iEARN in Action, December 8, 2005

NEED HELP INTEGRATING AN iEARN PROJECT INTO YOUR CLASSROOM? ENJOY LEARNING IN A COLLABORATIVE, INTERNATIONAL AND STRUCTURED ENVIRONMENT? Join us in our next session of online professional development courses starting January 30th - April 2nd, 2006. iEARN's nine week online courses will help you integrate international collaborative project-based learning into your curriculum and fulfill your curriculum standards using technology. You will learn how to connect your classrooms with their peers around the world. This is a great chance to become an active member of the iEARN global learning community and receive a certificate as an "iEARN Master Teacher." At least 10 countries are represented among the participants in each 9-week course. Facilitators live in 15 countries, speaking about 20 different languages! Professional Development credits available for US teachers. Read course requirements and Register before they fill up! http://www.iearn.org/professional/online.html For more information, write to onlinepd@us.iearn.org.

SEEKING ALL iEARN ALUMNI! Are you (or do you know of) a senior or high school graduate who has worked with iEARN projects for at least one year and is still interested in iEARN activities? Nadine in Egypt and Nuria in the USA are working to unite and invite all the Alumni of iEARN to the iEARN Alumni forums to engage together in sharing experiences, skills, competencies and ideas in promoting the goals of iEARN. Interested? Contact Nadine El-hadad in Egypt (see more about iEARN-Egypt's National Alumni network at http://www.iearnegypt.org/alumni.php) and Nuria Peguero (http://www.us.iearn.org/about/iearn_alumni-us.php) in the USA for more information. Or connect directly to the iEARN Alumni Forum.

Join Us! iEARN Projects, Seeking Contacts, Contributions and Collaborators

**Download the 2005-2006 iEARN Project Book:
http://www.iearn.org/projects/projectbook.html, (available in Arabic, English, French, and Japanese)or for a full listing of iEARN projects, see: http://www.iearn.org/projects/

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SIGN UP NOW FOR THE NEXT SESSION OF iEARN LEARNING CIRCLES - PLACEMENT FORUMS DEADLINE EXTENDED TO JANUARY 23. Learning Circles are highly interactive, project-based partnerships among a small number of schools located throughout the world. Each session is 14 weeks. Sign up now for the January to May Session: Begins January 30, 2006 and ends on May 19, 2006 (15 weeks with a 1-week break). See http://www.iearn.org/circles/ for more information about Learning Circles, including an extensive Teachers' Guide. Register online here.

HIV+ TESTIMONIES EXCHANGE. Interested in being part of a new initiative to exchange and share information about HIV/AIDS? By working with and learning from people who are fighting against the disease day by day students will have a better understanding of the impact of HIV and AIDS in the world. Contact Oscar David Kirstein in Ghana and Tommie Hamaluba in Botswana.

JOIN THE TIME MACHINE PROJECT.  Pat Bartoshesky in the USA writes, "The Time Machine project, initiated by Ora Baumgarten of Israel, is alive at the iEARN website, but we need classes to share the activities and to communicate. Students enter a Time Machine and research an historical event that happened on each student's birthday. Come join the fun - click here. For more information, see here.

ELEMENTARY PARTNERS NEEDED FOR PROJECT!!! Jennifer Joly in the USA writes, "I am a 2nd grade teacher in DC... We have taken the IEARN project My School Your School and adapted it to a second grade level. My students are studying the structure and the roles people play in creating a safe and fun learning environment. We are open to who ever would like to
participate. PLEASE get back to me if you are interested.

TREES NEAR US PROJECT. Join students worldwide who are busy researching, finding, and describing trees in their local communities. Draw a picture, take a photo, write an essay, and tell a tale about trees, or even make posters! Share your trees with others! See here. Facilitated by Pavle Tvaliashvili in Georgia. Recently, Grade V students of SLS Montessori & School, Islamabad Branch, Pakistan shared their contribution here.

NEW "WE REMEMBER" FORUM FOR PROJECTS RELATED TO LEARNING ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST. The first to begin there is Kamarad23, a continuation of a youth magazine, Kamarad (Friend), that was written in Ghetto Terezin (Theresienstadt). Coordinated by Yonat Klar, Director of the Education Center of Beit Terezin, Kibbutz Givat, Haim Ihud, and Ruty Hotzen, Israel. See here or connect directly to the forum here.

OUR ANCESTORS - CHARM OF THE OLD-FASHIONED PHOTOGRAPHS.  A project open to everyone who would like to show other people what their ancestors? lives were like. Originally launched as an E-twinning project, it is now for all the people in the world. The project involves teachers and their students in researching their ancestors and their way of living (everyday life, friends, family, occupation etc.). Students are encouraged to create their genealogical trees and find their roots to share with peers in the project. Ultimately, the idea is to prepare a common and familiar history of different cultures and nations. Contact Paulina Kuzmo and Alicja Kozcielna in Poland. For more, see here..

UNIVERSAL VALUES PROJECT WINS TOP PRIZE. The iEARN Poland primary school project 'Universal Values,' chosen among the 100 best in Europe 2005, has just been awarded again with the FIRST PRIZE in eTwinning competition in the category 'digital resources'!! See here. Congratulations to everyone in the project. For more information, and to join in the forum, see here.

ANY TEACHERS MONITORING THE WEATHER?  Michele Thomas writes, "I am a teacher on the east coast of the U.S. in Delaware at sea level, and my students monitor the weather conditions each day for temperature, dew point, relative humidity, ect (you get the idea). I was wondering if anyone out there would like to email data back and forth between students for the purpose of comparison." Contact Michele.

Check it out! Resources, Contests, Web Sites, Announcements (This includes resources that are not part of iEARN)

INTERNATIONAL GUEST PROGRAM IN NEW YORK CITY FOR EDUCATORS WORKING FOR TOLERANCE - 2006/2007. Ideal candidates are educators dedicated to instilling the values, knowledge and skills of tolerance, nonviolence and peace in young people. TMF seeks educators preferably, but not exclusively from the Global South and countries in the transitional world who would like to accomplish a specific project, do research, engage in networking, or would benefit from time off from work to reflect and/or further develop their work strategies and skills. Eligible candidates must be conversant (strong speaking and comprehension skills) in English. International Guests (IGs) will be awarded accommodation in Brooklyn, New York and fully equipped office space at ICTE for 2-3 months. A recent recipient was Viviane Clemence Nguimeya-Demefack, a teacher active with iEARN-Cameroon. Application deadline is January 27, 2006 (deadline flexible). Applicants may be asked to submit additional materials. Award notifications will be made by April 1, 2006. See here.

REUTERS DIGITAL VISION PROGRAM (RDVP) AT STANFORD (USA) ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR 2006-2007 ACADEMIC YEAR (September 2006 - June 2007). The deadline is April 3, 2006. Fellowships will be awarded at the end of May, 2006. Among the current fellows is Mitra Fathollahpour, active in iEARN while in Iran. See http://rdvp.org for more about the current fellows, and information about applying.

POLAND AND ENGLAND (HALINA BEDNARZ AND KARL DONART) WELCOME iEARN TO THE COMPETITION 'EARTH-THE PEOPLE'S PLANET." The project has two categories 1- ARTWORK: 'Man's Freedom and Dignity' 2- PHOTO-document: 'European Solidarity in action.' Website:
http://eu.m-szkola.net/sd2006.Contact: mki@m-szkola.net. For direct
link to the English version click here.

Coming Soon! Upcoming Events and Projects!

THREE DAY iEARN ORIENTATION WORKSHOP FOR TEACHERS IN PAKISTAN. January 23-25. Maqsood Shazia or SOS Hermann Gmeiner School in Lahore writes, "It will be our first workshop in our own school...please welcome them and send your message to them." See the Teachers Forum Discussion Thread.

SEND GREETINGS TO TEACHERS IN THE USA. Diane Midness of iEARN USA writes, "Please send greetings to teachers in Illinois, USA. On Jan. 26, I will be doing a workshop for the Southern Illinois International High School Association for teachers who are new members of iEARN. Please send them greetings and invite them to join you in project work." See the Teachers Forum Discussion Thread.

WELCOME NEW TEACHERS IN INDIA. Shobha Panchwati of iEARN-India writes, "iEARN-India is conducting beginner workshop on January 30-31, 2006 in Chennai ,Tamilnadu State with about 30 Teachers from and around Chennai. Please welcome them and wish them good luck." See the Teachers Forum Discussion Thread.

STUDENT WORKSHOPS AT YOUTHCAN ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE, 2006. One of the most exciting parts of the YouthCaN project are the student workshops in New York City and other sites on April 10th. The event is a great opportunity to see what others are doing in environmental projects, and to share your projects and activities. It is a chance for your students to develop their presentation skills.  At this point we are looking for students who are interested in presenting their projects as either workshops or display tables.  For more information and a workshop presentation/registration form, send a blank e-mail message to: youthcan info@us.iearn.org. Most workshops are in person, but also can be through technology. For more about YouthCaN, see http://www.youthcanworld.org/.

MEGACONFERENCE, JR. 2006 - MAY 18. An Event For and By students of the World http://megaconferencejr.org/. See streaming from previous years here.

eLearning AFRICA CONFERENCE, MAY 24-26, 2006. Join in the first international conference on ICT for development, education and training to be held in Addis Ababa from May 24 - 26, 2006 (more information available here). Girma Mitiku, iEARN-Ethiopia Coordinator and Conference Advisory Committee member (http://www.elearning-africa.com/partner_advisory.php) writes, "All iEARNers are supposed to participate, especially the African iEARNers!"

2006 iEARN WORLD CONFERENCE AND YOUTH SUMMIT IN ENSCHEDE, NETHERLANDS, JULY 3-7, 2006. Every year one of the countries active in iEARN hosts the annual World Conference and Youth summit as a meeting place for teachers and students in Primary and Secondary Education, NGO and corporate partners, field experts and governmental representatives. For more information about the Conference, contact:info@iearn2006.nl. For Youth Summit information see . http://www.iearn2006.nl/.

REGISTER NOW FOR THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE ROLE OF ICT IN BRIDGE-BUILDING AND SOCIAL INCLUSION CONFERENCE. Northern Ireland, September 10-16, 2006. If you are involved in a project linking students together through ICT and want to hear about the latest developments in video-conferencing, the use of 'moodle' to create joint web sites, or the experiences of those in Ireland and elsewhere who are using ICT to build bridges, we'd like to hear from you. If you are an academic interested in the theoretical models behind such work or a policy maker for ICT at national or international level this conference will be an important event. Further details here.

For Reference!