Any schools want to collaborate with a CT middle school? In the US or International!!

Hi there - I am a 7th grade SS teacher in CT. I am looking to find other schools to collaborate - in the US or outisde the US. I am using a site that I helped to build at SEEdebate.org. SEEdebate is free and safe for students because it is closed. Students can't sign up without teacher codes to use. They are then within the teachers' "class" which makes it easier for teachers to pull up their students' comments. The comments are moderated too. You can design any type of discussion you want, some use it for simulations, wikis etc. Also, it is just a forum if you want to have students discuss with others. Anyway - I would love to get my students talking with other students aged 11 - 14!! Please let me know!

Tags: collaboration, forum, international

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Permalink Reply by Alline Sada on November 7, 2009 at 1:40pm

Wow! Looks great!

I'll pass it on to the SS teachers at my school.. We are big fans of Model UN, this is going to be lots of fun for us!

Colegio Euroamericano de Monterrey (Mexico). You'll definitely be hearing from someone soon!

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Permalink Reply by Sheila S. Beck on November 7, 2009 at 7:15pm

Sounds Good! I have passed it on to our TRT's, Coordinator, and a teacher!

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Permalink Reply by Meghan Connelly on November 8, 2009 at 12:44pm

Thanks Sheila!

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Permalink Reply by Sagar Yadav on November 8, 2009 at 6:38am

hey, we are a company in India and we can collaborate with you as well.

infact we would love to - as understanding and improving education is one of our key focus areas.

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Permalink Reply by Meghan Connelly on November 8, 2009 at 12:46pm

Thanks Sagar - I would love to set something up. I have a lead on some other countries and states in the US. We can talk together to set up how we want to do it. Send along your ideas!

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Permalink Reply by Sagar Yadav on November 10, 2009 at 10:19am

Sure, let me plan out in details - alongwith some Indian counterpart schools.

I will get back to you soon now.

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Permalink Reply by Meghan Connelly on November 10, 2009 at 10:32am

Excellent ~ Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by PACI Dominique on November 8, 2009 at 6:47am

Hello,
I was happy to read your post it is exactly what I was wishing for. I teach English to French students aged 11-14. They are not all fluent but they are crtainly enthusiastic, so am I. After teaching for twenty years in a suburb of Paris I am now right in the center 75008 in one of the best school in Paris. I wanted to change, and I think although I enjoyed my work there I had to change my horizon!
So it is my first year in this school and I have now built a trusting relationship with my students.
My fourteen years old group has been working on different topics. The aim was to use expression of opinion, agreement, disagreement. We are now studying school life in different countries and have woked on obligation, must mustn't, have to , should.
The last text we did was a young boy from San Diego talking about his schedule at school.
I think we can do much with all this. I wanted them to connect on voicethread to comment on two school regulation posters. But exchange with your students about school regulations, rules at home etc... would be more interesting.
Waiting eagely for your answer.
Dominique

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Permalink Reply by Colleen Young on November 8, 2009 at 9:50am

I think some of my students would enjoy participating - I am in a UK school.

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Permalink Reply by Meghan Connelly on November 8, 2009 at 1:02pm

Hi Colleen - That is great! If you want to join SEEdebate and start looking at it, you can get started right away - especially with a smaller group. I attached the account creation instructions in a reply to a teahcer from France in this same thread if you need them. Go ahead and create and account and see what you think. We can talk more about how we can set up an actual assignment for my students and yours, but there are already kids from the US on there discussing current events if you want to get them involved right away!

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Permalink Reply by Meghan Connelly on November 8, 2009 at 12:52pm

Hi Dominique! That sounds great. Some of my students are taking French as well so there are some interesting possibilities there! Some of the articles at SEEdebate are just like that - and we can set up a discussion however we want. Maybe if we start with general questions about life in another country (rules, parents, studies, social life) and then can move on to global issues like the water crisis or something like that. You can go to SEEdebate and create an account to start to familiarize yourself with the site. I attached some instructions to get you started. Let me know if you run into any problems!

Attachments:

Educator Account Creation Instructions.doc, 22 KB

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Permalink Reply by PACI Dominique on November 16, 2009 at 1:25am

Hello again, I subscribe to SEEdebate. Shall we start and set up a discussion with general questions.
What form would it take?
I have a lesson with that group (there are 30 students) on Mondays from 2:30 to 3:30 P.M.local time.
If you are in Connecticut that would be 9:30 A.M.
Or they can of course write texts, it would be less interesting and in my experience much less motivating for our students.
We could also film them and post the film with taped answers/ questions.
I am sure we will find a way.
Waiting for your answer.

Dominique