My youngest child, Kelsey, is 14 years old. I would have to guess that she is like most typical 14 year olds – loves watching tv, playing on the computer, listening to music on her iPod- you know the type. Well, I am sure because we have such close contact with each other after all we live in the same house, things I do and say rub off on her. In the last few months, my family has been living through the writing of my thesis proposal and preparing for the research project, as well as getting ready for a new school year.  Apparently, all of my talking about my project has rubbed off. She came to me with an idea of collecting short video clips from around the world of people saying hello in their native language and /or English. She intends to edit the videos into one video and post them on YouTube.

Enter edubloggers from around the world. If you are an educator outside of the US or you know of an educator outside of the US, how about passing on this post. Help Kelsey out with this project that she truly believes in. I am going to get the students from Colombia to do a quick video blog to say hello.

Contact me if you are interested in helping her out.

I have just finished a fantastic chat with Women of Web 2.0 over at Ed Tech Talk. I was invited to join the conversation via Skype.  The main topic of discussion was global collaboration projects. I was able to share my thesis research project that is just getting underway, Global Explorers. In this research project, my fifth grade class will be connecting and collaborating via podcasts with a peer group located in Bucaramanga, Colombia. During the WOW chat, I discovered other people making some significant contributions to global connections.Jen Wagner, Technospud – Jen is TECHNOSPUD! She has been creating online projects for teachers for many years and has helped teachers make global connections in varying ways and with varying topics. Salute to Seuss, O.R.E.O., and Charlotte’s Web are just a few of the terrific projects she heads up.Kristin Hokanson, has developed a great wiki called, The Connected Classroom. Her site holds a plethora of information about connecting our classrooms and the tools that are useful. She has been involved in some fantastic projects and to listen to her talk about them, has inspired me.Vicki Davis has had two phenomenal global projects and is beginning a third. The Flat Classroom project and Horizon project have been tremendous endeavors that were extremely successful in connecting and collaborating beyond our four walls of the classroom.There are many more projects that educators are involving themselves and their students in. A question had been brought up during the chat, although I honestly don’t remember who asked it. “Why collaborate with another country outside of the USA? Why not connect to another state closer by or across the country?”Why? For me I feel an important need to expose my students to the world beyond what we know.  As an educator, I need to help my students’ gain the knowledge and skills that will help them become successful and productive global citizens. This can begin in elementary school by exposing students to new cultures, languages and geographic locations.  Students of today need to move past learning superficial and trivial bits of information concerning other cultures. Being able to identify festivals and food associated with a particular culture will no longer be enough. Today students must be able to compete globally on a higher level.

Thomas Friedman identified 10 trends that are literally flattening our

world and making collaboration and connectivity an everyday occurrence.

These trends; the Berlin Wall coming down, creation of the World Wide Web,

work flow software, uploading, outsourcing, offshoring, supply-chaining,

insourcing, informing, and what he refers to as the steroids,

(digital, mobile, personal, and virtual) are helping to wire the world

and make it possible for people to do increasing amounts of work,

anywhere and at anytime (Friedman, 2006). As our world moves technologically forward,

so must our students if they are going to be capable of competing at these levels of intensity.

What do you think? Do you feel this type of collaboration is important or are educators jumping on the bandwagon because it is the thing to do? I am, in particular, doing this type of research project because I see the importance and the impact it will have my students. I am interested in knowing how you feel.

On September 10th at precisely 7am I will be on my computer! How do I know what I’ll be doing at that precise day and time? Sign up for our district-wide professional development (to be held in November) begins. I was so excited to see on particular selection - Flattening World & Flat Classrooms. The presenter? David Warlick! I am looking forward to this workshop as it definitely applies to my thesis. More to come.

Here in my school district we have just finished 3 days of professional development. On the district-wide professional development morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see the video below shown to the staff. I am sure that most of you have seen this video as it has been viewed over 2 million times in various locations and re-mixed. The original was created by Karl Fisch. My principal and I discussed this video last spring, (He actually brought it to my attention, (I had already seen it several times) and I was just excited as he was that he had discovered it!). At our staff meeting for our building later that morning, he brought up the discussion about the video and then surprisingly brought up my thesis research on International Collaboration with Elementary Students. He explained to my colleagues that as a school, we will be embarking on an exciting adventure, as my class connects and collaborates with students in Bucaramanga, Colombia. I am hoping that with this video, it will spark some much needed conversation among my colleagues. I already heard whispering in the wings. Fingers are crossed and I am ready to talk.