Why Do This Again In 2008 - 2009?

[Sharon Tonner]

Why do Voices Of The World Again in 2008-2009? Why be a member of the VOTW community? Is it to just be an observer and take or is it to be a participant? What do you want to get from this project? What do you want children to take from VOTW?

[Kerry Burns]

i do want to be part of VOTW this year. ATM it is school holidays here so I can't do any activities with my class but I am making sure i know how to use the current task tools and having a good play with them. great tools btw. We return next week but it might be a week or two before i have a chance to get any activities done. I'm really disappointed that the initial opening voki task for the new year ( by your school year ) was posted as school finished here. I realise this is always going to be an issue but if next year "hello from..... " is to be the opening task can you let us know in advance. I could have it prepared and ready to post.. Thank you for setting this up. It's such a terrific project.

[Sharon Tonner]

Hi Kerry,

glad you want to participate. I think global timing and school sessions are the cause for the timing of the task with most schools involved in the project working from August/September to June/July. I know this differs in other places so having the first task ready before a specific time could be the answer.

The way the project ran was the task would be released on the 1st of the month. Teachers would then send the embedded code to me throughout the month but only on the last day of the month did all the tasks appear live to the world. This was to ensure that everyone saw each others task at one time.

Hope this helps,
Sharon

[Cassie Law]

I'm a probationary teacher this year and I intend to actively participate in VOTW every month with my class. Last year, whilst on placement, the class teacher took part in VOTW and the class loved it. I wish to continue in this manner and hopefully achieve the same level of communication with my own class as I observed during my final placement.

I think VOTW is important as i helps children to understand the wider community. Especially in young children foreign countries appear so far away and this is a way of bringing children from other countires into our classrooms. So far my class have loved listeing to the old VOTW tasks and I think they will love it even more when they get to hear themselves.

[Sharon Tonner]

Hi Cassie,

I hope you are enjoying your probation year and what a way to get engaged with technologies through the project. I hope that this will strengthen your idea of embedding technologies in the classroom and I am sure are aware it ticks the boxes for ACFE.

Enjoy,

Sharon

[Jenny Ellwood]

Hi Sharon

I work in a City Learning Centre and work mainly with teachers helping to embed innovative ICT in the curriculum. Voices of the World is a fantastic project and I often talk about it (and show teachers the site ) when I'm talking about eTwinning and Web 2.0 projects. I would very much like to still be part of the project even though in a non participatory role.

Jenny

[Anna Karidi Pirounaki]

Hi Sharon..
I want to join this project for all those you wrote here and you replied indirect to my Discussion: 1 good 1 bad

[David Noble]

Our pupils enjoy finding out about other parts of the world. The love seeing their creations online and (rather uniquely for our setting) show these to family members. I enjoy using different media sites and the fact that successful particpation generates evidence for the boys' Access 3 Media Studies unit.

[Sharon Tonner]

Hi David, glad this made a difference to your boys. On another note, can I give you details to a teacher who works in a similar scenario to you who would like to connect her boys with yours?

Sharon

[David Noble]

Yes, of course. Will get the first task done this week.

[Sharon Tonner]

Hi Becky,

glad you will be part again and I do believe the collaborative aspect will build on what we know and provide a whole host of ways to engage our children with web 2.0 tools.

Sharon

[Amanda Marrinan]

'Voices of the World' (and you too, Sharon!) is such a powerful connector. Being part of this project last year not only connected and opened the kids and I up to the world of Web2 tools...it connected us to the 'world'.

Each task created such rich and authentic learning opportunites. Being introduced to a new tool each month, empowered my children to demonstrate their learning on their own blogs in a variety of ways (vokis and animotos were 'very' popular).
Focusing on a different concept each month, took their learning in directions I could never have anticipated. Viewing the animoto from Anna's class, led to my then 5 year olds, conducting an inquiry into Ancient Greece and being part of the project in general, meant that they were actively engaged in learning about countries, their location, topography, culture...even time-zones!

In reflecting on our experiences from last year, I realise that being part of this project was a real turning point for my self and my class and we are so excited to once again be able to add 'our' voice to the conversation!

Amanda

[Sharon Tonner]

Thanks Amanda for the kind words and I am really pleased you took from the project lots and managed to create other exciting contexts for children. This is what learning should be, meeting the needs of our children and fostering their curiosity rather than teaching to a test or a set of worksheets.

Sharon