Lindley Elementary Kids Connect Beyond Classroom

Lindley Elementary Kids Connect Beyond Classroom
Originally uploaded by sschaufe.

On Tuesday, October 4, art students from Lindley Elementary in Fort Wayne, Indiana made a videoconference connection with the Indianapolis Museum of Art. This program was provided by ACELINK, the broadband coordinator for the Allen County schools.

Lindley 5th graders designed an art project based on using geometric figures and problem solving skills for this project. They were able to talk with a docent from the museum and show their work for a critique and discussion. They also saw an original art work at the Museum by Sol Lewitt, the artist that they based their work on for this event.

Barb Kuntz, art teacher at Lindley, participated in the program to bring the museum experts into her classroom without the expense of travel.

Summit Middle School 7th Graders

Summit Middle School, 7th Graders
Originally uploaded by sschaufe.

Mrs. Linda Valley's 7th grade language arts students recently participated in an interactive videoconference with Milicent Wright from the Indiana Repertory Theater. ACELINK supported the program and provided technical support during the event.

In the "Exploring Shakespeare" session, students experience Shakespeare's imagery, figurative language, literary devices, history, character analysis, plot and themes. They discussed how recognizing, using, and appreciating these elements are essential to the actor, the director and today's audience. The program was extremely interactive and customized to the works covered in Mrs. Valley's class.

Go to our FLICKR site for more pictures of this event. For information about virtual field trips or ACELINK, contact Sandy Schaufelberger at schaufes@ipfw.edu.

Paul Harding, Brentwood Students Attend Virtual Event

Paul Harding, Brentwood Students Attend Virtual Event
Originally uploaded by sschaufe.

IPFW and ACELINK, and 42 other schools across the country, used the ultra-fast Internet2 nationwide research and education network to participate in a massive National Constitution Day videoconference event sponsored by MAGPI and the National Constitution Center.

Called “America Reads the Constitution,” the event used high-quality videoconferencing technology to bridge hundreds of students across time zones and state borders to read the Constitution together. By providing this first-ever interactive virtual platform for National Constitution Day, students were able share and learn alongside their peers from all regions of the U.S. in a celebration of our nation’s most important historical document.

Participants at the IPFW event included the following readers:
David Dowling – Brentwood Elementary, grade 1
Ryan Yoder – Pre-service Teacher, IPFW Senior
Senaida Marzljak - Brentwood Elementary, grade 5
Jackie McCoy – Paul Harding High School, Senior
Mrs. Molly Baumert –Paul Harding High School Teacher

Coordinating the event was Glenda Moss, Ed.D., Associate Professor in the IPFW School of Education. Sandy Schaufelberger, ACELINK Project Manager, coordinated the technical aspects of the event.

Elmhurst & Paul Harding Join Virtual Town Hall with Fort Wayne Mayor

Students from Elmhurst High School and Paul Harding High School joined IPFW and ACELINK on Friday, Sept. 8 for the first monthly Virtual Town Hall Meeting this year. Fort Wayne Mayor Graham Richard was the featured elected official, and he spoke with students in this live, two-way interactive event. Andy Downs, executive director of IPFW's Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics, was the moderator of the event. Participating teachers included Matt Mertes, Greg Daugherty, and Doug Ahr from Elmhurst. Ms. Molly Baumert, from Paul Harding, also participated.

The next Virtual Town Hall Meeting will be the 2nd Friday in October, featuring candidates for the Allen County Sheriff's race. For more information, contact ACELINK at 481-0747 or schaufes@ipfw.edu. This event is open to any school with IP videoconferencing capability.

ACELINK, Mike Downs Center Announce 2nd Virtual Town Hall Series

ACELINK and the Mike Downs Center are again sponsoring the IPFW Virtual Town Hall Series. This interactive, multi-site H.323 videoconference program allows students and teachers (grades 9-12) to engage in public policy discussions with key public officials and experience their role as citizens. Participation in these FREE monthly discussions is granted on a first-come, first-served basis to classrooms with IP videoconferencing capability.

Each session begins with Downs introducing and interviewing the public official. Then the students are given the opportunity to engage in the conversation and pose their own questions.

We provide the official’s background and talking points to participating teachers in advance to allow time to prepare students and fully integrate the Town Hall into their curriculum. Participating classes should have an understanding of the topics being covered and be prepared to ask 3-4 relevant questions during the session.

ACELINK, in cooperation with the IPFW Division of Continuing Studies, provides the registration process, teacher orientation, technical support and supporting documents. Participating classrooms are responsible for their own video connection and technical support, but ACELINK will provide assistance and orientation as requested.

Last Year’s Participants
U.S. Senator Richard Lugar
U.S. Congressman Mark Souder
Indiana State Representative Jeff Espich
Fort Wayne Mayor Graham Richard

Schedule (September – November)
September 8, 2006 – Fort Wayne Mayor Graham Richard
October 20, 2006 – Allen County Sheriff Candidates’ Forum
November 17, 2006 - US Congressional Seat Winner

For a complete flyer and application form, contact Sandy Schaufelberger at schaufes@ipfw.edu or call 260-481-0747.

Free Online Rubric Tool

I'm still amazed at the number of teachers who don't know about this site, but after teaching two workshops this summer, it's clear that many still need to find their way to this free site. RubiStar is a free online tool to help the teacher who wants to use rubrics but does not have the time to develop them from scratch. As I always say, "Why reinvent the wheel?"

While many teachers want to use rubrics or are experimenting with writing rubrics, they can be quite time-consuming to develop. RubiStar provides generic rubrics that can simply be printed and used for many typical projects and research assignments. The unique thing about RubiStar, however, is that it provides these generic rubrics in a format that can be customized (with Word or Excel). The teacher can change almost all suggested text in the rubric to make it fit their own project.

For example, if RubiStar suggests for a multimedia presentation that "The student includes at least three slides" for the highest rating, the teacher could change that to read "The student includes at least 5 slides" or "The student includes a title slide with the authors' names; a table of contents with links to all slides that follow, ..."

RubiStar also does away with the tedious typing of similar content across all the various quality rating. When you choose a category to evaluate, all the quality ratings are filled in and are ready to customize.

Here's a link to the site: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

[Description taken from Rubistar site]

Alan November's Favorite Sites

For all of the Alan November fans out there, make sure you check out his list of favorite sites for educators at: http://www.novemberlearning.com/Default.aspx?tabid=150. Alan is always a source of great ideas and "out-of-the-box" thinking about using technology to enhance learning. Thanks, Alan, for keeping us all on the cutting edge!