TeacherTalk

Let's share our ideas here:

Paula here (I claim blue for my color): I was hoping we could do something that would truly make this an interactive project--that is, at the end, when we create a product (each of us in our schools) that it relies on the work of our skype friends across the state. I understand we're all resource folks in the building, so will need to get teachers to buy in. ..

Here's what I was thinking--if we choose some piece of our region to share each month, and then, by March, we begin to pull that info together so our buddies taking the VA Studies SOL can use our projects for review. I was thinking each group (however the teacher decides--small group, individuals, whole class) could create a media tour of VA, using the resources we've all uploaded throughout the year. So, my kids would start in the Blue Ridge, tour through each region giving basic info about it, and return here at the end. That way we'd HAVE to use the other's work to create ours.

I'm thinking something like this: (PLEASE change/offer suggestions, add to, whatever--this is first brainstorming! And maybe each month we take a picture out of the front of our schools--to show how the scenery changes over the seasons, so we can compare it with ours.)

A teacher suggestion--the class mascot visits each area each month.

September pages: introduce ourselves, describe our region geographically, with pictures and perhaps a google earth link or link to google map. How does that geography affect what happens in our region? Landforms need to be covered, here, intro where we are on the map. Maybe we also include the stupid VA map with the regions on it with our region colored in each time we contribute to a month's site so the kids see it over and over, colored in from different "friends" around the state?

October pages--discuss harvests in our area, and talk about other seasons, what is harvested then. What products do we produce and why is that suited to our region?

November, December--weather discussions and how that impacts what we make/how we live (in the mountains, for example, we've put up fruits into jellies, jams and pickles, and we make quilts, which are sold in our Virginia-made shops--in the Tidewater, peanuts are sold in those same shops. Ridge and Valley might cite quilts also because of the Amish influence, or Appalachian Plateau might for other reasons.) What does the weather have to do with what we make and/or sell?

January--what we do in the cold months of the winter, describing our region through what tourists can see--and when that tourism is best done. Famous landmark pictures, famous places to visit, etc. could be posted this month.

February-maybe here we talk what we love about our region--the benefits of living here and perhaps what jobs would entice others to come here.

March we begin making our tours--maybe we offer choices for the kids to use--voicethread, kerpoof, google sites and/or docs, movies, whatever. . .This Skype topic would be clarifying questions to make our tours better. maybe throughout the year we've each taken a turn creating a graphic organizer for he month, so we each know what to prepare for the Skype call, based on what we decide to center on for the project.

April we share them and take time to explore them, then Skype to congratulate. Do we offer "emmy awards" to the one we like the best in the other class?