Co-founders of the Flat Classroom® Project, Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay are excited to announce another session of the Elementary School Flat Classroom Project. After the very successful pilot project in 2010 that included eight schools and 9 classrooms from five countries, this 2011-2 project joins together about 500 students from 19 schools and 6 countries to develop an appropriate global collaborative experience within a curriculum framework for students in Grades 3-5 of ages 8-11. For the current project, running September through December 2011, the project managers are Aaron Maurer and Cathy Wolinsky. They are assisted by Toni Olivieri-Barton (Community Manager), Tina Schmidt (Meetup Manager), and Maureen Tumenas (Media Mentor).
“We are building on the excitement and engagement of the previous project, knowing that another team of excellent educators are working furiously together to make this the best global experience possible, using Flat Classroom pedagogy supported by emerging Web 2.0 technologies”, states Julie, “Not only are we connecting the students but teachers met every week and explore best ways to collaborate within and inquiry-based curriculum approach.”
The project is called “A Week in the Life…..” and centers around sharing what life is like for students in their respective schools and countries. It encourages students to connect and communicate to build an online learning community and to collaborate on a common set of guiding questions and objectives. For this project we are using the tool Edmodo which provides flexibility for group creation and file uploading. It also supports development of multimedia collecting and sharing skills, and awareness of collaborative learning environments through the practical application of the project wiki. Topics for the project include School Time, Languages and Clothing, Housing and Transportation, Leisure Time, Food & Celebrations and Environment.
We encourage interested teachers and supporters of global collaborative projects to review the developing wiki material at (http://aweekinthelife11-2.flatclassroomproject.org/) This project will run until December 15, 2011, by which time students will have created celebration material based on their collected multimedia.
Applications of interest are being taken now for future projects. See details at http://tinyurl.com/fcpesapplication
Flat Classroom® Projects are award winning projects that have been running for the past four years for middle and high schools students. The original project, The Flat Classroom Project, is based on the concepts found in Tom Friedman’s book, ‘The World is Flat’, and subsequently has been included in the reprint of the book in 2007. Other projects include Digiteen Project (raising awareness of digital citizenship) and NetGenEd Project, run in conjunction with Don Tapscott (looks at emerging technologies and netgen norms of behavior). We encourage all educators and global collaborative project supporters to join our Flat Classrooms network to receive further updates on all Flat Classroom Projects. http://flatclassrooms.ning.com More information about Flat Classroom Projects can be found on the website http://flatclassroomproject.net
Participating Schools in “A Week in the Life….” 2011-2
| Schools | Teachers |
| Alta Vista Elementary, Los Gatos, California, USA | Christy Mills & Mary Fran Lynch |
| American International School Guangzhou, China | Shauna Cottrell |
| American School of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland | Evan Chong & Catrin Barber |
| Berkshire Country Day School, Lenox, Massachusetts, USA | Maureen Tumenas |
| Bettendorf Community School, Bettendorf, Iowa, USA | Aaron Maurer |
| Brook Park Memorial Elementary, Berea City School District, Brook Park, Ohio, USA | Amren Fowler & Jamie Palcisko |
| Gilman Lower School, Baltimore, Maryland, USA | Donna Vaccaro |
| H.C. Storm Elementary, Batavia, Illinois, USA | Sarah Barrett |
| Kennard CJA, USA | Laurie Batres |
| Korea International School, South Korea | Jenn MacSwain |
| Marietta Center for Advanced Academics, Marietta, Georgia, USA | Susie Throop |
| Oakridge International School, Einstein Campus, Oakridge, India | Kanchan Lele |
| Park View Elementary, Mooresville, North Carolina, USA | Julie Buda |
| Shanghai Community International School, Shanghai, China | Sheri DeNeef & Ashley Holst |
| St. Martin’s Episcopal School, Winnetka, California, USA | Vicky Sedgwick |
| Stone Oak Elementary, San Antonio, Texas, USA | Cindy Glenn |
| The Bolles School, Jacksonville, Florida, USA | Cynthia Clements |
| The Study, Quebec City, Canada | Lisa Jacobsen |
| West Tisbury School, Martha’s Vineyard, USA | Valerie Becker & Mary Boyd |
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