Flat Classroom Certified teacher Aaron Maurer shares his frank views and strategies for global collaboration and global education with Dr Z from the University of Northern Iowa. Excellent insight into how to flatten the classroom walls and meet challenges headon to globalize attitudes and experiences of students. Thanks Aaron!
Michael Graffin's thoughts about global collaboration. He's been working with a set of projects including many teachers. Here's his reflections on global collaboration and the first few 2 chapters in the book.
A wonderful blog from a Grade 4 teacher, my friend and Flat Classroom educator in Beijing, Shannon O'Dwyer. This style of writing really brings the classroom out to the world and invites interaction from a global audience!
"My best advice is to tap into an existing project. There are lots of them! But before you begin your search, take a few minutes to define what kind of project you're looking for.
What areyour project goals? How will you incorporate your content area standards in addition to giving your students opportunities for developing global competencies?
What time frame do you have in mind? Are you looking for a long-term project or a short-term one?
What scope do you have in mind? Are you looking to connect with a single teacher/classroom/school or multiple partners?
What kind of partner(s) are you looking for? Grade level? Subject area? Location?"
Written by Flat Classroom Certfiied teachers in the 12-1 cohort as a 'quad-blogging' challenge
"Much like a mature garden, becoming a teacherpreneur takes time, a focus on the big picture and attention to the small details"
I agree with some of these reasons - there are two mains issues - 1) lack of good quality e-books (in other words 'e-books' that are really PDF format with limited hyperlinking, interaction and social media 2) a lack of vision amongst teachers to encourage students to write their OWN text books.
Some excellent tips from Jennifer Carey.
I know classrooms CAN move beyond the central control of a school imposed LMS - the students are ready, let's get the teachers ready!
Excellent blog post by @ToscaKilloran about coding using Scratch - from an amazing PYP teacher in Germany who really gets it! Great resources - video and websites - shared.
Love it when she says, "However, the real goal rests not in the student's ability to code, but the complex network of skills that are contained within coding. Among other things, this entails thinking logically and algorithmically but also creatively, and collaboratively."
Theresa Allen is a technology coordinator and teacher at Cathedral of St. Raymond School, Joliet, IL. She is a global-minded educator who strives to use connections and collaborations to learn about technology and people around the world.