HSD Videoconferencing

Mrs. Lois Roderick and her 8th grades Reading students had an opportunity to talk directly to a Holocaust survivor on Monday, January 11th via a videoconference with the Holocaust Memorial Center of Glenn Cove, New York. Gloria Glantz spoke to 50 of Mrs. Roderick’s students and described in detail her ordeal of being a child and growing up during the Holocaust.

Gloria was born in Poland and was hidden with a Polish woman for the duration of the war. She went to several other countries before arriving in the United States and actually changed her name several times. Children during the Holocaust were not spared any atrocities. Hitler came to power and began to systematically take away rights of Jews. For adults it meant loss of jobs, homes, and community. For children, they couldn’t attend school, visit friends, go to parks, or use public transportation. Punishment for breaking these rules were severe and physical. Gloria made a great impact on our students and teachers. Our students asked very important questions such as “what we can do today to prevent this from happening again?”

Lois worked closely with a MAGPI Fellows Team which supported her and the students during the project. The MAGPI FELLOWS PROGRAM, sponsored by MAGPI provides a series of experiences to foster the construction of learning communities, project development, awareness and understanding of advanced network applications for educators. MAGPI is affiliated with University of Pennsylvania and their goal is to provide connectivity to Internet2, the nation’s high speed research and education. network.http://www.magpi.net

The students were very prepared for this event since they spent several months reading, researching, and learning about the Holocaust. They read several books prior to the event that gave them insight as to the tragedies involved and then created a wikispace to collaborate with their peers which included posting comments and questions http://boyinthestripedpajamas.wikispaces.com/

Here is a description of their project: 8th grade students are reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, a “cautionary tale about two boys, one the son of a commandant in Hitler’s army and the other a Jew, who come face-to-face at a barbed wire fence that separates, and eventually intertwines their lives.” The outcome of this project is three fold: 1)To attempt to understand and appreciate the plight of children who were victims of the Holocaust, 2) to compare experiences of children throughout the world whose lives today are disrupted by genocide and 3) have our students prepare a statement pledging how they will work toward harmony and peace, and against prejudice and discrimination.

This videoconference and project was truly quite the experience for all who were involved!

On January 5th, Rohrerstown Elementary School’s 3rd Grade Class had a special opportunity to participate in a live videoconference with NASA. The 3rd grade students were able to talk directly with a NASA expert at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The students, who have been learning about space in their science curriculum, were able to learn more about our solar system and have their questions answered by the expert. In addition to the lesson, the students were able to see live feeds of mission control, astronauts training in the giant pools, and even see a live feed of astronauts working on the International Space Station! The students were very excited to participate in this special experience.

This event was scheduled through the NASA DLN (Distance Learning Network). An upcoming event for the DLN that can be scheduled is a Webcast Highlighting Robotics and Upcoming Shuttle Mission on Jan. 27, 2010, from 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. EST. This webcast about the upcoming STS-131 mission, which is scheduled for launch no earlier than March 18, 2010. Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, educator and mission specialist, is a member of the STS-131 crew and will be involved in several robotics tasks during the mission. Join the DLN for this webcast to learn more about the mission and activities to support robotics in the classroom. For more information about this DLN event and other DLN events contact Joanne Jones or Sue Allen.