Enter Here: An Invitation

An Exciting Place to Think about the World

2008-12-05T15:01:00.004-06:00

Looking East - Looking West
Addressing Global Issues In 2009
Global Issues Conference for K-12 Teachers

Recently the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at Texas A&M University held the Global Treads 2025 Conference. Brent Scowcroft, former assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commented that such a conference is an exciting place to think about the world. That is our goal for the January Global Issues Conference for teachers.

In the key note address, Scowcroft pointed out that the ending of the Cold War started the transformational process that is globalizing society in the 21st century. Changes that Scowcroft addressed are discussed in the Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World Report by the National Intelligence Council which is available on-line in pdf format and serves as a good guide to thinking about our changing world along with other Internet resources listed below.

· Eroded borders make state control difficult.
· Distribution of power: Power is diffused, not absolute.
· Communication: Knowledge politicizes. People connect and react.
· Financial crisis: A global economy with no global structures to deal with crisis.
· Outmoded institutions that were designed for the Cold War don’t work anymore.
· War: Less about armed conflict between major powers, more about civil war & non- state actors.

Global Treads 2025: A Transformed World
National Intelligence Council
http://www.dni.gov/nic/NIC_2025_project.html

Global Issues website
http://www.globalissues.org/

Globalizing Pre-Service Teachers Education http://illinois.edu/goto/globalizing_education
Merry Merryfield’s World 727 from Ohio State UniversityTeachers on Dr. Merryfield’s listserv share and discuss resources, pedagogy, and issues in teaching world cultures, global events, world history, and related topics. To join, email merryfield.1@osu.edu
Globalization101.org: Provides updates of the newest resources, including lesson plans, news analyses, and more. http://www.globalization101.org/index.php?file=newsletter
Showing Rising Powers: The New Global Reality
http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/now-showingrising-powers-the-new-global-reality.cfm

Building Bridges: A Peace Corps Classroom Guide to Cross-Cultural Understanding
http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/publications/bridges/index.cfm

The Cyber School Bus: United Nations
http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/

A Global Issues Toolbox for Educators
http://www.rpcv.org/pages/sitepage.cfm?id=219#Health

US State Department: America.gov
http://usinfo.state.gov/pub/ejournalusa/global_issues.html

Global Issues Gateway website
http://www.gig.org/

"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are" - Anais Nin, Author & Diarist (1903-1977)

2008-06-19T10:35:00.009-06:00

One of my strongest memories from elementary school comes from listening to Miss Edwards tell about the battle of the Alamo in the library of the Cambridge Oval Elementary School in San Antonio. http://www.ahisd.net/campuses/cambridge/cambridge.html Miss Edwards was a member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas http://www.drtl.org/ and a real patriot. As a storyteller, this white haired lady made images of the battle and the heroic efforts of the defenders come alive for me. I don’t recall her exact words, but the power of Miss Edwards’ stories fueled a kind of pride, determination, and loyalty that still burns in my heart. Stories are how we transmit our culture, share our values, and store our memories, but stories are also personal interpretations. For me the sight of the Alamo will always trigger a memory of an amazing storyteller who loved Texas history and children. Where did you learn about the Alamo? How was the story told?

In the video The Alamo, Michael Ray comments that the story of the Alamo has been told often in the movies, different interpretations with each generation. He notes that few facts in our history have ever been carved in stone and that much of our past lies buried in the cobwebs of mystery and legends with no fixed points and few absolutes. Historical research and the development of digital documentaries provide students with an opportunity discover new stories and challenge Hollywood interpretations. Watch The Alamo http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/digital_stories.cfm and enjoy exploring the Internet links to digital history sites. Using primary source materials in research makes history come alive!

Digital History Internet Sites

Digital History: Using New Technologies to Enhance Teaching and Research: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/
An extensive web project by John and Rebecca Moores, Professor of History & Steven Mintz in combination with John Lienhard, M.D. Anderson Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Sara McNeil, Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Houston. It is designed to engage students in more forms of media and actively immerse them in the learning process. This website is a large compilation of multiple historical tools, documents, links and multimedia of American History. The section titled Digital Stories about American History includes many examples of short documentary videos. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/digital_stories.cfm

Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the past on the Web by Daniel Cohen & Roy Rosenzweig
On-line version of text available: http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/index.php

Digital History: http://digitalhistory.unl.edu/
Digital history is an emerging and rapidly changing academic field. The purpose of this site is to educate scholars and the public about the state of the discipline by providing access to:

Presentations about the field by noted scholars
Interviews with scholars about topics related to digital history
Information about many aspects of digital history, including reviews of major online projects and reviews of tools which may be of use to digital historians
A clearinghouse of current events and news items of interest
A selected bibliography of Digital History resources

The site is made available through the support of the John and Catherine Angle Fund and received production assistance from the New Media Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Edsitement: http://edsitement.neh.gov/
Humanities on the Web from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Verizon Foundation. This educational partnership brings online humanities resources from some of the world's great museums, libraries, cultural institutions, and universities directly to your classroom.

Doing History: http://dohistory.org/
Doing History is a creative historical experience built around Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's work on Martha Ballard, an American midwife from the Northeast.
The site demonstrates how to piece together the past from the fragments that have survived based on a case study: Martha Ballard. The site also includes a section called On Your Own that provides a History Tool Kit and links to good resources. http://dohistory.org/on_your_own/index.html

The National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/
The National Archives is a repository of our national history. Watch the video, Democracy Starts Here located on the National Archives home page. Look at lesson plans for teaching with primary source documents at: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/

The National Archives Video Section: NASA History of Space Flight, News Reels, Department of the Interior
http://video.google.com/nara.html

Archival Research Catalog: Guide for Genealogists and Family Historians
http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/topics/genealogy/
ARC does contain digital copies of selected documents. We have over 128,000 digital copies in ARC, and that number will continue to grow although it is far from all the documents held by the National Archives.

Library of Congress: American Memory: Historical Collections from the Library of Congress. View historical images, maps, sound recordings, manuscripts, motion pictures
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/browse/

The Internet Archive: The Internet Archive is a non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library, with the purpose of offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format. http://www.archive.org/index.php

Prelinger Archives (Internet Archives) http://www.archive.org/details/prelinger

Moving Image Archive (Internet Archives) http://www.archive.org/details/movies

Primary Access: A web-based tool that offers teachers and students frictionless access to digital images and materials that enable them to construct compelling personal narratives. Primary Access is being developed as an initiative within the Center for Technology & Teacher Education in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. http://www.primaryaccess.org/ Also see Digital Storyteller: http://www.digitalstoryteller.org/ To open a free account, go to Teachers Tools: http://www.primaryaccess.org/guide/TeacherTools.htm

Zooming Out for a Global View

2008-03-06T14:17:00.003-06:00

Over the last several weeks, I have received many phone calls and e-mails from teachers and students about the Global Issues Conference for students in grades 6-12. Our office is excited about the level of interest and participation from schools all over Texas.

The main question that I am getting: “What project topics are acceptable for the conference?”

Just to clarify…Any topic that relates to a global issue is just fine, and the focus of the project can address the issue from a local, regional, national or global perspective. Projects can be multimedia or text- based, but the submission form must include a clear discussion of how the project ties to a global issue. Information about the conference and the submission form are on the World Room website:

To help you locate information about global topics, I have listed below some Internet links to global topics such as Internet safety, poverty, the AIDS epidemic, and climate change. Also included are links to social studies resources, maps, and a few media project tools. The short video on Internet social networking is a clever way to get your students into a discussion about Internet safety on social networking sites.

The Global Issues Conference is a joint project of the Office of International Outreach and the Academy for Future Global Leaders at Texas A&M University. Academy conference leaders are Alek Schmidt and Harrison Yat. They are happy to respond to student question by e-mail. zoomout2008@gmail.com

If you have questions about conference, contact me a call at 979-862-6700 or mgreen@ipomail.tamu.edu.

1. Internet safety on social networking video
http://www.auntlee.com/kids/public_service_announcement.html

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School recently announced that it will head a newly formed Internet Safety Technical Task Force. The Task Force, comprised of leading Internet businesses and organizations, will focus on identifying effective online safety tools and technologies that can be used by many companies across multiple platforms.
This Task Force has been established by MySpace in cooperation with the Attorneys General.

Read about the Berkman Centertask force: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/
Read about Internet Predators: http://www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2008/feb/lw18internet.cfm

2. Global Issues articles from http://www.globalissues.org/

Poverty facts and stats updated
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp

World military spending: it keeps going up
http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/Spending.asp

Updated AIDS statistics
http://www.globalissues.org/health/aids/

3. FREE Climate Change Curriculum and Cameras Available to Document Climate Change Solutions. Through a generous grant from Hewlett-Packard Company, Facing the Future also invites you to apply for a Climate Change Camera Grant. You have the opportunity to collaborate with other educators and give your students a chance to document climate change and the positive actions that they are taking in their communities. You could receive a classroom set of digital cameras to use in conjunction with Facing the Future’s Climate Change: Connections and Solutions units.

4. Google Earth *PRO* is FREE for Educators!
http://www.ncs-tech.org/?p=783

5. Spice It up a Notch with Nutmeg
http://www.sblceastconn.org/nutmegbooks2009.htm

Spice It Up a Notch with Nutmeg is a collaborative, authentic, engaging, book project for students in grades 4 through 8. In this project, students read and discuss the Nutmeg Book Award nominees online and contribute to an online encyclopedia (wiki) for each individual book. Students participate in the experience of collaborate writing. They edit, enhance and revise each other’s content, contributing to a published online resource for anyone to read and use. The web site also includes good lesson plan ideas and resources for teaching about literature.

6. Awesome Stories web site
http://www.awesomestories.com/

7. Paint.Net: Free photo editing software for Windows
http://www.getpaint.net/

Google:Sketch Up 6(free) 3D modeling software
http://www.sketchup.com/?sid=369

8. Moodle.org: Set up a Moodle for your classroom to share project information.
http://moodle.org/

9. Second Life Sites for Teens
Quest Atlantis: http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/
This site has many of the features and learning affordances of Teen Second Life, but the site is completely free and doesn't have some of the challenges that TSL users face.

For more about Second Life: Voicethread
http://voicethread.com/share/8878/.

Information about Second Life in Education:
http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/.

Article on Second Life by Catherine Parsons (SL: Victoria Gloucester).
Teaching the Virtual Generation
http://tinyurl.com/3aubc5

If you're interested in Teen Second Life, create an avatar for yourself on the "main grid" of Second Life (secondlife.com) and then go to ISTE Island (use the Search feature). For more about ISTE in SL, visit: http://www.iste.org/secondlife.

10. Secondary Education - Social Studies: Geography Resources
http://www.pitt.edu/~poole/secedSSgeog.html

11. Good Map Resources
Best of History Web Sites: Contains an annotated list of excellent map and geography resources.
http://besthistorysites.net/Maps.shtml

National Geographic: Map Machine.
http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/
Road maps, geographic map and satellite map that you can zoom in on and see details.

U.S. Geological Survey website: National Atlas
The site lets you build your own maps.
http://nationalatlas.gov/

Google Earth: Rumsey Historical Map Collection
http://www.davidrumsey.com/

Lite Version of Google Earth: http://indexmundi.com/
All named population centers by country & by world region

Zooming Out for a Global View

2008-02-22T12:37:00.000-06:00

Wondering Where to Get Your Students Started?
The following websites will help you and your students explore current global issues and brainstorm possible project topics. If you have additional resources, please share them with other Texas teachers by posting a comment on this article.

Globalization 101 provides a student’s introduction to Globalization, as well as background information on several global topics, such as trade, technology, the environment, energy, and human rights (Click on the Teacher tab for global topic information). www.globalization101.org

Teaching with the News: The Choices Program sponsored by Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University provides online curriculum materials and ideas to connect the content of the classroom to the headlines in the news. Topics cover a range of foreign policy and international issues. Link to Scholars OnLine to bring university scholars into secondary level classrooms. Videos of scholars who have contributed to the development of curriculum units or participated in Choices professional development programs are provided in an interview format. http://www.choices.edu/resources/current.php

The Global Education Website is designed to increase the amount and quality of teaching of global education in Australian primary and secondary schools, but US schools can certainly benefit from the resources. The objective of the site is to raise awareness and understanding of international issues, development and poverty, and to prepare students to live in an increasingly globalised world and to be active citizens shaping better futures.
http://www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/globaled/go/cache/offonce/pid/178

Learn about climate change and global warming on the Global Issues web site. http://www.globalissues.org/EnvIssues/GlobalWarming/Intro.asp

The Concern Worldwide website offers several classroom guides for teachers to download that cover current global issues such as child labor, hunger, women’s rights, and water.
http://concernusa.org/Public/GCP/ClassroomGuides.aspx

Find a project idea for secondary students about global warming and climate change on the KIDLINK website: http://kidspace.kidlink.org/start.php?HoldNode=16019

The You Think website is sponsored by the World Bank and provides information and research on various global issues in today’s world, such as education, development, the environment, globalization, health, trade, and urbanization. http://youthink.worldbank.org/

The National Peace Corps Association provides A Global Issues Toolbox for Educators. http://www.rpcv.org/pages/sitepage.cfm?id=219#Water

Read Going Global 101 by J. Michael Adams and Angelo Carfagnaon the Inside Higher Ed website. This article provides an introduction to globalization, ideas for teachers to incorporate global issues into their classrooms, and links to global resourses.
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2007/07/16/adams

BBC International website provides up to date international news including One-Minute New videos. http://news.bbc.co.uk/

CIA Factbook provides maps and information resources about countries. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

United Nations website offers information about UN affairs and world issues and links to the Cyber School Bus, the United Nations Global Teaching and Learning Project. http://www.un.org/

Storytelling is meaning.

2007-10-25T16:00:00.000-06:00

Storytelling is about recalling past events and linking past to the present, so that we can, perhaps, be prepared for the future. Storytelling is not a mirror that reflects directly, but more like a prism that refracts; a medium that colors whatever is viewed through it.

I was named Martha in honor of my mother’s special friend or so the story goes…I don’t recall, but my sister Louise says it’s so. A week ago, I was blessed by the birth of twin granddaughters: Olivia Aldrin and Phoebe Becket….They will laugh when they learn the origin of their names. For many months the family has lovingly referred to them as A & B as indicated on many sonograms that reflected their tiny growing shapes. Their middle names reflect their parents’ heroes.

Is there a story in your name? Share your story.

Author Chun Yu.....begins her tale of the Chinese Cultural Revolution with the story of her name…precious jade worn close to the heart. Read additional excerpts from her book at: http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?tab=1&pid=503965&agid=2

Interview with the author:

Little Green -- Xiao Qing --
was the name they gave me.
Qing, the green
of tree leaves in early spring,
of clear water in a deep pond,
my baba said;
of beautiful youth,
the evergreen of life,
my mama said;
and of precious jade worn close to the heart,
my nainai said.

Media Literacy

2007-09-27T14:49:00.000-06:00

Since teachers and parents cannot predict what specific knowledge and behavior will be demanded in the future, we must concentrate on educating citizens who will be able to solve problems that cannot presently be foreseen. Tomorrow's citizens must effectively analyze information, resolve problems, and make informed choices. Students must learn to spot bias, stereotypes and propaganda that often appear in advertisements, television and the news media.

The summer presidential debates featured video questions posted on You Tube. Why not get your students to focus on key national and international issues by developing their own video debate questions. Students can learn about media literacy as they research issues and write debate questions. Hold a school presidential debate or post the video questions to the next CNN debate by November 28.

http://www.youtube.com/republicandebate?utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-google&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=youtube%20presidential%20debate

Combine media literacy education with technology training by creating video questions using Adobe Vlog It. http://www.adobe.com/products/vlogit/

Drag and drop photos, video clips or music into Vlog It. Using the teleprompter, add narration to digital images and video clips. Record narration directly into the program and publish your work as a video or e-mail attachment.

Watch a short Vlog It video about the Latin America workshop media presentation designed by Christine Kleck, TAMU Department of Communications

Sharing Our Culture

2007-09-06T13:38:00.000-06:00

Celebrate the wonderfully diverse cultures and heritage of the Brazos Valley community at Brazos Valley Worldfest on November 17, 2007 in historic downtown Bryan from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Brazos Valley Worldfest, presented by Citibank, will celebrate international awareness by offering cultural displays, demonstrations, international cuisine, performances, children's
crafts, educational competitions and many other activities.
This event is free and open to the public.

If you teach in the Brazos Valley, your students are eligible to participate in the Brazos Valley Worldfest Education Competitions:

Sharing Our Culture Through Digital Stories
Sharing Our Culture Through Posters

The Education Competition poster is attached to this message and additional information is available on the Brazos Valley Worldfest site: http://www.brazosvalleyworldfest.org/

Worldfest Flyer for Brazos Valley Worldfest Education Program

Cultural performances include:

World Fashion show presented by the Discovery Program
Flamenco Andaluz of Houston
Texas A&M Bellydance
Academy of Modern Martial Arts of College Station
Kaminari Taiko of Houston
Ballet Folklórico Los Altos de Jalisco
Texasnischer Schuhplattler Verein (German dance group)
Indian Classical Dance
And more to be added

Special events:

The Tipitellers Story Telling Group will be on hand to share Native American Indian stories with children inside a giant tipi in the Kid’s Village adjacent to the Children’s Museum of the Brazos Valley. http://www.tipitellers.org/

Admission to the Children’s Museum of the Brazos Valley will be free all day!

Tellabration!, a national storytelling event, will be taking place inside the Children’s Museum http://www.tellabration.org/

The Bryan Public Library will present “Singabration” which will highlight cultural storytelling set to music. Visitors will have a chance to hear international and folk songs as well as learn about instruments and their significance in different cultures.

http://www.bcslibrary.org/bryan.html

Additional ways to share global culture with your students:

Cultural Suitcases from the Southwestern Bell World Room
http://worldroom.tamu.edu/ Cultural Suitcase flyer is attached.

Cultural Suitcase Flyer

One World Classrooms – New Site

http://www.oneworldclassrooms.org/

OneWorld Classrooms provides a wide range of FREE password-protected, curriculum-based online content for K-12 classrooms that is designed to help students explore different cultures.
Online Classroom Travel Resources allow classes to travel online to the world region they are studying (Africa, China, the Amazon Rain Forest, the Galapagos Islands and the Canadian Arctic), meet students who live there and learn about their lives and cultures
Electronic Cultural Exchange Library features artwork, music, PowerPoints, videos and audio submitted by participating classes from around the world
Student to Student Language Lab allows students to share their first language while they learn a foreign language from their overseas peers.
OneWorld Classrooms also links US classrooms with overseas partner classes to complete art, music, E-mail Q & A, video and PowerPoint exchanges.

Postcard Geography Project

The Postcard Geography project is a national and international, class-to-class exchange of picture (purchased, computer, or handmade) or email postcards. All public and private schools, home schools, and youth groups with students aged 5 to 19 years old are invited to participate. The project will begin on September 24, 2007, and run until February 1, 2008.

The project creates an opportunity to foster global friendships; it is now in its sixteenth year. It is free of charge and open to all learning groups around the world. However, join only if you have a serious commitment to participation. A teacher discussion list, conducted as a blog, will establish an educator community for sharing information and for problem solving.

Registration is open until September 21, 2007. For more information, visit http://pcg.cyberbee.com/ or contact mailto:postcardgeography@comcast.net.

Student Educational Exchange (SEE)

A new, non-profit website that provides a FREE tool for teachers Designed by Connecticut social studies teacher Meghan Connelly
http://www.studenteducationalexchange.org/

The purpose of the site is to make it easy for teachers to increase current events and discussion in your curriculum. Students read articles on the site and respond to discussion prompts on our forum, along with all other SEE student users.

Go to the site now and sign up for an instructor's account, and you will receive a teacher code for your students to use when they register. This will make it easy to track your students' posts. Follow the prompts to create an assignment that your students will see when they login to the site. After that:

Articles are from diverse, worldwide news sources
Background links and discussion prompts are provided for each article.
Articles are categorized by subject area to help teachers align current events with their specific curriculum.
It is easy for you to manage your classes and your students posts.

The World We Want

What a great topic for students to consider.
http://www.unicef.org/videoaudio/video_icdb.html

The deadline for submitting student projects to the 2007 Children's Day broadcast is past, but the topic would be great to use for a digital project in your classroom. Take a look at the example videos. Make a Difference! One Minute Video Contest: http://www.unicef.org/videoaudio/video_icdb.html

Great resources and examples for digital storytelling are also available on the World Room web site. http://worldroom.tamu.edu/

International Children's Day of Broadcasting: "The World We Want"

The 2007 International Children's Day of Broadcasting will take place on 9 December 2007 with the theme "The World We Want." Broadcasters around the world, both television and radio, are encouraged to participate in this special day by creating special programs for kids and inviting youth into the studio to participate in the production and presentation of broadcasts. UNICEF and the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will jointly award the International Children's Day of Broadcasting Award to honor broadcasters who capture the spirit of the ICDB.

UNICEF appeals to broadcasters to engage youth in the media-making process not just on the International Children's Day of Broadcasting but throughout the year. Children have the right to voice their opinions and the empowering aspect of participation in radio and television encourages them to develop ideas and inspires them to take action.

Save the Date

2007-08-15T12:57:00.000-06:00

Latin America: Issues 2007
Friday, October 5, 2007
College Station Conference Center

The focus of the first International Outreach Education K-12 workshop for 2007-2008 will be Latin America. Workshop presentations will look at current issues:

Political populism
Brazil and the biofuel debate
Eco-tourism as a tool for environmental education
El Salvador and the consequences of northern migration
Global impact of the Panama Canal enlargement
Agricultural research and development
Media literacy: Representations of Latin America in the press

Check the Worldroom web site for the 2007-2008 Workshop Calendar

Immigration will be an important topic in the upcoming presidential election. If you plan to discuss immigration issues with your students, you may be interested in the following resources sent recently from Annenberg Media.

Annenberg Media: If you are not familiar with Annenberg Media, the video presentations and resources are free and available for you to use in the classroom. Just sign up at http://learner.org/redirect/august/view11.html to access free Video on Demand.

Inquiry learning in the geography classroom
If you are looking for a new method to use in your social studies or geography class, draw ideas from the 10th-grade geography lesson of California teacher Mavis Weir as she shares an inquiry based approach to teaching about issues in Latin America. http://learner.org/redirect/august/sslib8.html

The program includes a Lesson Background page offering information on "Migration Trends in Six Latin American Countries," as well as links to Video on Demand and NCSS Standards.

Interpreting Constitutional Rights
Immigration issues are not a new, but an integral part of the ongoing process of interpreting constitutional rights. Watch a lively discussion between distinguished discussants of differing perspectives in "The Constitution: That Delicate Balance"
http://learner.org/redirect/august/cons9.html Program 11, "Immigration Reform."

History offers clues as to the power of the economics forces driving immigration.
"Capital and Labor" http://learner.org/redirect/august/boa10.html
Program 17 of "A Biography of America."

"Teaching Multicultural Literature: A Workshop for the Middle Grades"
http://learner.org/redirect/august/tml3.html
Workshops 7 and 8, introduce authors, literary works, and key references related to immigrant issues.

"The Power of Place: Geography for the 21st Century"
http://learner.org/redirect/august/pop4.html
Program 2, "Boundaries and Borderlands," looks into the forces behind border crossings and migration patterns.

Articles providing background on the immigrant experience in the U.S.

"Coming to America: Immigrants at Ellis Island"
http://learner.org/redirect/august/apass5.html

"How the Other Half Lived: The Lower East Side"
http://learner.org/redirect/august/apass6.html

"Unionism and the Farm Workers Movement"
http://learner.org/redirect/august/apass7.html
These pages also include links to historical images and poetry, which can be used to create a slideshow.

Sharing Stories: Revealing Ourselves to Others

2007-07-05T12:59:00.000-06:00

In Tell Me a Story: Narrative and Intelligence, Roger Schank points out that daily conversation is actually storytelling. Through conversation we share our experiences, both minor and significant, as we reveal a bit of ourselves to others. It is the sharing that is key to both good conversation and to meaningful digital storytelling.

Last Wednesday afternoon after a two-day fast paced digital storytelling workshop, twenty-eight teachers sat down to share their stories. It was a powerful personal experience to enter into the world of each teacher. If you would like to see their digital stories, they are now posted on the Worldroom web site.

The International Outreach Digital Storytelling Workshop for K-12 teachers was held on June 26 & 27 at the Brazos Valley Children’s Museum. K-12 teachers learned about the digital storytelling process, multiple technology methods for designing digital stories, and curriculum approaches to engaging students in digital storytelling. See the International Programs E-News to read about the workshop:

http://international.tamu.edu/intradeptnewsletter.asp (see July 2)

During the workshop, Jamie Gustin, Elementary Technology Coach for Magnolia ISD demonstrated Movie Maker, Photo Story3 and Audacity. Dr. Ron Zellner from TAMU Department of Educational Technology, presented a live demonstration of VideoQue Pro (MAC. The completed story is called Emily’s Wild Adventure, a digital story written, illustrated, and narrated by third grader Ashton Hinton. Enjoy the adventure with Ashton!

After the workshop, several teachers inquired if similar programs that use green screen techniques are available for PC users. Dr. Zellner provided links to two programs: Visual Communicator by Adobe and Vlogit. Vlogit is very inexpensive compared to Visual Communicator, another plus is the program is easy to use. I spent the afternoon of July 4th totally absorbed in playing with the possibilities that Vlogit provides, and I’m heading out this afternoon to find fabric to make my own green screen. Being in the story just adds a bit of spontaneity to a digital story or to a pod cast interview.

For information on using green screen techniques, see the articles on Dr. Jason Ohler’s web site: Nome green screen storytelling project, 2007: How-to pictorial guide for green screen digital storytelling and Going green - using green screen and chroma key editing in digital storytelling.

Watch 4th grade student Hannah Davis tell The Fox Who Became a Better Person, a digital story posted on YouTube.

Hannah shares Native American Indian cultural values as she tells a story that uses animals as characters. What is the moral of her story?

VideoQue Pro and Green Screen Techniques for Digital Storytelling

2007-06-18T13:15:00.000-06:00

Martha Green discusses a creative approach to digital storytelling with Dr. Ronald Zellner, Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Coordinator of the Educational Technology Program for the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University.

Preserving the spontaneity of the storyteller is a benefit of working with VideoQue Pro according to Dr. Zellner. The child becomes an active participant in the digital story which can be told in English or in the first language of an ESL student. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Zellner describe the use of a green screen and discuss classroom applications for VideoQue Pro in the development of digital stories.

To demonstrate VideoQue Pro, Dr. Zellner collaborated with International graduate student Minga Xu to produce a digital story based on a Chinese storybook called 12 Animals Compete to Be Number One published by Tian Yuan Books, Inc. in 1998. Watch the video and see if you can understand the story as Minga reads it in her native Chinese language.

Often second language learners lack confidence about participating in class activities because of their limited English proficiency. Chris Pim, an ESL specialists with the Portsmouth Ethnic Minority Achievement Service suggests that combining technology with traditional storytelling is an excellent way to meet the needs of second language learners as well as their English speaking peers. In Digital Storytelling for EAL Pupils, Pim talks about a Zulu boy who tells his class a South African warrior tale in his native language. Other students understand much of the story through his animated tones and gestures, and they are also impressed that this boy speaks two languages, something none of them can do. Elizabeth Lannotti describes her successful digital storytelling project with ESL students in How to Make Crab Soup: Digital Storytelling. I hope you will enjoy reading both articles.

Real Super Heroes Use Knowledge to Save Lives

2007-06-06T12:44:00.000-06:00

Super heroes continue to capture the imagination of American youth. Why not focus attention on the heroes among us who use knowledge as a tool to change the world instead of some fantasyland set of super powers?

Texas A&M agricultural researcher Sam Goff cited Dr. Norman Borlaug as a real hero who used agricultural expertise to increase grain yield to feed people in areas of the world where many were starving.

Listen to the podcast to hear Sam Goff discuss current issues in agricultural research in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Norman Borlaug, Texas A&M University Distinguished Professor of International Agriculture is credited with saving more lives than any other person who has ever lived through his breakthrough agricultural research often referred to at the Green Revolution. Now I call that a super incredible feat!

Dr. Borlaug’s research lead to the development of new varieties of rice, wheat and maize that allowed for increased levels of production in the tropics and saved many people from starvation in Asia, India and Africa. In December 2006, Dr. Borlaug received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest civilian honor. He was also honored with the Nobel Prize in Agriculture in 1970.

Use these links to learn about Dr. Borlaug and his research.

Becoming Citizens of the World

2007-05-21T08:19:00.000-06:00

Teachers who participated in the Africa in Transition workshop submitted suggestions for International Outreach Education programs next year. Many teachers used the term "global" to refer to issues that they proposed. Framing an issue in regional terms is no longer enough; our consideration must be within a global frame that takes into account multiple causes and world wide consequences if we are to educate students to be citizens of the world. Last fall I came across an interesting article on framing that broadened my thinking on the issue of immigration: The Framing of Immigration by linguist George Lakoff and Sam Ferguson on the Rockridge Institute website: http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/research/rockridge/immigration. Take a look.

If you have a suggestion for teacher workshop topics for 2007-2008, let me know by making a comment on this blog. International Outreach Education plans to hold five teacher workshops and one student workshop related to global issues. I am in a planning mode, so now is the time to let me hear your requests.

Last week, Dr. Merry M. Merryfield, Social Studies & Global Education at Ohio State University sent out an article entitled Becoming Citizens of the World. The article poses that question: The future is here. It's multiethnic, multicultural, and multilingual. But are students ready for it? What is the best way to educate our students so that they are prepared for the challenges of the 21st century? Do you agree with the article? Let me know what you think? If you want to join Dr. Merryfield’s list serve, contact her at: world727@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu

I know that school is almost over, so bookmark The National Peace Corps Association web site for the fall. It provides resources for global studies: Internet links, lesson plans, and student activities on the Global TeachNet site: http://www.globalteachnet.org

Africa in Transition Workshop

2007-05-11T11:41:00.000-06:00

Martha Green on Nigeria and Chinua Achebe

My introduction to the conflict that currently plagues Nigeria was through the pages of Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart which I read with my AP English class at Anderson-Shiro High School. I was shocked by the brutality and corruption that Achebe described and yet drawn to the author’s use of Igbo language and Nigerian folk tales used to illustrate social issues. Workshop speaker Paul Obiazi, a Nigerian native, assured me that Achebe’s view of Nigeria continues to be accurate in spite of the fact that the book was written in 1959. The book’s title comes from a poem, "The Second Coming," by William Butler Yeats and is eerily prophetic today.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer
Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

Speaking out about the 1983 election in The Trouble with Nigeria, Chinua Achebe wrote, “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else.”

In his presentation, Paul stated Nigeria’s future is bright and emphasized that hope for the future lies in strong civilian leadership and unity.

Sometime things just don’t work out like you planned. I designed a digital version of the Nigerian folk tale, The Tortoise and the Birds, with the text taken from chapter 11 of Things Fall Apart to share with workshop participants, but there was not time to show the video. Watch to see if you can identify the social issues that Achebe illustrates in the tale.

Linda Edwards visits with Dr. Mary Ghong

I am struck by how little most of us know about Africa and actually about many countries on this continent. Africa holds a wealth of mystery that textbooks just don’t cover. This past week the Texas A&M World Room programs hosted a K-12 teacher workshop on Africa in Transition. Dr. Mary Ghong provided insight into the tiny country of Cameroon and cultural challenges that Cameroonian children who migrate to the U.S face. Dr. Ghong introduced Texas teachers to the taste of baked plantains, and taught them how to dance the Makossa. According to Mary, there is no stress in Cameroon because everyone loves to dance.

Cameroon is a country that I knew existed but really had no real knowledge of. Interestingly, the very next day after the workshop, I heard a news story on television about Cameroon. I paid attention. I’m not sure I would have listened before hearing Dr. Ghong speak on the Impact of Socio-cultural Differences: The case of Cameroonian children in the U.S. Listen to her podcast and see if you begin to hear the name of the country of Cameroon again as I did.

Linda Edwards talks with Dr. Darryl de Ruiter

Whether you believe in evolution or the divine creation of man, the discovery of bones that are thousands of years old is interesting. The mind takes flight as you imagine how these people lived and where they traveled. Research that is conducted in South Africa opens up some of the mysteries of modern man, how he looked, what he ate, and where he may have migrated. During a teacher’s workshop on May 4 on Africa in Transition, Dr. Darryl de Ruiter, professor of Anthropology at Texas A&M gave a presentation on The Pre-History of Africa: Searching for the Origins of Modern Humans in South Africa. I had an opportunity to talk with Dr. De Ruiter about his research on human origins following the presentation. Listen to Dr. deRuiter discuss: Evolutionary Principles and Changes in Climate and Geology, Early Hominid Fossils in Africa, and the Development of Modern Humans and Surviving Global Warming.

Martha Green with Danielle Bolks

I have to admit that English is my “only” language in spite of classes in both Spanish and French. I cannot imagine how frightening it must be to arrive in a new country where you do not know that language. Coming to the United States offers great hope to refugees who have been caught in political conflict in Africa, but I was struck by the challenges of relocation as I visited with Danielle Bolks, Supervisor of the Refugee Resettlement Program for Catholic Charities in Houston. Listen to the podcast to hear Ms. Bolks talk about how teachers can help students from another culture adjust in the classroom.

Great classroom writing project on Africa
Take a look and send a message of support to the teacher and students

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Merry Merryfield through the Global Studies list serve at the Ohio State University about an innovative classroom project on Africa: (world727@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu)

Mrs. Mead's 4th grade class at Pecan Creek Elementary in Denton, Texas, is writing, publishing and selling a book titled "More Than Just A Mvule Tree" for $5 per copy. All monies will be used to purchase Mvule trees to be planted in Uganda and maintained by Ugandan children to fund education through the Kibo Group http://www.kibogroup.org.

The press release stated, "We are having our book release event on Friday, May 11th in the Pecan Creek Elementary Cafeteria from 2:00-2:30 p.m.” You can reach teacher Natalie Mead at nmead@dentonisd.org.

Take a look at Mrs. Mead's Fourth Grade web page and at the Kibo Group's description of the Mvule project. Visit http://www.dentonisd.org/nmead and http://www.kibogroup.org.

The Power of Storytelling

2007-05-09T10:00:00.000-06:00

Recently, I attended an awards ceremony at the university that included a series of presentations. To tell you the truth, I don’t remember anything that was said..... except the story that a dean told about why geese honk at each other as they fly. According to the story, each goose honks to encourage the goose in front of him. Next fall when I see geese flying against the grey November sky, I will remember that story and recall how important it is for each of us to encourage those we work with so that we can all succeed.

Storytelling breaks down barriers and connects people on a personal level. Telling about personal experiences and listening to the stories of others allows children to gain a sense of how family and cultural values shape their attitudes. Stories extend children’s experience with the world and encourage them to imagine themselves playing new roles and taking on unanticipated challenges.

Listen to the podcast to hear what Devon O’Neal, Director of Educational Programs for the Brazos Valley Children’s Museum has to say about the impact of storytelling on the children she works with at the museum and storytelling techniques that keep children engaged in a story.

Telling Stories with Cultural Objects

2007-04-30T11:13:00.001-06:00

Linda Edwards, Director of the Office of International Outreach shares her thought about storytelling.

I come from a family of readers, but we are also story tellers. Family get-togethers are a time to remember and from the youngest to the oldest each has a story to tell - often beginning with - "do you remember the time . . .?" Story telling is how cultures are built and how families remember those who are gone. In my family a story can be prompted by a photograph or an item given to me by one of my children or grandchildren that is now proudly displayed in the bookshelf in our family room. It seems natural to transfer this concept of story telling using cultural object in the classroom to teach literacy skills and multicultural awareness.

Listen to the podcast to hear what Dr. Patricia Wiese, professor of Teaching Learning and Culture at Texas A&M University has to say about using cultural items to promote story telling in the classroom.

Dr. Wiese also shares the article that she co-authored with Dr. Robin Groce,
A Mosaic of Stories: Celebrating Cultures Through Classroom Storytelling

Enter Here: An Invitation

2007-04-24T10:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I read an article by Sara Kajder entitled Enter Here: Personal Narrative and Digital Storytelling that seemed like an appropriate opening point for discussion on this site. On the door to her classroom, Kajder placed a black-and-white photograph of the door to her grandmother’s house. When students inquire about the photograph, she simply tells them, “It’s an invitation.” She often shares stories about the door with her students and asks them to consider what they see in the door and how it might be a part of what they know.

“No matter what story I share, it is paired with an opening, much like the door, invoking and evoking students’ stories and welcoming them into our shared learning space”(1).

Digital stories are a lot like that door that Sara Kajder talks about. Opening the door, lets you enter into a personal narrative space, a place where the individual voices of others struggle to be heard.

The Yellow Pencil is a personal story that I told in my 9th grade communication class to encourage students to write about a personal experience that they learned from. In a graduate creativity class, I illustrated the oral story and designed a little storybook using a method described in Writing with Pictures by Uri Shulevitz (2). And now the drawings have been transformed into a digital story where I share with you an embarrassing experience that taught me a personal lesson about thinking!

Digital Storytelling is the modern version of the ancient art of storytelling. Digital stories meld photographs, drawings, video, music, narrative and voice together to create a multimedia narrative that can be biographical, fictional or documentary.

Our students today live in a multimodal world of technology from e-mail and the Internet to cell phones that send text messages and video to record history in the making. Digital storytelling combines writing and media literacy with technology education in the social studies, geography and English/Language Arts classroom to engage students in active learning. Digital stories may focus on personal learning experiences or address a critical social issue. Students can tell a story about family customs and traditions. Interviewing a foreign student or visitor might lead to a story about another culture or a multicultural folk tale. Digital stories can also be used as book trailers to review a book about another culture or a special hero. Historical topics give students an opportunity to delve into research and share their findings and impressions with others. As students design digital stories, they gain confidence in the power of their own voices, develop planning skills such as reflection, revision and self-direction, and become more aware of narrative structure. Students are also motivated by the opportunity to share their digital stories with an audience in the school and community or on the Internet.

In March, I attended a digital storytelling workshop lead by Joe Lambert and Stephanie Sese from The Center for Digital Storytelling (3). In three exciting days, twelve educators shared stories, edited scripts, and put together digital media to produce short digital stories. The stories we told were, for the most part, personal. The stories reveal personal experiences, reflections, epiphany, and fond remembrances. I extend my thanks to the educators who agreed to share their stories with you on this site. Please open the door to our digital stories.

My Island: Greg Rodriguez, Technology Integration Facilitator, San Antonio ISD
Photo Opportunities: Dr. David Noah, Center for Teaching and Learning, Uni. of Georgia
The Little Colonel: Dr. Lisa Shiro, Digital Media Center & ETRAC, Rice University
First Pay Day: Jamie Gustin, Elementary Technology Coach, Magnolia ISD
Garbed In Silver: Miguel Guhlin, Director, Instructional Tech. Services, San Antonio ISD
And My Mother Smiled: Martha Green, International Outreach Education, Texas A&M Uni.
Passage: Dr. Martha Meacham, Instructional Design Specialist, Austin Community College

1. Kajder, S. (2004). Enter here: personal narrative and digital storytelling.
2. Shulevitz, U. (1985). Writing With Pictures. New York:Watson-Guptill Publications.
3. Center for Digital Storytelling - http://www.storycenter.org
4. Green, M. (2004) About Seeing