iEARN IN ACTION #250, News Flash, June 12, 2009

————————————————————

SEEKING PARTNERS: iEARN PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES

Download the 2008-2009 iEARN Project Book in English or Spanish at: http://www.iearn.org/projects/projectbook.html

For a full listing of iEARN projects, see: http://media.iearn.org/projects

————————————————————

1. WANT TO INCLUDE A PROJECT IN THE 2009-2010 iEARN PROJECT BOOK? Before starting a new iEARN project, all educators and youth are encouraged to participate in an existing iEARN project. If you’ve participated in iEARN projects already, and would like to to start a new project on a topic that is not already focused on by an existing iEARN project, please first post your project idea to the iEARN Teachers Forum: http://foro.iearn.org/iearnforums/teachers, or if you are a youth, to the iEARN Youth Forum: http://foro.iearn.org/iearnforums/youth. If you find a team interested in collaborating with you, you are welcome to fill out a new iEARN Project Template, which can be found at http://www.iearn.org/professional/prof_connections.html#projecttemplate. Questions can be directed to <projects@iearn.org>.

2. WALLS TALKING PROJECT. The idea is to ‘listen’ to the graffiti talk around us (on our walls, doors, desks, chairs, floors, T-shirts, schoolbags, etc.), and to record and share interesting finds. If other interested teachers and students respond by posting photos and related info, this could turn into a nice project of the wall/s/talking in our schools, streets, towns, countries, world. Sketches, squiggles, doodles and other more sophisticated street art around us is the part of public spaces usually walked by, unnoticed by most people. See http://wallstalking.org/Home.mvc/About http://www.flickr.com/groups/wallstalking/ and http://listentothewalls.pbworks.com/. For more info, contact Sasa in Slovenia <sasa@rthand.com> or join the planning discussion in the Teachers Forum: http://foro.iearn.org/iearnforums/teachers/8344.

3. CHECK OUT EAST JERUSALEM SCHOOL’S ONE WORLD PROJECT WEBSITE. http://shufatedu.net/Default.aspx?tabid=240 For more about the One World Project, see http://media.iearn.org/projects/sustainability

4. STUDENTS IN ITALY CREATE NARNIA ART MILES MURALS. From Giuseppe Fortunati, iEARN-Italy – We share with you Narnia iEARN project for Art Miles Murals: http://smilebox.com/play/4f5463784e5463794d513d3d0d0a&sb=1 and http://www.narnia.it/muralesmostra.htm. For more about the Narnia Project see http://media.iearn.org/projects/narnia and for the Art Miles Project: http://media.iearn.org/projects/artmiles

5. MACHINTO PROJECT ACTIVITIES IN AFGHANISTAN, CANADA, AND TAIWAN. See books from Taiwan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd480mX_HBw In addition, earlier this year, students at W. H. Day Elementary School in Bradford, Canada sent peers in Kandahar, Afghanistan homemade Machinto Project books. On June 11, the Canadian students hosted a delegate from Kandahar who delivered the student work from Afghanistan to their Canadian peers and joined in a videoconference with partner classes. See the Canadian books at http://whd.scdsb.on.ca/classes/Bickley_site_09/Machinto%20Books/Machinto%20Books.htm For more about the Machinto Project, see http://media.iearn.org/projects/machinto or to see photos from the exchange: http://media.iearn.org/v/Activities/machinto/

6. SHARE YOUR MAGICAL MOMENTS FOR A GLOBAL ONLINE BOOK. Students around the world are invited to join “Magical Moments Around the World.” Students unite in sharing their magical moments in a global online book, showing youth that their personal magical moment is part of a human web that transcends borders is of incredible human value. And, it promotes values such as compassion and tolerance. Youth from Iceland, Zambia, Belarus, Romania, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sierra Leone, Portugal and Denmark have posted their magical moments and can be viewed at http://www.magicalmoment.net/EN/mm.htm Questions? Contact Gal Kleinman in Israel at <contact@magicalmoment.net>.

7. SCHOOL IN BAHRAIN PLANTS TREES AS PART OF POWER OF ONE: PROTECTING OUR PLANET ACTIVITIES. Students at Khawla Girls Secondary School in Bahrain distributed plants among teachers and students to take home to plant. In total, 100 plants were given away. See photos in the Power of One Album: http://media.iearn.org/v/Activities/green

————————————————————

CHECK IT OUT! RESOURCES, CONTESTS,

WEBSITES, ANNOUNCEMENTS

————————————————————

8. REGISTER NOW FOR THE NEXT SESSION OF iEARN ONLINE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSES FOR EDUCATORS. iEARN courses bring together participants from around the world – the next session will run from September 28-November 29, 2009. Each course is designed so that by the end of nine weeks you will have outlined how you will use a standards-based iEARN project in your classroom. Courses include: Creative Arts, Language Arts/Writing, Social Studies/Contemporary Affairs/Geography, Science/Environment/Math, Teaching of Foreign and Second Languages, , Learning Circles, Moving Voices (making digital documentaries), and PEARL (integrating journalism skills into the classroom). The enrollment deadline is September 10th. We advise you to enroll early because there are only 25 places available per course. Read more and register now to save your spot: http://www.iearn.org/professional/online.html

9. iEARN/GCE SCHOOLS OPENING DOORS TO DIPLOMACY WORLDWIDE. The US Department of State recognized several iEARN schools in its 2009 Doors to Diplomacy program. Co-sponsored by Global SchoolNet, Doors to Diplomacy recognizes the web projects that best teach young people about the importance of international affairs and diplomacy. Participants, ranging in age from 11 to 18, included 203 student teams from 34 countries. Student peers, educational professionals and a team of Department of State officers reviewed the team projects. iEARN schools receiving recognition include: (Platinum) SMA 1, Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia (Global Connections alumni) (Gold) Public School #2, Rustavi, Georgia (Silver) Eastern Mediterranean College, Cyprus (Honorable Mention) St. Lawrence High School, Mumbai, India; and Public School #5, Rustavi, Georgia. More information about school projects may be found at: http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsndoors/

10. NEW ADOBE YOUTH VOICES VIDEOS POSTED TO AYV/iEARN GALLERY. View and share your feedback at https://media.iearn.org/v/Activities/adobeyouthvoices/

—————————

UPCOMING EVENTS

—————————

11. iEARN-THAILAND HOSTS 3-DAY WORKSHOP FOR TEACHERS, JUNE 11-13, 2009. Hosted in Bangkok, Thailand, approximately 25 English Language teachers have joined together with iEARN-Thailand Co-Coordinators Sonthida Keyuravong and Patcharee Sridakum, and Tina Habib of iEARN-USA for a workshop on how to integrate iEARN global projects into their curricula. Meet them in the Teachers Forum: http://foro.iearn.org/iearnforums/teachers/8348. For more about iEARN-Thailand, see http://arts.kmutt.ac.th/iearn/home_en.htm

12. iEARN EDUCATORS AND COUNTRY COORDINATORS TO PRESENT AT NECC CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON, DC, USA, JUNE 28-JULY 1, 2009. Presenters will share how they have been involved in iEARN and the global Adobe Youth Voices Program — presenters include Svetlana Yakubovskaya (iEARN-Belarus); Mail Bickley and Jim Carlton (iEARN-Canada); Dalia Khalil (iEARN-Egypt); Daniel Kakinda (iEARN-Uganda); Saleem Ibrahim (iEARN-Pakistan); and Debbie Anderson (iEARN-USA). For more about NECC (National Educational Computing Conference), see http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2009/

13. WELCOME NEW iEARN TEACHERS FROM ARAB SCHOOLS IN ISRAEL ATTENDING WORKSHOPS ON JUNE 14 AND JUNE 17, 2009. iEARN workshops, funded by the Doris Duke Foundation, will take place on June 14th for 30 teachers, and on June 17th for another 35 teachers. Post greetings in the Teachers Forum: http://foro.iearn.org/iearnforums/teachers/8359

14. iEARN-MOROCCO (MEARN) TO HOST 16th ANNUAL iEARN CONFERENCE AND 13TH YOUTH SUMMIT IN IFRANE, MOROCCO, JULY 19-25, 2009. “Innovative Technologies and Cross Cultural Dialogue For Quality Education.” Participants from 45 countries are already registered: Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, France, Brasil, Canada, Spain, UAE, USA, Japan, Mali, Mexico, Oman, Netherlands, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Indonesia,Taiwan, Slovenia, Tunisia,Turky, Kenya, Morocco, Azerbaijan, Argentina, South Africa, Lebanon, Yemen, Israel, Belarus, Suriname, Nepal, Malaysia, Palestine, Iraq, Uzebekistan, Thailand, Pakistan, Georgia, and Poland. SPECIAL NOTE: ACCOMMODATION FEES LOWERED! See http://www.iearn2009.ma/spip.php?article3?lang=en Those who haven’t yet registered, please note the new fees. For people who already wired the fees, they will be reimbursed during the registration in local currency. Join the Conference Forum http://foro.iearn.org/iearnforums/iearn2009conference and Youth Summit Forum http://foro.iearn.org/iearnforums/iearn2009youthsummit/ for ongoing discussions and updates. Participants from over 30 countries are registered already! Call for workshop proposals: http://www.iearn2009.ma/spip.php?page=call_form Deadline for submitting workshops: June 20, 2009. For more info about the conference, see http://www.iearn2009.ma

RECENT EVENTS

15. iEARN-OMAN EDUCATORS AND OMANI REPORTERS ATTEND JOURNALISM TRAINING AT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY IN DOHA, QATAR, JUNE 7-18, 2009. The teachers and journalists will work together to mentor students and produce news publications as part of the MEPI High School Journalism Education Program http://us.iearn.org/collaborate/programs/high_school_journalism_program.php. Read workshop updates at: http://foro.iearn.org/webx/iearnforums/teachers/8357

16. iEARN-SRI LANKA HOSTS iEARN WORKSHOP, JUNE 5, 2009. The workshop was held at Royal College, Colombo 7, and included teachers and students from Colombo and Matara. See photos: http://www.iearnsrilanka.org/workshop_20090605.html

17. iEARN-QATAR 2009 OPEN HOUSE CELEBRATION, MAY 30, 2009. Reach Out To Asia organized the iEARN-Qatar 2009 Open House celebration on Saturday 30th May 2009! During this event, 40 teachers and 200 students showcased 19 different iEARN projects that they had worked on during the 2008-2009 school year. Visit the image gallery of their projects at http://www.rotaknowledgenet.org/iearn-qatar/iearn-qatar-2009-open-house

————————————————————-

FOR REFERENCE!

* Past Newsflashes are saved in the Forum: News http://foro.iearn.org/iearnforums/news/

* Spanish translations are also available on: http://foro.iearn.org/iearnforums/boletin/.

————————————————————-

TO SUBMIT AN ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE NEWSFLASH: Send your announcement (2-3 lines) to newsflash@us.iearn.org.

————————————————————-

iEARN (International Education and Resource Network) is a global non-profit network that empowers teachers and students to undertake projects designed to make a meaningful contribution to the health and welfare of the planet and its people. Started in 1988, iEARN is currently active in over 125 countries, with 2,000,000 students participating as part of their education. iEARN-International: http://www.iearn.org

————————————————————-