HSD Videoconferencing

The annual Read Around the Planet videoconferencing event has begun. At Hempfield we have many classes participating including ESL, German, Spanish, French, second grade and fifth grade. The first two events were held on Thursday February 25. Mrs. Goserud and Mrs. Snyder’s ESL classes shared books that they had created with Technology Specialist Ms. Reed to another ESL class in Peel School District, Ontario, Canada. The Canadian class shared a presentation on the provinces of Canada. Both classes enjoyed the interaction and we look forward to further communication with this district.

Frau Henrich’s German II classes videoconferenced with a grade 2 class from the  Calmant Science and Technology Magnet School in Pittsburgh. The German 2 class presented two children’s books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie substituting german vocabulary for the english words. The second graders really liked our student who acted the part of the mouse in the story. The second grade class then shared a presentation on Pittsburgh and their haiki poems that they had written for the event. The question and answer session was a good vocabulary test for the Hempfield students as the second graders wanted to know many German words!

We look forward to the rest of the RAP connections next week. You can follow the RAP event on Twitter using the hashtag #RAP2010.

On January 6th, Centerville Middle School students had a unique opportunity to speak with a Holocaust survivor. Mrs. Bonholtzer and Mrs. Waddington took their students via videoconference to the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, CA. Through the museum’s Bridging the Gap Program, special speakers can share their powerful stories using videoconferencing technology to viewers all over the world. Our students spoke with a Mr. Peter Daniels who was a child in a concentration camp. He spoke of his painful experience growing up during this difficult time. Students took turns asking questions and interacted with Mr. Daniels. We all admired his courage to tell his story and share the memories of his childhood. Mr. Daniels’ message to us was that we all need to value each other and be tolerant of one another. A peaceful future depends on these actions. This was a very powerful videoconference for our students and teachers!

On January 28th, Mr. Juba took his 7th grade Cultures class on a virtual field trip to the Cleveland Museum of Art to learn about gods and heroes of Greece and Rome. Distance Learning at the Cleveland Museum of Art allows students to connect with the museum to enrich their studies through their collection of art and artifacts from around the world. This live, interactive videoconferencing event allowed our students to participate in a two-way conversation with the museum educator, Ms. Levine. She helped the students understand the importance of gods and heroes in their culture. Students compared gods and heroes of Greece and Rome and made connections to history and culture through learning about such figures as Heracles, Orestes, and Perseus.

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.

Xiaodong Fan and his students traveled to the Philadelphia Museum of Art through videoconferencing on Friday, December 18th. The Philadelphia Museum of Art was the first museum in the US to conduct educational programs via videoconferencing which started in 1995. Our program guide, Lynda O’Leary shared pieces of Asian art such as the crystal ball, dragon plate, Mandarin scholar and dog cage with our students. Our students especially liked the elaborate dog cage that gave us an idea of the luxurious lifestyle of the imperial court and the extravagant wealth extended to the dogs. We toured the reception hall of a Chinese palace built in the 1600’s which was brought here to the US piece by piece. The dignified beauty and decorations of the palace were quite impressive. We learned about tomb figures such as the fully laden camel that were buried with the dead. Potters used glazing techniques that produced rich tones of color on the figures. This was a great field trip for our students!

Centerville Middle School art students participated in a MAGPI videoconference with Blitz. Click the link below to see Mrs. Jaime Brown’s blog entry for this event.

CMS art students go CARTOONING!

On November 4, 2009, Patrice Hazlett and Kathy Johnson participated in the MAGPI videoconference event, “Ben Brewer vs Hamilton Middle School: A Student Right’s Case”. Special interest students from Landisville Middle School and Centerville Middle School were one of four schools that attended the conference. This project was spearheaded by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor which was to provide digital learning tools that make civic engaging appropriate for middle school students. All schools explored the first amendment through the case of Ben Brewer, a student who wore a rock tee shirt to school which was against the school’s dress code policy. Ben was suspended from school and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court. The schools had to decide whether the suspension was justified and then present their class decision and their reasonings behind their decision to the group. Our students were extremely well prepared and did an outstanding job of justifying their decisions!

On November 18, 2009, Courtney Richie and her Anti Bullying Club participated in a videoconference with Brad Tassell, a comedian for over 18 years and the author of the award winning novel for teens and preteens on Bullying titled “Don’t Feed the Bully”. Brad presents for students, teachers and administrators and has shows throughout the US and world wide. He is also a comedian for Carnival Cruise lines. “Don’t Feed the Bully is a self-help book for pre-teens that is disguised as a hilarious, fictional novel. The club was provided with 30 copies of his book. Brad provided practical advice for the club members on the topic of bullying. He delivered the advice to us in a very humorous way! He provided us with definitions for words such as tattling and bullying. Courtney’s students will take the training they learned from Brad and incorporate it into their anti bullying presentations at the elementary and middle schools. The program was designed to build empathy in students and taught them how to move the bully target away from them. Brad wanted the students to learn to create awareness and responsibility for bullying and violence in school. This was a great presentation!

On November 18th, Jess Dengler took two of her Spanish classes to the Cleveland Institute of Music to learn about the history of the flamenco art form and the influence of flamenco on other art forms. The students prepared for the videoconference by viewing a DVD sent to us from the CIM where they became familiar and practiced the hand clapping patterns called palmas. The students then were able to perform palmas with the presenter, Nadia Tarnawsky. Flamenco is a Spanish musical art form created by the gypsies in the 14th century. The most important element of Flamenco is the singing known as “Cante” which was shown through the drama and emotion of the singers. This was a great experience for many of the students, especially since it was there first exposure to videoconferencing.