Yesterday MICDS teachers Mike Fitzgerald (5th grade geography) and Jeff Horwitz (2nd grade homeroom) were honored to be included among this year’s 10  ePals Teacher Ambassadors.  As noted on the ePals website:

We invited teachers to show us how ePals has opened the world for their students. Applicants each submitted projects that they had successfully implemented in their classrooms, examples of student work, and a video application, telling us what ePals brought to their teaching and to their students’ learning. Outstanding entries came from all corners of the world, inspiring us with amazing projects, successful collaborations, and enthusiastic students. The winning Teacher Ambassadors showcase ePals core principles of global awareness, collaborative and authentic learning, digital literacy and innovation. Take a look at their projects; watch their videos; peruse their student work. They are inspirations to the entire ePals Global Community. Congratulations to ePals 2010 Ambassadors.

Natural Disaster/Severe Weather Investigation

Mike’s Natural Disaster/Severe Weather Investigation Project, which was also featured on St. Louis’ Fox 2 News, asked students from around the world to respond to three questions:

1. What severe weather/disasters does your country experience?
2. What do you do to prepare for such events.
3. Tell us about a famous weather/disaster event that occurred in your country.

Here is Mike’s video overview of the project:

The artifacts and final products, which include photographs, videos, and essays, are all available on Mike’s GeoSquirts Website.  Here are some of his students reading first-hand accounts of Typhoon Ondoy from fellow students at the Claret School, Quezon City, the Philippines:

Winter Olympics

In the spirit of the Olympic games, Jeff’s class created their own Olympic torch and attempted a “virtual” torch relay. The five Olympic rings represent the five regions of the world, the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Their goal was to see if they could get their torch to all of these regions.

Here is Jeff’s video overview of the project:

All the images submitted of the torch are available on Jeff’s Winter Olympics Project site. Here is the class Wallwisher page with comments from students from several continents and countries:

Congratulations to Mike, Jeff, and their students; you have made global education come alive in the classroom!

Posted: 06|9|10 at 3:18 pm. Filed under: Global Collaboration, In the Classroom.
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