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May–July 2008
iEARN-Azerbaijan
GCE Conferences Highlights Achievements of Program
iEARN-Azerbaijan hosted a GCE conference on July 1, 2008 for teachers to come together and share the activities they have completed after they attended the GCE National Workshop this spring. The event was held in the American Center at Azerbaijan Languages University and Public Diplomacy Officer Dmitri Tarakhovsky of the U.S. Embassy attended.
The conference showcased the achievements of GCE teachers and also provided a forum to exchange best practices and lessons learned in implementing GCE projects and integrating ICT into the curriculum. The conference also provided an opportunity to promote the GCE among educators not in the program by showing the impact that can be realized in a relatively short period of time.
GCE biology teacher Ulviyye Tahirova and English teacher Shukufa Najafova from School #1 in Ismayilli presented all the GCE activities they participated in this year, which inspired the following question from one of their peers in the audience: “You are doing a wonderful job. I am excited, but please, tell me, how do you find time to do all this work?” The GCE teachers have worked hard this year and their dedication has paid off in the classroom. At the end of conference, the teachers who participated in the GCE program this year were given certificates to commemorate their fine achievements.
GCE Making a Difference in the Lives of Disabled Students
An outstanding teacher from the mountainous region of Ismayilli has been implementing a GCE project that was developed at the national workshop in March. The teacher and her students are working with disabled students at a rehabilitation center. This is the first time students have ever volunteered at this type of institution, and at first the staff wasn’t sure how to respond to students volunteering to work with the disabled students there.
The students received special training from the staff in the previous month, and are now regularly visiting the center, playing with the students, reading to them, and helping them with exercises. The GCE students are learning about the rewards of volunteering as it feels great to make the disabled students smile and to see how excited they are each time they visit. The staff of the center has also learned about the positive impact that volunteers can have in their place of work.
The GCE students from Ismayilli city schools in Azerbaijan organized a handicrafts exhibition to raise funds for disabled children on June 1, 2008. Members of the local community participated in the exhibition, including the local businesses. The youth spoke about their volunteer work with the disabled students and the need for community support for future service projects. Ismayilli GCE students plan to involve moreyouth from the area in future service projects and have emphasized that their volunteer work is just beginning.
On May 24, many GCE students were present among the 30 students from 9 schools and 2 universities of Baku that attended a conference on “Inclusive Education” held by the Deliberation in Democracy program. The conference lasted for 4 hours, and GCE students discussed the first steps that are currently being taken to integrate children with disabilities into regular classes. The students gained practical experience through group work with parents of disabled students, teachers from regular classrooms with disabled students, and with an American teacher, Nan Gher, who worked for 27 years with disabled students. Among the student participants at the conference were 4 GCE students who have been selected as FLEX finalists and will be attending school in the U.S. for an academic year.
iEARN-Bahrain
GCE Program Expands and Sparks International Friendships
The principal and assistant principal of the Amna Bent Wahab school in Qatar visited the Khawla School in Bahrain in May of 2008. The GCE students and teachers at the school took the opportunity to give their guests an introduction to the GCE program and how to participate through iEARN’s system of project based learning and online Collaboration Center.
Educator Siddiqa Ahmed and her student Noor introduced the program and went over the technical aspects of getting involved in the program, while educator Amal Malalla presented the GCE projects that the Khawla School has participated in throughout this past year. Mr. Ibrahim Mohammad Jamaan Hijris, Bahrain’s Director of Secondary Education, attended the presentation and thanked the GCE teachers and students for their exemplary work and wished them success as they continue to participate in the GCE program.
Amani Amer, the GCE Country Coordinator, also gave a presentation about the GCE program to a group of specialists from the Ministry of Education. The group was impressed at the number of projects the GCE program offers to students and teachers by providing access to iEARN’s online collaborative projects, and are recommending that the GCE program be broadened in Bahrain to include more schools.
Educator Kamal Al Shaikh and his students from Alhidaya Secondary School participated in a cultural exchange project in which they exchanged packages of students’ writing projects and traditional items with the Atika Secondary School for Girls in Oman. Mr. Al Shaikh and the Omani teacher met while they were both using a GCE scholarship to take iEARN’s online course on Creative Writing. The two became friends and decided to work together on a package exchange project.
The First Lady visits GCE School Participating in the Big Read Project in Egypt
Laura Bush visited the Fayrouz Experimental School for Languages in Sharm El Sheikh on May 18, 2008 to discuss the Big Read Egypt/U.S. Project. Mrs. Bush held a round table discussion at the Fayrouz School with six middle school GCE students and the representatives of each of the three partnering institutions: the American University in Cairo, Alexandrina Bibliotheca, and iEARN-Egypt. Margarat Scobey, the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt, and the Egyptian Minister of Education Yousry El-Gamal, and the principal of the Fayrouz School Saad Rizk also took part in the discussion.
Mrs. Bush discussed the important function that reading and literature can play in promoting cultural exchange and mutual understanding between Egyptians and Americans.
The Fayrouz School is one of over a hundred GCE schools that work with iEARN-Egypt, and many others will also participate in the Big Read project in addition to continuing the GCE projects they’ve been working on even as iEARN-Egypt graduates from the GCE program. The event with the First Lady was widely publicized in the Egyptian print and TV media.
The Big Read is a cross-cultural initiative between the U.S. and Egypt that seeks to spread mutual understanding through reading books from each culture. In Egypt the program will focus on reading and discussing one or more of three quintessential novels about the American experience: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. The GCE students in Egypt will start by reading To Kill a Mockingbird.
GCE Alumni Trained To Work With GCE Schools To Expand Project Involvement
iEARN-Egypt has launched a capacity building program to develop the skills and abilities of 30 active GCE Alumni who will be working with students at GCE schools in the coming academic year on various GCE projects such as YouthCaN, MDGs-Only With Your Voice, and many others. The GCE alumni were selected to participate in the program based on a specific set of criteria designed by the iEARN-Egypt Student Board, Trainers, and Academic Advisers of the program.
The capacity building program is composed of four main stages: self-awareness, social awareness, change, and action. Each stage will be composed of a number of workshops, panel discussions, activities, and field trips reviewing youth-led initiatives and concludes with a team building and action planning camp.
iEARN-Egypt is partnering with TakingITGlobal to conduct this capacity building program, and also cooperating Siraj Youth Leadership Development in the Arab World, the Nahdet El Mahrousa organization, the Youth Association for Population and Development, and the KELMA Agency for Consulting & Training. The 30 GCE alumni will be working with the students in the 106 GCE schools all over Egypt in the coming academic year.
GCE Educator & Students Attend Youth Summit for the Environment 2008 in Kobe, Japan
Educator Wiwi Rosaria and students Ando and Louisiana, of the GCE school SMA 1 in Pandang, attended the Youth Summit for the Environment 2008 in Kobe, Japan from May 20-24, 2008. GCE students Ando and Louisiana presented to the group the environmental challenges facing Indonesia, and listened to the presentations of the delegations from the other countries, learning that many of the problems facing Indonesia are global in scope. The youth then came together to discuss the shared challenges and focus on how better understanding and international cooperation can contribute towards solutions to many of the environmental problems facing the world.
The youth drafted a message that was presented to the G8 Ministers of the Environment meeting on May 24 about the need to protect the Earth and the necessity of combating climate change on behalf of the world’s youth. GCE student Ando was a part of the delegation that delivered the message.
The event was held at the Kobe Art Center and was attended by about 115 students from the following 21 countries: France, Italy, U.K., Germany, U.S.A., Canada, Russia, Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Mexico, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, Mongolia, Australia, Kenya, Iran, Taiwan, and Japan.
The Indonesian delegation particularly appreciated seeing how a city the size of Kobe managed its recycling and waste disposal systems to keep the city clean. They also enjoyed meeting the other students from around the world and witnessing the Japanese cultural presentations. On May 23 all the students took part in the Art Miles GCE project, in which students around the world prepare sections of a mural that when assembled will be the longest mural in the world.
GCE Students Celebrate World Environment Day
GCE students from Rozak Secondary School in Erbil celebrated World Environment Day and this year’s theme of “Kick the Habit: Towards a Low Carbon Economy” on June 5, 2008. World Environment Day was established by the United Nations and is celebrated each year on June 5 around the world.
In Iraq, GCE students and educators became involved and received support from the Ministry of Environment and a local youth organization. The participants focused on creating awareness about greenhouse gasses emissions and how they can be reduced through lifestyle changes, increasing energy efficiency, using alternative energy, and consuming eco-friendly products.
The GCE students put up posters around Erbil, participated in a rally, and presented the Minister of Environment with a needs paper they prepared for World Environment Day.
GCE Conference Showcases Program’s Achievements, Inspires Others to Join
A GCE conference to promote the GCE program and display students’ work from 14 GCE schools was held at the Educational Center in East Jerusalem from 9:00AM to 3:00PM on May 25, 2008. Students, teachers, principals, educational coordinators, and Ministry of Education representatives attended the event.
GCE students and teachers presented 11 projects to the attendees, and created exhibit booths on their GCE projects run by students who explained the projects as the audience browsed around. Some of the projects presented include: the Teddy Bear, Eye to Eye, My Hero, Art Miles, and Connecting Math to Our Lives. At the end of the conference Ed Gragert, Executive Director of iEARN-USA, spoke live with audience using Skype to discuss his experiences with iEARN and offer support to the participants who want to become involved in collaborative project-based learning through the GCE program.
The GCE students and teachers worked hard during the 2008-9 school year, and it was a great experience for them to be able to share all the fruits of their labor. They are looking forward to continuing in the GCE program in the coming year along with many new schools that attended the conference and were inspired by their example to become GCE schools.
GCE Students & Educators Publish Towards a Green Environment Magazine in English & Arabic
The GCE students of Mrs. Muna Bakri’s computer class at the Al Ukhwah school created the magazine Towards a Green Environment, with articles in both English and Arabic side by side. The magazine was created as the class’s contribution to the Planetary Notions GCE project, which is run by a GCE school in New York City and provides a forum for youth from around the world to voice their opinions on environmental issues. The GCE classroom received a donation from a generous person in the school’s neighborhood that allowed them to print about 300 copies of the magazine for all the preparatory classes in the school. For more about the project, and to connect with them in the project’s online forum, see: http://media.iearn.org/projects/planetarynotions
Exhibition Held of GCE Project Work
iEARN-Lebanon held a United Beyond Our Diversity (UBOD) project exhibition at the Ahliah School in Beirut on June 11, 2008. In the UBOD GCE project, students decorate tiles with themes of unity that are brought together for a collective display at the exhibition. The event was attended by Mrs. Salwa Baasyri, Secretary General of the Lebanese National Commission for UNESCO, who spoke to the students and reinforced the relevance of the theme of the project. GCE students from grades 6 and 7 performed traditional dances for the audience of their peers from the participating schools.
The United Beyond Our Diversity project started in 2005 as a collaborative online learning circle that exchanged murals between 44 schools from around the world, and connecting over 700 students. The project then evolved into decorating tiles on the theme and explaining how the art expresses the student’s point of view. This year the project involved students from Lebanon, Bahrain, and the UAE.
It was great to finally hold this event as it has been canceled for the past two years because of unfortunate events in Lebanon. The project springs from the students and allows them to express themselves through both art and writing. The tiles creatively express the concerns and challenges they face, and share them with peers around the globe. The tile paintings where evaluated by Mrs. Roula Chalhoub, a film director, and Mr. Maroun Akiki, a professional photographer. They rated them based on creativity and their success in conveying their message. The judges selected the top 3 paintings and students who created them received a Certificate of Excellence during the opening ceremony.
The GCE students were thrilled to see their work exhibited and participated in the workshop about the project facilitated by Ms. Eliane Metni, iEARN-Lebanon Coordinator. The students and educators are looking forward to making the tiles next year and expressing their yearning for unity once again.
GCE Program Experiences Benefit ACCESS Students
iEARN-Morocco facilitated a workshop for 50 ACCESS students on the theme of “sharing and collaborating for a better future” at the Orient Occident Foundation in Casablanca on July 29, 2008. The workshop was organized in collaboration with Ms. Ruth Petzold, the RELO at the U.S. Embassy in Rabat and the Orient Occident Foundation. Ms. Petzold spoke to the ACCESS students at the beginning of the session.
There were 4 different sessions run by GCE teachers attended by students at the workshop. “Digital Storytelling For Educational Uses” taught students to create multimedia files to share stories with a purpose. The students learned to focus on topics of general interest, find photos that illustrate the story, create a written script to accompany the photos, and use software to record their story and convert it to a multimedia file that can be shared easily. “Developing Communicational Skills in EFL Learning” helped to prepare students for the challenge of speaking English in everyday “real life” situations by bridging the gap between what is studied and what is actually spoken beyond the classroom. “Youth Changes & Challenges” focused on enabling students to make a difference as an individual among a group and to effect change in their communities. Many examples of the community service projects GCE students have led were shared. And in “Collaboration & Sharing Tools” the students learned how they can interact online to share resources and acquire new skills while using iEARN’s online Collaboration Center and other tools.
The workshop was a great success, with the ACCESS students learning many valuable skills that will help them as they continue in the ACCESS program. The ACCESS program gives non-elite 14-18-year-old students the opportunity to study English and participate in enrichment activities designed to improve their appreciation for American democratic principles, civic engagement, history, culture, and values while enhancing their educational and employment opportunities.
GCE Workshops Expand Program to New Regions in Morocco
Mourad Benali organized a GCE workshop for 15 English educators from the south of Morocco in Dakhla on May 17, 2008. The educators were introduced to the GCE program, shown how to join and participate in GCE projects, and learned how to use iEARN’s online Collaboration Center. iEARN-Morocco is making a concerted effort to reach out to educators in the remoter regions of Morocco.
Two more GCE workshops were held in Beni Mellal by Nour Eddine Laouni from May 31-June 1, 2008. These workshops introduced the educators in attendance to the GCE project Students Unlimited, which empowers students to take action on important issues through community service projects and instills values such as citizenship, leadership, creativity, generosity, and collaboration.
GCE School Hosts “English Day,” Showcases GCE Program
The Atika Secondary School for Girls in Al Batina North, a GCE school, held an “English Day” in May of 2008 attended by students and educators from the area. The day began with a presentation entitled “School is Cool,” which was also the theme for the day. The event included traditional songs and dances, presentations about jobs in Oman requiring English, and plays, including one called “Cinderella Oman.”
Several other schools and institutes from the area attended the event and made presentations about their programs, including: Sohar University, Shinas Technical College, the Indian School, Al Dhia School, and Um Salma School. GCE students from Atika Secondary School presented the GCE program and shared their experience with the audience. They discussed their cultural exchange package project done with a U.S. school and the video made in the Moving Voices GCE project.
The Atika School also worked on cultural exchange package project with a school in Bahrain. The participating GCE class sent their writings about Oman’s delicious recipes, history, castles and forts, gender roles, leisure activities, and traditional dances as well as pictures showing the traditional dress worn by men and women.
The schools in Oman are looking for schools to exchange packages of cultural items with. Interested educators should post a message in Teacher’s Forum in iEARN’s online Collaboration Center.
GCE Program Set to Expand in Oman, Receives Support from Ministry of Education
Impressed by what the GCE teachers and students have accomplished, the Minister of Education in Oman has formed a committee tasked with expanding the GCE program into more schools in the coming academic year. The committee is made up of: Dr. Madeha Al Shaybani, Secretary General of the Oman National Commission for Education, Culture, and Science (committee chairperson); Dr. Sana Al Bulushi, Head of the Technical Office in the Ministry of Education (MOE); Aisha Al Bulushi, Deputy Director of Private Schools in the MOE; Khalid Al Siyabi, Deputy Director of the MOE IT Department; Saeed al Hashmi, head of the training section in the MOE; Issa Khalfan Al Anqoudi, iEARN-OMAN Country Coordinator.
Mr. Khalfan and 3 GCE teachers met with the committee to discuss the GCE program and share their experiences working on GCE projects, taking online professional development courses, and participating in Learning Circles. The Ministry of Education is eager to see the program flourish in Oman and is willing to invest in its growth. After the meeting this July, the Ministry put up the funds for 7 GCE educators to fly to Uzbekistan to attend iEARN’s Annual Conference there, and also paid the full cost of sending two representatives from the Ministry along with them. GCE teachers submitted 3 papers that were accepted to be presented at the Annual Conference in Uzbekistan, showing that the GCE program in Oman is ready to be held up as a successful example to other educators around the world.
GCE Folk Tales Project Results in Published Work in Pakistan
iEARN-Pakistan is pleased to announce the publication of work from the GCE Folk Tales project in the 2007-2008 academic year. This publication was published in July of 2008 and funded by the GCE program. The publication features folk tales from thirteen different countries, including 7 GCE countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Ghana, Indonesia, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, Senegal, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, and Uzbekistan. Talha, a 12th-grade GCE student in Pakistan, edited the publication in which he wrote that he hopes reading the folk tales will help “teachers and students from around the globe… develop appreciation for those cultures andbecome a global citizen.”
Now, thanks to the GCE program, these folk tales will be able to be shared in places without access to the internet and also show the many students who contributed work to the project that it is valuable and worthy of publishing. As Saleem Ibrahim, Senior Program Officer at iEARN-Pakistan, wrote in the introduction, “GCE is a program that has enabled students from Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and the United States to share the folk tales from their culture, rewrite them or create new ones that represent the values and morals specific to their culture and countries and share them with the rest of the students active in this project.”
GCE Classroom Connects With 3 U.S. Classrooms Through Teddy Bear Project
GCE educator Mehwish Raza of Karachi worked with his students on the Teddy Bear project, which they conducted with 3 partner classrooms from the Chicago area of the U.S. this year. The students in the class improved their English writing skills as having real U.S. students to write to and receive replies from motivated them far better than any book. The students in Pakistan also learned a lot about their own country and culture, for in writing to the U.S. students they were forced to look at many small details of their lives they usually take for granted.
GCE Workshops Expand Program and Forge New Global Connections
iEARN-Pakistan held 2 GCE workshops in May of 2008 resulting in more GCE students and educators becoming actively engaged with their peers in the U.S. and around the world.
iEARN-Pakistan conducted a workshop introducing the GCE program to educators and students from the Learning House School in Karachi on May 3, 2008. After learning how to use the tools in the Collaboration Center the participants dove right into working on GCE projects. Some of the GCE projects they participated in at the workshop were: Folk Tales, CIVICS, Write On, Feeding Minds Fighting Hunger, Eye-to-Eye, and My Name.
The participants read and responded to the work others had posted in the projects, and then posted their own. The new GCE participants were thrilled to be able to interact with others around the world so quickly—some of them even got responses posted to their work while they were at the workshop. They are all looking forward to continuing their participation in the projects in the coming school year.
GCE participant Muhammad Talha facilitated a workshop at the Lincoln Corner in Karachi on the Folk Tales project for students in a children’s club from several local schools. The new GCE students learned how to write up folk tales, fairy tales, and fables and how to share them as a means to connect different cultures. They looked at folk tales that had already been posted in the project forum from other countries and then posted their own to share with peers around the world.
Another introductory workshop on the GCE program was held for 30 educators from different parts of the Southern Region who teach in the Beaconhouse School System on June 13, 2008. The educators were shown how to access and use the Collaboration Center, and then introduced to various GCE projects that they may want to participate in this coming academic year. The staff of iEARN-Pakistan worked with the educators to help them choose the GCE project that would integrate into their curriculum seamlessly based on subject of learning, age of the students, and access to computer facilities. The educators learned a lot and are ready to start the new year working in GCE projects.
Global Connections and Exchange in Pakistan: A Success Story of Innovation & Sustainability
The journey of the GCE program in Pakistan is truly amazing—from the implementation of the CIVICS (Community Voices Collaborative Solutions) program in 1998, the transition to BRIDGE (Building Respect Through Internet Dialogue and Global Education) program in 2002, culminating in the final year of the GCE program in 2008. Throughout these years the concept of curriculum based online collaborative projects and exchanges, that was at the heart of the GCE program, was introduced to hundreds of Pakistani schools and thousands of students have become an active part of a global community of learners. When the first ECA supported training was organized in Karachi in 1999, the total number of iEARN-Pakistan partner schools was 4. That grew to more then 900 active GCE schools ranging from the northern mountains of Rakaposhi to the coasts of Karachi with an average of 3000 students participating in the program nationwide.
iEARN-Pakistan can very proudly say that it has pioneered online curriculum based projects and exchanges with the help of all these ECA funded programs. Online projects and exchanges are now very much a part of the K-12 school life and curriculum and very well on the road to sustainability in Pakistan. The Ministry of Education has included iEARN’s GCE projects in their recent Strategy for ICT in Education published in 2007. iEARN-Pakistan has become a part of a well-established local educational organization with the infrastructure and groundwork laid to continue reaching out to and supporting new schools and students.
Master teachers trained during all these years in Pakistan, the USA, and the many other countries participating in the GCE program are an asset to their school systems. Since 1999, more than 1400 educators have been trained locally, more than 40 educators and students have participated in exchanges and were trained in USA, and over 60 have participated in and received training at the iEARN Annual Conference in different countries. They posses the knowledge, skills, and of course the motivation to support their students and colleagues to continue participation in the GCE project activities even after Pakistan graduates from the program.
iEARN-Pakistan reaches out to at least 35-40 new schools every year, engaging them in various GCE projects. It plans to continue its outreach efforts in the years to come; some of the plans include fee-based training programs with local funding and sponsors and project websites containing resources that can help educators get started with the projects even if they are unable to attend a training workshop. By the end August, iEARN-Pakistan will be launching three such websites for the Youth Volunteering and Community Service project, the Folk Tales project, and the Art Miles project. Over the years iEARN-Pakistan has developed the expertise to continually develop and produce print and online resources, including lesson plans, teachers guide, and other curricular resources, that promote effective project participation not only for Pakistani educators, but by educators all around the world.
iEARN-Pakistan would like to thank the ECA for its years of funding projects that have had a direct impact on the lives of thousands, and an indirect impact on countless persons in Pakistan. They look forward to working as a mentor to countries participating in the GCE program in the 2008-2009 year, and wish that all GCE countries may meet with the same level of success that iEARN-Pakistan has.
Teddy Bear from Uzbekistan Sent to USA, American Teddy Bear Arrives in Karshi
The 6th grade students of GCE educator Khosivat Suvonova at School #34 in Karshi sent a teddy bear to a classroom in Osbornville, New Jersey on May 21, 2008 as part of the Teddy Bear project. The preparation of the teddy bear for the trip was an exciting experience for the students, because they knew this teddy bear would be their ambassador on this cultural exchange.
Their teacher wrote of the experience, “It was pleasant to watch my students preparing the parcel. They selected every item with special care and worked hard on writing the letter to their American friends. They involved their parents and their English teacher into this process, and this was a real team effort.” The students were careful in their preparations, taking almost a month to choose the bear, making the clothes to dress him in traditional Uzbek garb, gathering traditional cultural items from Uzbekistan including a teapot cover, caps, pottery, a fan, postcards, and a book on 2700th anniversary of Karshi.
The students also composed a letter to the GCE classroom in New Jersey in which they shared some facts about
themselves, their city, country, and culture.
GCE student Djuraev had this to say about the project: “This is the first project I’ve taken part in, and I like it very much. I think it is also an unusual way of learning. While preparing the letter about Uzbekistan my classmates and I learned more historical facts about Uzbekistan, we also learned many English language rules while writing the letter. And now I am very interested in learning about New Jersey and USA through Teddy Bear project.”
The New Jersey classroom mailed their Teddy Bear to the classroom in Karshi on April 19, 2008, and it arrived June 29, 2008 at School #34 in Karshi. The postman brought the package to the school in the morning where the school’s Director Mamlakat Kadirova met him and took the package to GCE educator Khosivat Suvonova.
After informing her students of the arrival, they all gathered together later that day and the students ripped open the package to find a beautiful teddy bear, a book about New Jersey with lots of pictures of landmarks and other places of interest, and letters from the students there. The Uzbek students have been taking the teddy bear all around Karshi and recording its impressions about all of its new experiences to share with the classroom in New Jersey.
GCE School Wins Award for Excellence in International Education
Longfellow Middle School in Hill City won the Kansas in the World Award for Excellence in International Education for 2008 by the Kansas Committee for International Education in the Schools (KCIES). The award comes with a $1,000 prize for the school. Teacher Scott Parker worked with his 7th and 8th grade students to gather local histories and has shared them as part of the GCE program through iEARN’s Collaboration Center. His classroom was linked with classrooms in Pakistan through the Kindred project, in which students explore and share their family history. Mr. Parker also linked his students with their peers in Azerbaijan, Indonesia, and Uzbekistan through the Local History (My City Then and Now) project, in which students share the results of their research about their local communities. The students of Mr. Parker’s classes at Longfellow Middle School have made their projects available online at: http://www.usd281.com/ruralsymposium/
Chicago Schools Celebrate A Second Year in the GCE Program
Chicago Public Schools’ Literature and Writing Magnet Cluster Program Schools have completed their second year of building global relationships through iEARN’s Collaboration Center as part of the GCE program. To celebrate their achievement, they held the 2nd Annual iEARN Display Fair, at which classrooms presented the GCE projects they have been working on and students answer questions and explain the projects to the audience.
In the past year, these GCE schools successfully planned and completed ten projects with over 12 different countries, including Azerbaijan, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan. They worked with their peers from these countries on many GCE projects, including: One Day in the Life, Fairytales, Kindred, Heart to Heart, Folktales, and the Teddy Bear project.
Schools from all parts of Chicago took part in the fair, and the educators and students enjoyed being able to see what their peers at other schools around the city had been able to accomplish. Some teachers and students were so excited about their participation in the GCE program that they were already talking about their plans for next year.
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