HSD Videoconferencing

HHS students simulate the Great Wall in China

Today was the last day of videoconferencing between the HHS Chinese 2 class and grade 6 special interest students. Five students from Rohrerstown Elementary learned simple greetings in Chinese, how to sing Happy Birthday and exercises common in Chinese classrooms from the HHS students. At the end of the event the students enjoyed Chinese candy!

We learned a lot about collaborative videoconferencing this week including planning and facilitating the event. Our HS students did fantastic adapting to the size of each class and learning from their experiences to make each day unique for the 6th grade students. We look forward to repeating this event next year and exploring other opportunities for collaboration between our high school and elementary or middle school students.

Explaining the origin of Chinese characters

Today, HHS Chinese II students videoconferenced with 6 special interest students from CES. The high school students shared their knowledge of the first Chinese Emperor, the Great Wall and the Terracotta warrior soldiers with the elementary students. CES students asked many great questions regarding the Chinese characters and cultures. This was a very interactive session!

HHS students with Mr. Fan

On Tuesday, HHS Chinese II students videoconferenced with 4 special interest students from MES. The high school students enjoyed sharing their love of Chinese culture. Our Chinese teacher, Mr. Fan, played a musical instrument called “Erhu” while all the students sang Zhu Ni Sheng Ri Kuai Le (Happy Birthday). Everyone enjoyed the event!

National Distance Learning Week is this week Nov 10 through Nov 14. We are celebrating this week by holding videoconferences between the HHS Chinese 2 classes and sixth grade gifted classes who have studied Ancient Chinese culture. Today was the first videoconference between HHS and EPES. The two elementary students who participated asked excellent questions including what was harder for the high school students to learn, to speak the Chinese language or to write it. The high school students unanimously replied that it was more difficult to write than to learn to speak the language. Tomorrow we move to MES followed by CES on Wednesday and ending on Thursday at RES. Friday the HHS students will take their annual trip to Chinatown.

Next week we will have three videoconferencing events. Two high school Economics classes will explore economics through baseball with the Baseball Hall of Fame and the AP Art class will videoconference with 4 Pew Fellows in the area of art.

Next week during National Distance Learning Week the HS Chinese 2 class will be videoconferencing with a sixth grade class who have studied ancient cultures on each day Monday through Thursday. On Friday the Chinese students will participate in their annual trip to Chinatown. The HS students will introduce Chinese culture, language and greetings to the special interest students who will be asking the students and Mr. Fan questions about China. The participating schools are MES, RES, EPES and CES. The participating teachers are Gisele Siebold and Eileen Little. We are excited about this unique opportunity for all the involved students!

The Chinese Program for the first semester of the 2008 - 2009 school year includes distance learning with Conestoga Valley, Ephrata and Manheim Central High Schools. There are nine students who are participating from the far end schools. These students are all learning Chinese I along with Hempfield High Schools students. Our Chinese teacher, Mr. Fan, combines the classes using videoconferencing technology to not only teach but for the students to practice dialogue and learn about Chinese culture. The students will all be participating in celebrating Chinese New Year at Hempfield High School on January 9, 2009. This event will be uStreamed on the Hempfield channel.

Videoconferencing technology has come to Hempfield through low-end technology solutions including Skype and iChat to our high-end technology solutions. A 8000series Polycom room was installed at HHS in the summer of 2007. Through a joint grant with IU13 the district received a mobile 7000series PolyCom unit that can be used in any district building. During the 2007-2008 school year a distance Chinese was delivered daily to neighboring school districts. German classes practiced their dialogues and two third grade classes debated issues for the upcoming Presidential election using Skype and iChat. Sixth grade students at LIC participated in a videoconference about Rome through grant funding from the Hempfield Education Foundation. High school classes interacted with the Football Hall of Fame, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Learning Center for videoconferences on a variety of curricular topics. Videoconferencing was also used for staff development workshops on differentiated instruction with Catherine Brighton and Carol Ann Tomlinson from the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education. We look forward to expanding the opportunities for students and staff through videoconferencing in the 2008-2009 school year.