Hello everyone,
I'm Peter Dawson from close to London (Ontario, Canada). Actually I live in a small village just north of London but as of this coming year I will be teaching in London. I teach JK-SK in the morning and am V.P. in the afternoon. I am very interested in seeing what I can do for our youngest school population in terms of promoting a greater understanding of our world. Looking forward to some great discussions!!
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Thanks for the note. When do classes start back for you folks? Ours start again on Sept. 4. I'd be very interested in seeing if we can do something together. I will be teaching in a school this year that is a very high needs school; lots of ELL, single moms, subsidized housing, etc. so I'm not really sure about skill levels yet. Anything we may try to do might have to be soft pedaled. I don't know if that's OK with you; sounds like you have experience in collaborative learning and may want to try something a little more challenging, but if you're up for it so am I! I should also let you know that the last time I did something like this was at least 8 years ago with a friend who was teaching in Antwerp, and it was merely emailing back and forth. Actually, that's not quite true. The kids also sent each other voice recorded messages, but small ones as the technology wasn't there yet. Are you familiar with Voicethread? I have to really dig into it, but maybe it's something we could look at.
Cheers,
Pete
Lisa Stevens > Peter DawsonAugust 10, 2007 at 4:58pm
Hi again!
That's fine with me - I'm looking to do lots of different things this year so I'm sure we could find something appropriate for both lots of pupils! I've got an idea of something we might try but my dear OH has run be a bath and it's bedtime so I'll have to save it until tomorrow!! Lisa xx
PS I don't know what Voicethread is but I'll be finding out!!!!
Lisa Stevens > Lisa StevensSeptember 4, 2007 at 3:10pm
Hi Peter - how's school going? We've had two training days (as our school has had some building issues we had an extra one) so Juniors back tomorrow and Infants on thursday.
Just realised I went for a bath on 10th August and never told you my idea - how rude of me!!
Anyway, I have now investigated Voicethread - looks good to me!
My idea was based around a teddy bear travelling the world- we would send your school/class a teddy to visit. Your class can take it home with them, take it on class visits, take it round your school, local area etc. all the time, they take photos and fill in a journal - blog? - or you could use Voicethread, to keep us informed about what Teddy is doing. Thus, we find out about your school, local area, things you do etc. After a period of time, you send Teddy back, and we send him to another country.
Whatr do you think? Do you think your class would go for that? I think that it is simple enough not to be timeconsuming, and is an all-inclusive sort of thing as kids can participate at their own level. I've never used Voicethread so it would be new to me, and it doesn't have to be complicated to bea good project.
Anyway. let me know what you think.
Lisa xx
Peter Dawson > Lisa StevensSeptember 4, 2007 at 8:00pm
Hello Lisa!
Good to see you're back from the bath!!
Our new year started today, with me in a new building and a new role, teaching JK-SK in the morning (3 - 5 yr. olds) and being an adminsitrator in the afternoon.
I LOVE YOUR IDEA!! I really don't know anything about voicethread but we could learn together. In fact, if you're familiar with Skype, rather than having to rely on emails, we could talk for free over the internet. Of course, we'd have to work out the time zone thing.
I think my kids would get a real kick out of a visiting teddy bear. We have a high population of recent immigrant families where English is not the first language so this would be a great way of having the kids practice English. Also, I'm sure you know how kids will often open up more to a "puppet" than to a real person.
Like I said, I think this is a spectaular idea! You're so creative!!!!!
Let me know when you'd like to start. I have to look up our school address (not up to speed on a number of things yet - smile)
looking forward to hearing from you, and good luck with the start to your year.
Pete
Lisa Stevens > Peter DawsonSeptember 5, 2007 at 10:45am
Hi Peter - GREAT!!
Let me know the address and we'll sort it out. I've got to pick the lucky class to send the Teddy , we've got to choose it and get it's case ready etc!! So we'll start that int he next week or so.
Haven't got Skype but am looking into it! Will keep you informed (my parents have it so could always borrow theirs!)
I'm a newbie too - nice to meet you! In fact, I've just left you a message in the Primary group! I teach Spanish to kids aged 3-11 and would love to hear about your experiences in Canada - and from others from around the globe!
Last year, I ran a project with a school in Spain that involved the whole school in comparing festivals and celebrations in the two countries, and this year I'm aiming higher, beyond Europe, and want to do several projects, perhaps a different project with different year groups.
Replies
Thanks for the note. When do classes start back for you folks? Ours start again on Sept. 4. I'd be very interested in seeing if we can do something together. I will be teaching in a school this year that is a very high needs school; lots of ELL, single moms, subsidized housing, etc. so I'm not really sure about skill levels yet. Anything we may try to do might have to be soft pedaled. I don't know if that's OK with you; sounds like you have experience in collaborative learning and may want to try something a little more challenging, but if you're up for it so am I! I should also let you know that the last time I did something like this was at least 8 years ago with a friend who was teaching in Antwerp, and it was merely emailing back and forth. Actually, that's not quite true. The kids also sent each other voice recorded messages, but small ones as the technology wasn't there yet. Are you familiar with Voicethread? I have to really dig into it, but maybe it's something we could look at.
Cheers,
Pete
That's fine with me - I'm looking to do lots of different things this year so I'm sure we could find something appropriate for both lots of pupils! I've got an idea of something we might try but my dear OH has run be a bath and it's bedtime so I'll have to save it until tomorrow!! Lisa xx
PS I don't know what Voicethread is but I'll be finding out!!!!
Just realised I went for a bath on 10th August and never told you my idea - how rude of me!!
Anyway, I have now investigated Voicethread - looks good to me!
My idea was based around a teddy bear travelling the world- we would send your school/class a teddy to visit. Your class can take it home with them, take it on class visits, take it round your school, local area etc. all the time, they take photos and fill in a journal - blog? - or you could use Voicethread, to keep us informed about what Teddy is doing. Thus, we find out about your school, local area, things you do etc. After a period of time, you send Teddy back, and we send him to another country.
Whatr do you think? Do you think your class would go for that? I think that it is simple enough not to be timeconsuming, and is an all-inclusive sort of thing as kids can participate at their own level. I've never used Voicethread so it would be new to me, and it doesn't have to be complicated to bea good project.
Anyway. let me know what you think.
Lisa xx
Good to see you're back from the bath!!
Our new year started today, with me in a new building and a new role, teaching JK-SK in the morning (3 - 5 yr. olds) and being an adminsitrator in the afternoon.
I LOVE YOUR IDEA!! I really don't know anything about voicethread but we could learn together. In fact, if you're familiar with Skype, rather than having to rely on emails, we could talk for free over the internet. Of course, we'd have to work out the time zone thing.
I think my kids would get a real kick out of a visiting teddy bear. We have a high population of recent immigrant families where English is not the first language so this would be a great way of having the kids practice English. Also, I'm sure you know how kids will often open up more to a "puppet" than to a real person.
Like I said, I think this is a spectaular idea! You're so creative!!!!!
Let me know when you'd like to start. I have to look up our school address (not up to speed on a number of things yet - smile)
looking forward to hearing from you, and good luck with the start to your year.
Pete
Let me know the address and we'll sort it out. I've got to pick the lucky class to send the Teddy , we've got to choose it and get it's case ready etc!! So we'll start that int he next week or so.
Haven't got Skype but am looking into it! Will keep you informed (my parents have it so could always borrow theirs!)
Lisa xx
Last year, I ran a project with a school in Spain that involved the whole school in comparing festivals and celebrations in the two countries, and this year I'm aiming higher, beyond Europe, and want to do several projects, perhaps a different project with different year groups.
¡Hasta pronto!
Lisa xx