Hello! everyone!

Hello!
First, I really thank you for joining this project.
While the project is coming the the end, some of you may get ready to have Christmas vacation!

If possible, can you take some time to say goodbye on the blog "A day at my school" so that we can know you are leaving for your vacation.

Of course, we will wait for your coming works and posts if you will add more then because we don't have Christmas vacation and still in school.

And we also welcome to you to give comments on our latest posts.


Thanks again

Ling, Taiwan

The lunch video

Hi everyone:
Just wanna if you have no problem watch the lunch video (Mingde, Taiwan)

My students are planning to made the second video about what they do out of classroom.

Hope I upload the works before your christmas vacation.

When will your vacation begin?

Hi everyone:
The Christmas is coming.
And we want to send you Christmas cards.
So if you want to receive our cards, please let me know:)

Next week we'll show you more information about our sports day, trips and others things my students do out of classroom.

And please tell me when your students start their christmas vacation so that I can know when this perfect project will come to the end.

Thank you so much

Ling

Thanks! Carrie

Thank you for the ppts made by your students.
They really make me know more about your school lunch.
Please tell your students we love love their excellent works!
I'll show the ppts to my students tomorrow.

Speaking of Lunch, I'm wondering if you have no problem watching our video about our lunch cuz I put the video on the our school webserver.
And I would like to know how you feel about our video when my students said their lunch is bad.
Welcome to give us any comments about our lunch video.


Keep in touch

Ling

Lunch Slideshows

Hello All! I'm sure by now you are thinking Clarksville, Maryland has fallen off the Earth. I promise we are working hard over here!

I'm finally back from the honeymoon and over my illness of the flu.

One of my classes has finished their PowerPoints that share about Lunch here at our school. They did quite a good job and I'll be posting these hopefully in the next 24 hours.

Also, my other class will be finishing up their PowerPoints about Recess here at school next Wednesday. Those will be uploaded sometime the following week.

We will also have some time in the next few weeks to really comment on the posts and other comments from the blog.

This project is really coming together and my students love what they are sharing.

Our last project to share will be skits that we will be recording and editing in iMovie to show you a bit about our school rules.

--Carrie Trudden
Pointers Run ES

Learning to Change, Changing to Learn

A colleague shared this video with me and I thought it was just so great that I wanted to share it too.



Let me know what you think?

Thank you for sharing your classrooms.

Sorry! I resend the notification of new posts!

Today I add the word (NEW) to some of your post titles.
But I forgot that the new post notification system will be sent again!
Sorry if the emails bother you. @@

Thanks! Carrie.

First, I got to thank Pointer Run.
Thank Carrie and her students' reply.
Today my students concentrated on replying the comments.
But we didn't have much time.
Therefore, as for the questions on our textbook and nap time, we'll reply them next Tuseday.

Thanks again.

And we also look forward to other messages from other schools!

Hello! I added a new function to the blog

I added the function "New post notification" to the blogs

Any updated postl be emailed to you.

So don't forget to check your email :)

Discussion time

Hello, everyone:
First, I want to show my immense gratitude to you all because my students love your videos and pictures!

My students are so curious about your school life and therefore they will continue asking questions this week.

If you relpy their questions or cooments, they will record your answers in their profolios excitedly!

They really look forward to your reply.

Thank you!

esnips

First of all! Thanks so much to Ling for setting up a folder on eSnips for us to download our files. I found out this week that all the great videos that you loaded in blocker are not able to be viewed during school hours.....however the ESnips website is good to go! Woohoo! I went ahead and added my Bio Podcasts about my students there today. If you have a chance to load some of your great videos that you have been making on there before next week I would love to be able to share them with my students.

We have been working on making webpages with screenshots about all the computer applications we use in our Technology classes. They should be uploaded sometime before the end of next week.

--Carrie

iTunes

Hello All,

Does everyone have iTunes that they can download things on? I found an easy way to upload my podcasts so that they are searchable and downloadable for free through iTunes. Let me know!

This may help solve the downloading and playing issues.

--Carrie

Next Project

Since I teach technology. My students are going to be working on writing webpages that tell about the different computer applications and what they can do with them during our technology class. I'm also going to be working with a small group to chronicle our school day. I'm hoping to have those posted by the end of next week.

--Carrie

The loading problem

Hello, everyone
Thanks for your sharing.
We are so happy to see your videos and that help us understand you more!
But I find a problem: The loading speed is too low.

My students told they have to wait for several mins to watch each movie.
So far the only solution I can think of is that maybe it would be better if teachers play the videos first and then show them to students.(The movie will go smooth for the second time)
I am planing to create a place for you where you can upload and download the videos.

Do you have any other ideas?

My Second and Third week

These two weeks my students and I were planning how to present our class through videos and presentation slides. We just finish videotaping and I' ll post the materials on the blog.
They really worked hard on thinking what you might want to know.
They scanned all textbooks they use in class and organized them with presentation slides.
And they also wrote the script for videos of introducing the chinese class and physical education class.
It's interesting to observe how they use multimedia tools to present their world though they are not really sure what they can do to help you understand them.

Besides, I feel honored to see your introduction on the blog. My students might be curious about your posts and ask you some questions, which may arise a intercultral discussion then.
Hope you will enjoy their works.

Podcasts on their way

So my kids today finished their biography podcasts with a photo. They will be loaded online and will run as movies. I'm trying to find the best viewer to embed them. There will be about 30 when I'm able to finalize them. Hopefully before Monday they will all be up. Between teaching, coaching gymnastics, grad classes, and finalizing my wedding for one month from today (woohoo!) I'm keeping very busy!

Next week I'm going to make a film all about what our kids learn in technology.

Just got the most amazing book today though! It's called Born Digital! It tells all about what it's like to teach kids of today and how they are much different then when we all grew up. I'm only on page 15 but it's a pretty interesting read so far. Lots to think about!

--Carrie

As for the timeline

Hello, everyone:
I just want to remind you that though the deadline of posting "Learning subject" materials is at the end of September, the related discussion on the blog will continue until 10/3.

And there is a problem in this project and I need your suggestion.
That is the Time Limitation.
Recently I know many of you meet your students once a week.
If we want them to share intercultural materials and to discuss on blog, I don't know whether there is enough time to do these two things both.
Is that ok for you or do we need to skip the topic "Lunch"?
Please tell me what you think
Thank you:)

My Week

Hi Ling and Company,

I had my two classes yesterday and we viewed the video's online that have been posted and read some of the comments. We have no made any comments as of yet because our blog is on Google and I have gotten my hand slapped and am not allowed to let the students actually go to it on their own computers. I have to use it on my computer and project it. It's a bummer but turns out that Next Blog link at the top makes it unsecure. Gotta Love the District Heads. =) I'm working on a way to streamline the comment process so the kids can still comment but I don't get in trouble. Have no fear! I have some ideas!

So getting back to what we have done this week. My classes both wrote a script for their podcasts and most of them got it recorded. We are going to be editing next week. My plan is to post the Podcast Introductions soon after that. I will be typing up the transcripts for their podcasts for students who need to read the podcast while they watch them. Great suggestion Ling!

Then after that because I'm in a technology class we are going to make a class movie about 3-5 minutes or so about our Technology Class. We will discuss what we are learning, how we learn, as well as some things that we like, dislike. I may have some other students make some smaller vignettes as a separate project next week on some other Special Programs we offer. =)

Did I mentioned that my kids were so engaged yesterday when I was sharing your videos and information!?! I have to say it was an amazing day!
--Carrie

Hi Everyone!

A big hello from Brisbane, Australia. I have looked at the Blog today for the first time with my students and they are very motivated to add a few different posts, introducing ourselves. We wrote our first post today, showing the wonderful view form our school.
Next they want to add some comments to the other posts on there, to try and start some conversations going with the other classes.
Once we have finished introducing ourselves, I will try and catch up witht project timeline and work on what we learn at our school.
look forward to collaborating with you all.

My first week (Ling)

Hello, everyone
I'm trying to record how we work on the project every week so that you can know how our work is in progress.

9/2
Today during the lunch break I discussed with my students about the articles what Andrea has written for my students.
Though they've read the articles in summer vacation, they still enjoy when I read the articles again.
My students were very excited when I introduced Carrie's and Greg's countries and schools to them , and explained what they are supposed to do for the first topic.
This Friday they will discuss what subject they want to present to you. But they seem to prefer the Physical education class, instead of the Chinese class I thought.

9/5
My students said they have different opinions about what subjects they wanted to present to their international partners. Girls want to present Chinese class while boys prefer sports.
But finally they decided to present the subjects both. Next week they videotape how their classes go and scan the cover pages of their textbooks and then present them with slides.
Besides, they will do survey to their classmates about what subjects are their favorite.
They seem to have plan about what to do for next week but I find I'm in a little flurry. When I work with my students, I had to assist their discussion and fix their computer problems at the same time, which made me more nervous ( and cut my finger = =) and therefore the process of discussion didn't go quite well(some discussion details are neglected ).

I think i should do more preparation like writing down what need to be discussed on the board.
Hopefully next week I can really follow my plan.

Hello! Prepare to launch up

Hi Carrie, Andrea and Greg:
Our new semester will begin on Monday!
This summer I appreciate all your amazing ideas.
The blog environment offer everyone the ownership to wok on this intercultural project.
And I can't wait to let my students know how wonderful it is!
And from now on we are going to help our students experience the joy, discovery, and excitement.

However, it may happen when students meet problems during the process such as getting lost in the conversation, getting no response from their partners, or even forming stereotypes becuase of misunderstanding .

I think as teachers we can try our best to help them overcome the difficulties.
Therefore, I will suggest my students to wirte down or share their feeling about the peoject regularly. This way we can know what they think about cultural differences.

By the way....I haven't receive your address so I can't mail my textbooks to you! Please tell me your address soon.

Keep in touch

It's great to cooperate with you.

Ling

About My School

Hey there Folks,

While I don't have pictures of my students for the current year as of right now because our year hasn't started I'm going to share with you some other photos and information that you can share with your students. I've also included some photos of my students from last year. Most of these students have since left our school for middle school.

Pointers Run Elementary School

Clarksville, Maryland
Howard County
United States of America

Teacher - Carrie Trudden - I teach Technology which students have 1 hour per week.





Our school has students from Kindergarten through Fifth Grade - Roughly 5 years old - 11 years old.















Our school website is http://pres.hcpss.org/
My teacher website is http://truddentechnology.edublogs.org

Textbook exchange!

Hello everyone:

Andrea and I just think of a idea as an interesting start for the project.
Why not exchage textbooks through postal mail since the first topic is learning subjects?

I can exchange our math, chinese or English textbooks with you!
Of cource if you wanna recieve textbooks of other subjects (Science, social study...but they are all written in Chinese)

Tell me what you think.
Thank you

Ps. Carrie, can you share your students' picture with us?

I will post Andrea's and Greg's pictures in my classroom.

Ling

Once School Begins

Good Evening Everyone,

I will not be able to send a photo of my new students until after September 2.

Ling, I looked over your plan on the Google site. I will use it as a reference in order to stay on the same page as everyone else.

Carrie, I got Animoto to work. It seems too easy!!! I am also going to try out Jing. Keep'em comin'.

Hi Andrea.

Above is a picture of some of my students from last year. Their goal was to get every ball off the floor.

Greg

The updated project timeline

Topic 1. What subjects do we learn in school? 1st ~5th weeks (in September)
(The follwoing tasks are optional. But if possible, we can do these tasks together and then we can compare the result.)

We might have some subjects in common (like math, science) and other different subjects from those of different countries. Please design the materials to share with our partners.


1. Class schedule: Post your class schedule on blog “A day at my school”

2. Choose a special learning subject which you think is not available in schools of other countries. You can present what you learn in the special class through text, presentation slides, pictures or videos.

3. Ask at least three questions to your partners based on what you want to know about their learning subjects.


Topic 2. Our lunch in school 6th ~8th weeks (From October 1st to October 24th)

1. Food is important in different cultures. Tell us what, where and how you eat for lunch in school. Show your answers through pictures, text, presentation slides or video.

2. Ask at least three questions to your partners based on what you want to know about their lunch in school.

Topic 3. Extracurricular activities the 9th ~12th week (From October 27th to November 21st )

1. What do you do out of class? Playing sports or reading? And is there any special school fair or exhibition in your school? Show your answers though pictures, text and presentation or video.

2. Ask at least three questions to your partners based on what you want to know about their extracurricular activities.

Topic 4. School rules: the 13th ~ 16th week (From November 24th to December19th )

Here let’s discuss more details about school rules. For example, in Taiwan, students are always required to wear uniforms. We can compare the school rules in different cultures and analyze the reasons behind the rules.

1. You can make the lists of school rules, or do survey to your classmate how they think the school rules and Show your answers through posts, presentation or video.

2. Ask at least five questions to your foreign partners based on what you want to know about their school rules.

Here is the URL of a more detailed table about what and when I plan to do the project.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg9krhx_24hk99wmc7
If you can't read it, I can email this to you
Thank you!

The information about Mingde elementary school (Taiwan)

our school logo

(From left to right:Ryan/Gary Lu/ Brian/Daphne/Teresa/Gary Chou)

Mingde elementary school

Teacher Name: Ling-yun Chang (just call me Ling)

We're in Taipei city, the captal of Taiwan

Nice to meet you:)

Hello Friends

Hello there! Well the school year starts in under 14 days here. I can't believe how fast the summer went this year. I think the three graduate classes had something to do with it. =) This week I've been setting up my classroom and I am putting together a bulletin board highlighting our project. I have a world map that I would like to provide a brief introduction about each school on. Andrea was so kind to send a photo of his students. Thanks Andrea! Can you please email me or post the following:

• School Name (If you have an image of your school logo or mascot that would be a great addition as well)
  
• Teacher Name
• City, Province, or other Information about your Location
• Country
• If you have any quick snapshots of your students that would be fabulous, but not required. I can download and print on my photo printer if you post them =)

Thanks so much!
--Carrie
carrie_clark@hcpss.org

Welcome to Howard County MD

Since we are sharing photos about our area! Check out my Animoto with images from Howard County and the surrounding areas.



--Carrie

Hello Everyone,

Here are some shots of Mystic, CT. I wish I could say I took these pictures. Mystic is part of the town of Stonington where I teach. This is also where the movie Mystic Pizza took place.

Ling, The schedule looks fine. Thanks.

Greg

Hi Friends!

To Ling: I think your new timetable is ok.

To Carrie: thanks for the interesting ICT tools you are sharing...

Andrea

Attached, some pictures about the South of Italy - Campania and Basilicata Regions

Tools for Sharing

Hey there Guys!

I just found out about two great products that may be useful to us as we are sharing and completing the A Day At My School Project. Check them out!

Animoto - free program that allows you to add digital images and set them to music like a real music video. Check out a sample I made for a graduate class. Fun way to just share images back and forth. If you sign up for an account put in the promo code of discovery to upgrade your pass to an all access pass.

Meebo Rooms - free program that allows you to set up chat rooms that can be embedded into HTML documents and are private. Thought it might be good if we can arrange time to all be online at same time to discuss and share. =) Check out the room I made for practice.

--Carrie

Ciao!

Dear Carrie, Dear Ling,

Thank you for sharing your reflections and comments on the blog.
It is important comparing ideas and point of views. I'm learning a lot of things thanks to this experience.

I also think that when different Communities and systems meet we need to be flexible.

I am a bit worried about the weather situation in Taiwan. I hope that now the it's better.

I’m leaving tomorrow and I will be on holiday until the 4/5 August for a period of rest and relaxation.

I will check my e-mail box from time to time and possibly our blogs.

It’s a pleasure to exchange with you all. I wish you and your students a wonderful Summer!

With Friendship,

Andrea

Hello, Andrea and Carrie!

Hi! Andrea and Carrie:
Thanks for your support and I would like to discuss with you two first because you are the only two I can reach so far(Apparently most people will lose contact in summer vacation) but it also mean you can decide the contents students are going to discuss in this project.
And I appreciate if you can join the discussion by click the "Comment" below the article and give us some feedback or what's your idea!

Here I have something want to discuss with you:
First, from September to December, I would like to focus on 3~4 topics so that we can maintain longer discussion in each topic. So far what I think of are :

1. What subjects do we learn in school. (In September)
We might have some common subjects in common (like math, science) and other different subjects(like in Taiwan we have Chinese class). We can discuss briefly about the similarities and differences. And the next step is to introduce a special learning subject in your country through text, presentation slides pictures or videos.
For example, My students will video tape their process of how they learn Chinese in class and post the film on the blog. And we'll put some learning materials on the blog (For example, how we learn and write "Chinese words")

2. Our lunch (From October 1st to October 16th)
Food plays important role in different culture. Maybe we can have students experience the food culture through their lunch in school! And It can be presented through pictures, text and presentation slides or video.

3. Outdoor or school activities (From October 17th to October 31st)
What do you do out of class? Playing sports? Is there any School fair or Exhibition in your school? I think it will be presented better though presentation or video.
Share them with us!

4. School rule: (From November to December)
Here I wanna to have students to discuss more details about their school rules. In Taiwan, students are always required to wear uniforms. We can compare the school rules in differnt cultures and analyze the reasons behind the rules. It may be more difficult to students so I want to spend more then a month to talk the topic. And if we still have time, we can talk about the newspaper content(planned to publish next year).

Please tell me :
1. Do you think these topics are proper for your students ? Do you want to discuss them all or just choose three out of them?
2. Do you think these topics can be handled by your or your students within these almost four month?
3. Is it too difficult for you to have students access to the multimedia presentation (picture, presentation slides, videos) ?

Any comments about what you think about these topics and the schedule is welcomed.
Thank you so much!

The timeline

These days, I'm planning the schedule of our project. The following is what I think:

1. I set the time from May to August as "Preaparation stage." We simply do some self-introduction and give each others some short feedback because your students may, like my students, will have summer vacation and are unable to get together to do the project. (Ps: If you don't post your self-introduction yet, take your time:))

2. And then from September to December (before christmas), we can share and discuss more details with each others' school life on the blog through pictures, files and videos! I've asked my students to think the topics and questions they want to ask you and they will be ready in September.

3. From December to January, my students and I will edit a newspaper based on the conent of the blog during this time and publish it to you all at the end of January(so we hope to receive more information from you!).

The information above will be updated so don't forgect to check this blog often! I would like to invite you all to discuss the project process together. So if you want to know more blog resources and ask me some questions. Please let me know.

Thank you!
Ling

Hello! Some Taiwan postcards for you!

Hello everyone:
My students and I are very glad to see your self-introduction on the blog "A day at my school." It will be a good beginning for our project. To thank you for all joining this project, we would like to send you the Taiwan postcards!So if you want to receive them, please email me your postal address at readygo1214@yahoo.com.tw becuase my epals emailbox is always full.

Besides, we've uploaded the videos of our self-introduction on the blog. Please give us your comments or feedback.And next week our students will give you some comments or greeting on the your articles on the blog.

Keep in touch

Ling

How to upload PPT to the blog

Sometimes you may hope to upload PPT file of your school life to the blog.
But the blog con't suppot that function.
To solve the proble, I find the website http://www.slideshare.net/
You can apply for its memeber and upload your ppt file to the website.
And once you successful upload the file to webiste, it will show the webblink and the Html code for embedding in the blog.

Copy the Embed code and past it to where your edit your post under the setting of "Edit Html"
Then you can see your ppt file on the blog.
Here is the result on the blog
http://adayatschool-writing.blogspot.com/2008/05/introduction-of-school-environment.html
If you think it's too complicated, you email me your ppt file at
readygo1214@yahoo.com.tw
I can help you upload your file.

Ling

How to accept the invitation and log in.

1. Click on the link in the invitation letter.
2. Click on "Create your account now"
3. Enter your email address (you can use your current email address )
4. Enter the other details it requires and click on "continue".
5. Then you can log in with your username(the email address) and password.
If you are still not clear about the process, please download the teaching movie (download)

If you have any question, please leave your comment. Thank you!

Ling