Making Connections: Helping our students connect to audiences outside of our classroom walls
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RESOURCES FOR CONNECTING STUDENTS
Taking it Global Educators (TiGed)
What is TIGed? (front the TiG website)
As TIG's vibrant global community has evolved, educators inspired by its young members have sought to integrate its resources and focus on action-based learning into their teaching. This was made easier beginning in 2006, with the launch of the TakingITGlobal for Educators (TIGed) program. TIGed allows educators to leverage the resources of the world's most popular online community for youth who want to make a difference - TakingITGlobal.org - in ways that meet the needs of their learning environments.
TIGed is a community of globally-minded educators interested in empowering their students to think and act as world citizens, a collection of resources that facilitate the inclusion of global perspectives in the classroom, and a virtual classroom that allows students to use collaborative technology in order to connect with people from around the world and learn about global issues.
A Community of Global Educators
TIG members who are actively engaged as educators can apply for an educator badge through their profile settings in order to join the TIGed community, a network of thousands of teachers and students from over 70 countries around the world. Collectively, the TIGed community comprises diverse perspectives, expertise, and knowledge and members can potentially learn a lot from one another. TIGed uses technology to make it easier for global educators to connect, share ideas, and work together.
TIGed members can network, communicate, and collaborate in several ways. Having an educator badge allows users to search the member database for educators only, thereby identifying potential friends, allies, and partners. A discussion forum allows educators to share successes, challenges, strategies, and ideas with respect to integrating technology and global perspectives into education. A collaboration database of educators interested in partnering with other classrooms around the world facilitates international learning partnerships. Meanwhile, regularly produced TIGed blogs and newsletters help TIGeducators stay up to date on developments and events related to the TIGed community.
Somewhat similar is the brand new Choose2Matter site. Check it out!
Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC)
Planning to take your students to worlds unknown?
Partnering with CILC is a great way to start!
Here you will find information and tools to help make your job easier and to enhance learning through the use of videoconferencing and other collaborative technologies.
BENEFITS: In addition to searching a variety of databases, membership in CILC enables you to
- create a Custom Catalog aligned to
- discipline types and/or topics
- audience type or grade level
- national standards
- learning objectives
- post collaboration requests in the Collaboration Center.
- Receive in your inbox
- Weekly Updates matched to your preferences
- CILC e-News, published 5 times from September to May
- e-Flashes sharing special CILC offers, usually once a month
- e-Updates explaining new website features, usually twice a year
- access MyCILC.org to
- manage your CILC member profile
- View all your collaboration and/or class requests
- see all the Favorites you've marked as you searched
TAKE THE CILC TOUR: Learn where and how to access all your benefits.
The tour is a free, live presentation, accessed through the Internet at your computer, which provides a complete overview of www.cilc.org.
View a variety of dates and times and REGISTER
ePals
Welcome to the World's Largest K-12 Learning Network!
ePals is the leading provider of safe collaborative technology for schools to connect and learn in a protected, project-based learning network. With classrooms in 200 countries and territories, ePals makes it easy to connect learners locally, nationally or internationally.
People-to-People International
From the People-to-People International website:
People to People International's School and Classroom Program is a free service that connects teachers and their students with classes in other countries for pen pal exchanges and projects that improve cultural understanding and encourage friendship. Classes are matched according to similar age and number of pupils to form partnerships. Students interact by exchanging traditional paper letters or email messages supervised by their teacher, who receives a program manual for guidance. Teachers may form partnerships with classes in multiple countries and work together for one or more school years.
Primary, middle and secondary-school classes and youth groups (grades kindergarten-12) from all countries are welcome. To join, we ask teachers or adults, who supervise students, to register. Registration is open during July - October. Registrations submitted before or after this time will be held for the following semester or school year. We will contact you to discuss options.
Register here or contact classroom@ptpi.org.
More Ways to Connect with other Teachers/Classrooms:
Try finding other teachers interested in connecting with your students using one of these sites
- Teachers can connect to other teachers through the Global Education Collaboration Ning. Once approved as a members, teachers can post their request for the type of classroom and project they would like to connect their students to.
- The Flat Classroom Project is a global collaboration project that uses web 2.0 tools to facilitate communication and collaboration between students around the world.
- Global Education Motivators (GEM) out of Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia connects students through video-conferencing, and if you are local, will arrange for international speakers to come to your classroom.
- Check out this impressive list of the best Web 2.0 tools for educators from the blogger at Box of Tricks - http://www.boxoftricks.net/?page_id=29
- Build your personal learning network (PLN) using some of the helpful hints from Michelle Bourgeois - http://sites.google.com/site/buildingapln/
- Check out this great list of educational wikis at - http://eduwikius.wikispaces.com/
- Use Skype to bring an author into your classroom or to connect with other teachers and classrooms.
RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS:
Building our own professional development
Google Ed
- Google has so many resources available online. Teachers (and students) can work through the lessons on search that Google has posted to their education site in order to become search certified.
Google Camps and Teacher Academy
- Becoming a Google Certified Teacher (GCT) is awesome! It is that simple. Learn all things Google, connect with teachers using Google is really creative and engaging ways and hook into a network of search gurus, edtech specialists, and teachers really, REALLY excited about teaching digitally.
GAFE Summits
- GAFE, or Google Apps for Education summits, are held throughout the world as one-day conferences meant to introduce both beginners and seasoned users of Google products to new ways that these digital tools can be used in the classroom. In fact, rumor has it, there is a GAFE summit in the works for the Philadelphia area for the fall of 2013.
EdCamp
- Also known as an unconference, the EdCamps are like no professional development session you have ever attended. There are two operating ideas with the EdCamps. First, there are no sessions planned. When you first go to an EdCamp you'll see teachers milling around talking and figuring out what they would like to do professional development on and then finding experts in the room to help discuss that topic. Sessions form while at the EdCamp. The second principle is that while attending, you vote with your feet. If you are in a session that is not beneficial to you, leave. Go find another session that fits your needs. And no one takes offense to attendee coming and going. The whole idea of an EdCamp is that you get the professional development that YOU need.
MOOCs
- Massive Open Online Courses are becoming the popular way to get the professional development that you want, when you want it. This list is huge! Through sites like Coursera, Schoology, and many more, teachers can learn about everything from flipping their classroom to using VoiceThread to instituting Genius Hour in their classes.
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