly looking forward to collaborating with other 5th grade classes around the globe via blogging, e-pals, podcasting and soon.... video-conferencing.

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