Looking to start or join a global collaborative project

Hello,

I teach fourth grade in Detroit, MI. I am looking to link up with classrooms from around the globe for a technology-centered project. We're able to use Skype, podcasting, wikis, Edmodo, and more. We are open to anyone's ideas and also open to joining existing projects.

A couple of ideas that I had include an online book club (a la http://bookclub21.wikispaces.com, a project I started last year but that never got off the ground) or a project about hometowns (a la Life Round Here http://liferoundhere.pbworks.com, which I don't think is running this year). But, again, I'm open to anything.

I think my class would be a good match for projects for fourth, fifth and sixth grades. We could start anytime after mid-September. If you are involved in a project, interested in collaborating, or have an exciting idea in mind, please let me know. Thanks.

Tags: collaboration, elementary

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Permalink Reply by Ben Curran on September 14, 2010 at 8:57am

Definitely interested, Monica. Please send an email when you get the chance. bcurran at uprep dot com . THANKS!

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Permalink Reply by Cindy Watson on September 14, 2010 at 7:44am

I just passed this opportunity along to my Fourth grade teachers. This would be a great opportunity for our students. I would enjoy doing this also, but I teach K-4 and have each class only once a week.

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Permalink Reply by Aaron Maurer on October 17, 2010 at 8:30pm

I came across this whole concept of Design Thinking and listened to a webinar about this whole process and really want to give it a try. I found this basic framework about redesigning the concept of a wallet. I was thinking we could collaborate online. Partner up and communicate via Skype or whatever device we want to use and in the end we could ship the final product off to their partner at the end. We could alter the product so it is not a wallet, but it is a starting point. Check out the attachment and let me know.

Attachments:

An Intro to Design Thinking 07_10_09.pdf, 2.2 MB

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Wylie on October 18, 2010 at 9:20pm

Hi Ben. I also have a 4th grade class. I see a few projects listed here. If you come up with anything specific you want to do, then let me know. I would be happy to help out if I can. Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Ben Curran on October 19, 2010 at 4:36am

Hi Jonathan,
We're starting an online book club November 1. Check out our wiki at http://bookclub21.wikispaces.com and let me know what you think. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Debra on October 19, 2010 at 6:33am

Ben, I have a 4th grade teacher who wants to do this with you; her name is Linda. I'll send you her email and mine in a message.

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Permalink Reply by Heather Robertson Warren on July 17, 2011 at 9:08pm

This is late...but you may be able to contact the facilitator for more information. http://globaleducation.ning.com/events/webinar-epals-101-for-global

I would also join this group. There is a lot going on here. Hope this is helpful!

Heather

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Rita Oates on July 18, 2011 at 7:30am

ePals 101 webinars are offered weekly on the free collaborative tools, projects and student media galleries of ePals and its partners, now including Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic.

Or look at the brief tutorials: http://bit.ly/learnePals

ePals is the largest and fastest growing social learning network in the world, in 200 countries. Find your partner classrooms now for next semester's projects!

Here are some great collaborative projects to get started, if you haven't ever done a collaboration with a teacher outside your home country: http://www.epals.com/projects I especially recommend The Way We Are to get started! It provides the framework for success.

You can read more in Teacher Project Forums or find partners for that project specifically: http://www.epals.com/forums/132.aspx

Pledge to take your classroom global!

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Permalink Reply by Sandra Rosero on August 12, 2011 at 11:16am

Is this idea still going on in 2011? I am a fifth grade teacher in a bilingual school (ESL) in Colombia interested in the exchange.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Curran on August 14, 2011 at 8:45am

I am teaching fifth grade this year and would love to have some sort of exchange between our classes. I'm open to any and all ideas.

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Permalink Reply by Erica Zaremba on September 1, 2011 at 7:01pm

Was wondering if you could go into more detail about the bookclub project. It sounds really interesting but I am not sure exactly how it would look in action. I have a grade 5 / 6 combined grade.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Curran on September 5, 2011 at 6:00pm

We would have kids (or small groups of kids) read the same book(s) and then they would "meet" to discuss them, either in a moderated chat room or via Skype. If live interaction isn't possible, we could use a group on Edmodo to discuss the books.

At the end of the book, there could be a culminating activity of some sorts that partners or small groups in each class have to collaborate on to complete.

Let me know if this interests you. I might not be looking to do this with my whole class this year (last year we did it with books we read aloud) but I may have small groups of students interested in partnering. Send a reply or leave a message here. I think it would be awesome!