"Saving Our Planet" at the Salon de l'Education

Our project, Saving Our Planet, has been awarded one of the French national e-Twinning prizes, in large part thanks to the work begun last year by Malgorzata Kulakowska, Justina Tracichleb-Lichosik and Agnieszka Twardowska at the VI Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Juliusza Słowackiego w Kielcach, in Poland, and the work this year by Ansgar Sindermann at Ludwig-Erhard-Berufskolleg, in Germany, Marina Marino at the Liceo Scientifico "F.Cecioni", in Livorno, Italy, Lavinia Stanusi at the Liceul Teoretic Independenta, in Calafat, Romania, Ana Tudor at the Liviu Rebreanu School in Mioveni, Romania, and my colleagues here in France, such as Sylvie Izarn in my school, the Lycée Pierre et Marie Curie in Châteauroux.



This prize shows that our work is appreciated for its innovative aspects, most notably the student discussions on Viva, the Virtual Interactive Village. My students in France have been busy replying to students in Germany, Poland and Romania on specific environmental topics they chose, such as ozone depletion, alternative sources of energy and experimenting on animals. One topic, about water quality, and students in Romania are actually testing the water in the Danube.

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to all my students, my partners and their students for this resounding success. As soon as I get home from the Salon de l'Education, I'll be posting the certificate for you all to download. Good work, everyone!

La nature romantique

Dans le cadre de l'étude du mouvement romantique, les élèves de la classe sont amenés à construire une critique de deux tableaux romantiques qu'ils auront choisis,un tableau d'un peintre français et un tableau d'un peintre allemand, anglais ou espagnol.

Ils doivent d'abord présenter le tableau puis évaluer l'importance et l'image de la nature. Ils argumenteront la conception romantique de la nature, qui n'est pas un simple élément du décor, mais un thème essentiel du tableau, il faudra alors travailler la symbolique.Les tableaux choisis et leur critique seront alors envoyés.

Dans un deuxième temps, les élèves choisiront des images publicitaires contemporaines dans lesquelles la nature est représentée. Ils devront se livrer à la même analyse. Il leur faudra également se pencher sur une comparaison de la conception de la nature au XXIème dans la publicité et au XIXème dans la peinture.
Sylvie Izarn

Viv@: un village moins virtuel...

Pour se présenter sur Viv@ de façon plus "amicale" les élèves du Lycée Francesco Cecioni en Italie, à Livorno, ont choisi de créer de petits films. Ils avaient déjà crée des B.D. numériques car cela leur avait semblé sympa de "bavarder" dans l'espace "café" de Viv@ d'une façon plus...réelle bien que....virtuelle!
Au fait, c'est bien vrai: la vie dans notre village virtuel va devenir moins virtuelle car elle passe par les liens qui se tissent parmi les jeunes et la découverte réciproque de leurs vies et de leurs habitudes!

ce que je suis

voilà un exemple de comment utiliser de façon creative un outil tel que movie maker pour mettre les élèves en rélation: on a vu la chanson de holden"ce que je suis" et les élèves ont crée des vidéos

*//susanna..

Caterina&Benedetta...

Voilà un exemple de comment utiliser de façon créative un outil tel que movie maker pour mettre les élèves en rélation: on a vu la chanson de Holden "ce que je suis"et les élèves ont crée des vidéos.

Ce que je suis!

Voilà un exemple de comment utiliser de façon créative on outil tel que movie maker pour mettre les élèves en rélation: on a vu la chanson de Holden "Ce que je suis" et les élèves ont crée des vidéos.

Ce que je suis

Voilà un exemple de comment utiliser de façon créative un outil tel que movie maker pour mettre les élèves en rélation: on a vu la chanson de Holden " ce que je suis" et les élèves ont crée des vidéos...

Students are talking on Viva!

Here it is, mid-October, and our students are off to a good start exchanging messages! On the Viva forums you will find quite a few student messages both introducing themselves and discussing specific project ideas.

- In the Science Lab forum, students from Germany have briefly presented their project ideas in English, and they've already got two brief responses from Romania. Next week I will get one of my classes to respond there as well, and I will encourage my students to choose one of the German students' projects to contribute ideas to.

- Also in the Science Lab forum, one of my classes (here in France) has written about global warming (in English). We would love to have answers from all interested participants!

- In the Forum Europa, Marina in Italy has written (in French) about a "Saving Our Planet" video set to a rap song, and students here in France have responded.

- Also in the Forum Europa, Lavinia in Romania has written about "Tree Planting Day". I responded with a few links about deforestation, and I'll get one of my classes to respond to that message soon.

- In the Cafe forum, students from Germany, Romania, Italy and France have all started introducing themselves, both in English and in French. I suggest that you have your students write messages both in their target language and in their native language. I know some students in my school are studying Italian, German and Spanish, so perhaps we can get some discussions going in those languages, in parallel with our project messages.

Our project is off to a great start. I've added several of you as co-authors here on this blog, so don't hesitate to post specific project ideas here. It's a shared space, so just jump right in and contribute!

Cheers, --- Phil


FRENCH VERSION


Nous voici mi-octobre, et nos élèves ont commencé à échanger des messages! Sur les forums Viva vous trouverez beaucoup de messages des élèves qui se présentent et qui discutent des idées de projet.

- Dans le forum Science Lab, des élèves en Allemagne ont présenté brièvement leur idées de projet, en anglais. Ils ont déjà deux réponses courtes de la Roumanie. La semaine prochaine j'enverrai une de mes classes pour qu'ils choisissent un des projets des allemands pour échanger leurs idées.

- Aussi dans le forum Science Lab, une de mes classes (ici en France) a écrit sur le sujet du réchauffement de la planète (en anglais). Nous aimerions vraiment avoir des réponses des autres partenaires!

- Dans le Forum Europa, Marina en Italie a écrit (en français) au sujet d'une vidéo "Sauvons notre planète" sur une chanson rap, et des élèves français ont répondu.

- Aussi dans le Forum Europa, Lavinia en Roumanie a écrit sur "Tree Planting Day" - une journée pour planter des arbres. J'ai répondu avec quelques liens sur la déforestation, et une de mes classes répondra bientôt à ce thème.

- Dans le forum Cafe, des élèves en Allemagne, Roumanie, Italie et France ont commencé à se présenter, à la fois en anglais et en français. Je suggère de demander à vos élèves de se présenter à la fois dans leur langue cible et dans leur langue maternelle. Je sais que certains des élèves dans mon lycée étudient l'allemand, l'italien et l'espagnol, donc qui sait, nous engendrerons peut-être des conversations dans ces langues en parallèle aux messages sur notre projet.

Notre projet a bien démarré. Je vous ai ajouté en tant que co-auteurs sur ce blog, donc n'hésitez pas à mettre ici des messages sur notre projet commun. C'est un espace partagé, donc n'hésitez pas à franchir le pas de l'échange!

membre Campus FLE Education

View my page on Campus FLE Education

Saving our planet

We are Justyna and Agnieszka from Poland and we have been participating in the project "Saving our planet". We and our students have been communicating with the students in Châteauroux, France and and we had an opportunity to exchange ideas and opinions about such vital global issues such as endangered species, pollution, recycling and oil spills. Our students could learn that their peers from France have the same opinions about how important it is to save our planet and they had a chance to realize that the discussed problems are not only local but , first and foremost, they concern all the citizens in the world. Finally, the project made them ponder what actions they could take to make the world a better place for future generations.

Evaluating an E-Twinning project and planning for the next step.

Bonjour,

Well, Agnieska and Justyna and their students in Kielcach, Poland have been communicating with my students in Châteauroux, France since November 2007. We've had a few rough spots coordinating our writing efforts, but all in all it's been a very positive collaboration, and one that we're hoping to expand for next year.

We've been using Viva, the Virtual Village, for our exchanges between students. Viva has been live for nearly ten years now, and although it's a very simple, low-bandwidth forum-based interface, it's still a great tool for encouraging students to write to each other in their target language. You can see most of this year's student writing and exchange in the "Forum Europa" and "Science Lab" forums.

Our general topic has been "Saving Our Planet", as explained in an earlier blog entry. Our students have exchanged or written on topics like endangered species, pollution, recycling and oil spills.

Now, with the current school year winding to a close, I'm looking for new partners in other countries to add to our project. I've already gotten favorable responses from Ana in Romania and Marina in Italy, and am waiting on a few others. If we can get students at five or six different sites all communicating on the same topics, I think we'll see a very favorable group dynamic developing.

More soon, --- Phil

Projetice at the EduCorsica conference

Projetice, the teachers' association that promotes educational uses of ICT, was present at the Salon EduCorsica, the first regional educational conference in Corsica, the 29th and 30th of April 2008 with several activities:
- At the Projetice stand, demonstrations of EdTech projects, teaching projects and resources available to Projetice members.
- In workshops, with classes of primary and middle school students.

Amongst the many resources and services that Projetice provides, you can find:
- Project mentoring
- Training in EdTech methods
- EdTech equipment loans
- Advice for setting up projects (international projects, EdTech equipment and so on)
- Access to online resources like INA, Edu.maxicours.fr and EduMedia.

For those who were present at the EduCorsica conference, you saw the HP "chariot mobile" at the Arrobox stand, two of our industrial partners. We have two HP "chariots mobiles" that we loan to a school for one, two or three months for specific projects with students. On the Projetice website, you will find an example of one of these projects, as well as a short video featuring elementary students at work at the Simine Thoulouze elementary school in Carry-le-Rouet (Bouches-du-Rhône).


At the stand, I presented (amongst other things) the e-twinning project "Saving Our Planet" between the Lycee Pierre et Marie Curie in Chateauroux (France) and the Lyceum Ogólnoksztacce, in Kielcach in Poland. We use the Viva village to communicate on different environmental topics, and in class I use the EWB (Electronic Whiteboard) e-Beam from Speechi that allows me to write directly on webpages, powerpoint presentations or on other sorts of documents, and to have students come to the board to write, or to distribute copies of our lessons, for example.

Projetice au Salon EduCorsica

Projetice, l'association pour les usages pédagogiques des TICE, est présent au Salon EduCorsica, le 1er salon régional de l'éducation en Corse, le 29 et 30 avril 2008 avec plusieurs prestations:
- Sur le stand Projetice, des démonstrations de scénarios pédagogiques et des ressources disponibles aux adhérents de l'association.
- Dans des ateliers pédagogiques avec des classes d'élèves en primaire et au collège.

Parmi les actions et les ressources de l'association, vous trouverez:
- L'accompagnement de projets
- La formation aux usages pédagogiques
- Le prêt de matériel
- Des conseils pour monter un projet (international, d'équipement, etc)
- L'accès à des ressources en ligne, tel que l'INA, Edu.maxicours.fr et EduMedia.

Pour ceux qui étaient présents sur la conférence EduCorsica, vous avez sans doute vu le chariot mobile HP sur le stand d'Arrobox, deux de nos partenaires. Nous avons deux chariots mobiles HP que nous prêtons à un établissement scolaire pendant un, deux ou trois mois pour monter un projet spécifique avec les élèves. Sur le site Projetice vous trouverez un exemple de ces projets, ainsi qu'un court vidéo où on voit les élèves au travail, dans l'école primaire Simone Thoulouze de Carry-le-Rouet (Bouches-du-Rhône).


Sur le stand, je présente entre autres choses le projet e-twinning "Saving our Planet" entre le Lycée Pierre et Marie Curie à Châteauroux et le Lyceum Ogólnoksztacce, à Kielcach en Pologne. Nous utilisons le village Viva pour communiquer sur différents sujets liés à l'environnement, et en classe avec mes élèves j'utilise le TBI e-Beam de Speechi qui me permet de commenter en direct des pages web, power point ou d'autres supports, de faire venir des élèves au tableau et de sauvegarder le travail des élèves pour le leur distribuer par la suite, par exemple.

One week with the EWB eBeam/Speechi

(Pour lire cet article en français)

I recently took advantage of Speechi's ten-day trial offer of their EWB (Electronic Whiteboard) eBeam at my school, the Lycée Pierre et Marie Curie in Châteauroux. What a wonderful tool!

I started on Monday 25 February. When I arrived at school at around ten that morning, the eBeam was waiting for me. I unpacked it, picked up a videoprojector at the office and headed for my classroom. After plugging in the projector, my laptop and speakers, I plugged in the USB link for the eBeam, stuck it on the standard whiteboard in my classroom, and popped in the installation CD for the eBeam interactive tools, and I was ready to go in about ten minutes.

As I've been doing environmentally-related topics for an ongoing E-Twinning project with a partner school in Poland, I started work on the "Black Tides" website with the flash animation explaning the origins of oil. I had prepared a handout using the text from that unit on the site, with the addition of a vocabulary list and a list of ten questions students could answer from the text and from the animation itself. Using the eBeam pen I was able to stop and start the animation and write annotations right on the whiteboard: things like vocabulary words and answers to the questions with arrows to the relevant parts of the animation. One problem I ran into, though, was that each time I wanted to switch from pen mode to mouse mode (so that I could restart the animation) I had to erase my annotations. It was time for me to discover the eBeam scrapbook tool!

Working from the diagram "evolution of tonnage transported", I began the same way: writing vocabulary and ideas directly onto the projection of the webpage with the eBeam pen. But as soon as students started explaining the diagram with complete sentences, I clicked on the left side of the tool palette to open the eBeam scrapbook tool, a multipage whiteboard organizer. There, I was able to note the sentences students produced, correct them, and note a few grammar points, notably the use of present perfect with "since" to express the notion of duration until the present. One detail you may notice: on each screen capture, there is a central gap: this is due to the whiteboards in our school which fold out for a three-panel blackboard (for chalk) and fold in for a whiteboard that unfortunately remains divided by 3cm metal bar down the middle. In practice, however, this doesn't prevent the eBeam tool from functioning, and students get used to the "gap" very quickly. As you see, I just write around it.

One of the first things I noticed while using the eBeam tool palette is its simplicity. Compared to other electronic whiteboards I've used in the past, the eBeam tools are extremely simplified, which is an important advantage. I showed the eBeam to a group of about 70 other teachers in my school this Wednesday, and when I asked who thought they would want to use this new tool, fully two-thirds of the room raised their hands! I'm certain their overwhelming response was due in large part to this simplicity. When tools are too complex, few teachers are ready to go out on a limb to use them, and they wind up collecting dust at the back of a cupboard. Not the eBeam!

My only worry now is that I won't have the eBeam all to myself any more. We're sending in a request to the regional council board for funding for another half-dozen eBeam whiteboards and projectors, but while we wait for that request to go through the system, I guess I'll just have to share.

Aside from using the eBeam in the classroom with this project, students are also working on the Viva (Virtual Interactive Village) forums with their foreign correspondents. Their work still needs a bit of correction, but they are going in the right direction.

I hope to be posting a full description of this lesson very soon.

Cheers, --- Phil