Change of plans!

Well despite all of our best efforts to develop plans that accomodate the Belize students, our plans need to change due to the Belize students' schedule and limited access to Internet / computers. In order to prepare for their next standardized test, the students in Belize needed to review the Belizean goverment and culture. We proposed sending questions from Ensworth 6th grade students to the coordinator, who could then share the questions with their teacher and use them in preparation for their test. The Belize students then prepared a video responding to the Ensworth students' questions on the Belizean goverment and culture. This week, Ensworth students will view the Tokbox videos and respond to them via our wiki on a online discussion, expressing what Ensworth students have learned about Belize, directly from other students who live there.

Planning

We had a chance to share our introductory videos with the Belize students via Youtube right before Spring break. Since then, I've been in contact with our coordinators in Monkey Bay and at the Democracia school in Belize, as well as with Alecia, to plan our collaborative lessons. Scheduling is proving to be a big challenge. We were on Spring break in March, and now Democracia is on Spring Break in April. Democracia also has regular standardized tests that they must perform, which limits their time- so we are working really hard on the collaborative lessons that will begin once they return from Spring break next week. We hope to breifly explore the topic of sound, then develop movies online involving the health topics of managing stress and embracing diversity. Another major topic to follow will be the parts of the eye, light waves, how the eye works, and so on. In May, we hope to explore the topic of our solar system. While planning, we need to keep in mind that Democracia does not have Internet access- access is available through Monkey Bay, so we are working on activities that could be completed offline, then posted or concluded online.

Intro videos

6th graders enjoyed watching the introductory videos from the Belize students send via Tokbox! They found their Creole accent interesting, and discovered that most of them enjoy soccer ("football"). In return, 6th graders created their own introductory videos using iMovie and their webcam. We then posted them to our YouTube channel for the Belize students to view. Currently, Mr. Fuentes is preparing the Belize students for their standardized testing while we are on spring break. When we return from spring break, we hope to collaborate on a discussion of copyright and intellectual property.

Belize - Ensworth Partnership

I just heard from Alecia that we may be ready to begin our new partnership with a school in Belize! My classes that are ahead in lesson plans have started a new Voicethread on Belize, to learn some basics about the country. We have also practiced embedding Voicethreads on our wiki. They are excited about getting new partners. Connectivity in Belize won't be as good as in our Peru school, but I am hoping for some connections, and the possibility of adding a service learning component, however small.