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by Chris Hockert
School and Community
Clifton Hills Elementary School, Chattanooga, TN serves over 432 inner-city high poverty students who love to learn all
they needed were opportunities to help them grow. The answer became
technology and connecting with their peers around the world. Beginning
in 2000, I started working with students in my third grade classroom to
get them involved with IEARN Learning Circles and the Teddy Bear
Project. The next year I expanded to working with students in fourth
and fifth grade and actively involved them with the Learning Circles.
Students ranged in age from 10-12 years of age. There were between
25-75+ students involved in these projects each year. At first I
started doing the Learning Circle just in the fall because of
standardized testing requirements during the spring semester. During
last year and the prior year I really stretched the students and
involved them in both sessions of the Learning Circles because of the
impact on their writing skills. In addition, the standardized writing
assessment moved from fourth grade to fifth grade and I felt it was
important that these classes really became involved in writing more to
develop these skills.
Outcomes
The Learning Circles and Teddy Bear Projects focused on Tennessee State Standards. The Teddy Bear Exchange was used for two
years in third and fourth grade. Our students exchanged bears with
students in Australia and New Zealand. They loved receiving their bears
and pictures from their friends. The delay in this project was the time
it took for the snail mail to reach each school. Due to time
constraints I focused our efforts on the Learning Circles because I
could involve more students and they could produce finished work within
the six-week time frames. Students enjoyed sending and receiving
introductory letters from their friends as well as researching
information using the computers and preparing final letters that were
sent via the Internet email at first then we changed to the web-based
forum and documenting our projects on the school web-site. Students
loved to see their final product.
Outcomes were improved student writing, improved technology skills, and
a better understanding of other people and their cultures. The students
wrote to a higher standard because they knew that their peers were
going to read their letters. They also read letters from friends in
other countries such as Ireland, Netherlands, Kuwait, Botswana,
Romania, Kazakhstan, and other parts of the U.S.
Students learned how to use word
processing, email, copy and pasting skills, integrating images into
documents, saving work, editing, conducting research using the Internet
and evaluating web-sites.
Social Studies Standard 1.0
Culture encompasses similarities and differences among people including
their beliefs, knowledge, changes, values, and traditions. Students
will explore these elements of society to develop an appreciation and
respect for the variety of human cultures.
Geography standard 3.0
Enables the students to see, understand and appreciate the web of
relationships between people, places, and environments. Students will
use the knowledge, skills, and understanding of concepts within the six
essential elements of geography: world in spatial terms, places and
regions, physical systems, human systems, environment and society, and
the uses of geography.
Language Arts Reading Standard 1.0
The student will develop the reading and listening skills necessary for
word recognition, comprehension, interpretation, analysis, evaluation,
and appreciation of print and non-print text.
Writing Standard 2.0
The student will develop the structural and creative skills of the
writing process necessary to produce written language that can be read,
presented to, and interpreted by various audiences.
Tangible Outcomes
Due
to our involvement in the Learning Circles, I was able to obtain
financial support to take a few of our students to the iEARN Conference
and Youth Summits in South Africa, Russia, Japan, and Slovakia.
Students were transformed from young children to young adults due to
their Global Experiences. These conferences became "Firsts" for many
students like Jordan who went to South Africa. It was his first plane
trip, first passport, first boat trip, first conference, first time
visiting another country, first visit to Robyn Island where Nelson
Mandella had been imprisoned. These life-changing experiences helped
Cody decide that he wanted to pursue a career in teaching to help shape
the future. Dequest, Misty, Melissa, and Patrick are forever changed
due to their
experiences with other youth from around the world. They enjoyed
meeting their peers, sharing cultures, and simply enjoying learning
from each other.
Utilizing iEARN Learning Circles helps integrate technology into
classroom instruction. Students are able to use technology to connect
to others around the world. In addition, they are able to have
immediate access to information at their fingertips. Their literacy,
technology, and social studies skills are improved tremendously. Our
literacy skills on the standardized tests increased over 3 points by
integrating technology into the classroom. This equates to a 8-12%
improvement on the standardized tests for the major content areas for
our school.
Students success can be highlighted as they learn where the next
conference will be held their immediate response is "Ms. Hockert, can
you get the money for me to go?" Cody's parents were so impressed with
his experience in Moscow, Russia that they tapped into their extended
family network and raised enough money to pay for him to attend the
next conference in Japan.
Teaching through iEARN
There is no comparison between using the iEARN project than traditional
didactic teaching. There is more student engagement using technology
and their expectations are higher for their writing. The teacher is
transformed into a facilitator, or guide rather than the "Know it all
source of information."
Support
My principal, peer teachers, consulting teacher, and parents were very
supportive of my efforts using the Learning Circles and Teddy Bear
Exchange.
Challenges
My biggest challenge was not having sufficient funding to take a larger
group of students to the conferences and Youth Summits. I did work hard
to develop a relationship with a local foundation and received partial
scholarships from U.S. iEARN to enable a few students to attend these
conferences. To gain community support, I made appearances on a local
television station to share our experiences at the conference and Youth
Summit. These efforts were most productive.
Recommendations
I would highly recommend that teachers in grades 3-5 become active in
at least one Learning Circles project. They will be surprised how well
their students will rise to the occasion to improve their literacy
skills. Students and adults like to share what they know and have
learned. Project based learning helps students develop their technology
skills, improve literacy, and gain a better understanding of other
peoples and their cultures.
Assessment
Students were provided with a guideline of expectations for their
project. They were involved in the class surveys, reading student
introductory letters and working with peers to research sites for
information. They were taught to use word processing, editing skills
such as spell check, and peer editing. Once they had their paper
completed, they submitted it to me for review and I would conduct final
editing and post on the forum and prepare for the web-site. Once the
project was completed, they enjoyed reading the final projects.
Making a Difference
I believe that our Learning Circles project has made the world a better
place. Our students have gained a better understanding of other people
and their cultures. They have become Global Citizens instead of
students who attend one particular school. Teachers have grown
professionally and socially. We are more tolerant of others. My
favorite project to have students write about is 'What Peace Means to
Me' because the students have to think beyond their own world and
recognize that some of their peers live in difficult situations that
they have no control over. Our fourth graders who worked on 'The Peace
Quilt" that was presented at the Japan Conference for Andrew Greene in
Sierra Leone, fully comprehend what his life was like and the difficult
conditions that the Child Soldiers had to endure. This project has been
life changing for me also. Andrew and I remain friends to this day. We
met at the Moscow Conference. When I think of Andrew, I think of Peace
in the world and how one man can make a difference. I refer to him as
my man of peace.
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