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Sometimes a chance encounter can lead to a life changing experience.
When McKean High School teacher Holly Franklin attended an education
conference last summer she had no idea that a chance encounter would
transform in her professional life in so many ways. Someone she
met, a teacher from Delaware, had told her about the International Education and Resource Network
(iEARN) and mentioned that the Delaware Department of Education was
offering professional development to increase technology skills and
expand international education in the classroom. Holly thought, ìÖit
would be a fun way to get involved, especially since I love to travel
and learn about different cultures.î
Three thousand miles away that same summer, Eddie Kigozi, also a High
School teacher from Kampala, Uganda was packing his bags and getting
ready to move to Pune, India for one year of voluntary service as a
member of the World Education Corps.
In October Holly and Eddie enrolled in the iEARN Social Studies online
professional development course.
Holly
Franklin Eddie
Kigozi |
The course requires teachers to work
collaboratively as they integrate a standards-based interactive project
into their classroom. Within weeks they found they had a lot in
common. Both teachers had curriculum requirements for cultural exchange
and both were looking for ways to engage their students. ìI
am a second year teacherÖAt first, iEARN was very hard to get the hang
of especially while teaching,î says Holly ìonce I became involved with
Eddie things became a breeze.î For Eddie working with a peer
ìhelped me so much because I experienced first hand what it means that
'two heads are better than one'. Holly is a very brilliant lady and I
feel honoured to have worked with her. She was new to iEARN and yet she
coordinated the students like a very experienced person.î
 Students at Jnana Prabodhini High School, Pune, India read messages from their partner class in Delaware.
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Working collaboratively Eddie and Holly selected and designed the iEARN
ëCelebrations and Generationsí project to fit into their
classrooms. The course requires teachers to align a project
of their interest to their curriculum standards. During the period of
nine weeks educators in the course build on their knowledge of online
project-based learning and finish with a lesson plan they have tested
and designed to meets their classroom and curriculum needs. The
online course also helps teachers with classroom and technology
management issues as they plan projects. While doing his
volunteer service at Jnana Prabodhini High School in India,
Eddie faced some challenging issues regarding technology. ìThe course
helped address the technology component because I was only meeting
students for one hour, twice a week. Most of the work was
collaborative. They sent me their work by email and I read it, made
comments then sent it back to them to modify it and post it [online]. I
also had one student who did not have Internet access and so I worked
with her using the iEARN offline newsreader. This gave me a solution to
the challenge of the absence of Internet for the majority of students.î
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Students at Mckean High School, Delaware
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Holly chose the National Council of Social Studies standards as a guide
for her project design. The students she worked with are in a U.S
History class. ì The standards require students to apply
understanding of culture as an integrated whole that explains the
functions and interactions of language, literature, the arts,
traditions, beliefs and values, and behavior patterns. The Celebrations
and Generations project fit beautifully into this project by allowing
students to see that holidays hold an important part to our identity as
a culture, and understand and how different countries have very
different celebrations than our own.î
Neither group of students knew much about the otherís culture before
starting this project. For Hollyís students ìIt was very
interesting to see their reactions to learning about each other, not
knowing if the person was a boy or a girl based on their name and
seeing that they had many similarities (many loved Harry Potter.)î The
students started out exchanging welcome messages and getting to know
each other, then discussions progressed to address the curriculum
requirements. They had to research information on traditions and
celebrations and put it together in a PowerPoint presentation that
would demonstrate what they had learned about the otherís
culture. The students exchanged their PowerPoints then evaluated
and corrected the others work for accuracy.
Holly and Eddie have high praise for their students who were dedicated,
engaged and diligent in their project work. Eddie will be in
India for another six months before returning to Uganda where he works
with iEARN-Uganda. For Holly her journey and growth in iEARN
continues, ìalthough I have met my Social Studies course requirement
for iEARN my students will be participating in another project
beginning in January [2006.] We are looking to work on the 1945 Project
where students research the events in their country in 1945.î
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