iEARN in Action, August 22, 2008

Seeking Partners: iEARN Projects!
1. Register for the next session of iEARN Online Professional Development Courses for educators.
2. Sign up now for the September-January session of Learning Circles.
3. Join a new series of Carbon Footprint Learning Circles.
4. New project from iEARN-Sierra Leone aims to reduce gun violence among youth.
5. 1, 2 Buckle My Shoe Project from Poland for young children ages 3-10.
6. Class in Swaziland looking for cultural exchange partner.
7. New project from Belarus - "What is My Country to Me?"

Resources, Contests, Websites and Announcements!
8. Check out a new video celebrating iEARN's 20th Anniversary!
9. New iEARN-Azerbaijan Website.
10. Summer issue of iEARN Global Connections and Exchange Newsletter published.
11. Ronald Ddungu, iEARN-Uganda, receives award at Microsoft’s first Pan-African Innovative Teachers Forum.
12. ICTs in Education Prize: Call for Nominations.
13. Four Rivers, One World educators to meet in India and Nepal.
14. Global Leap supports Videoconferencing in the Classroom.

Upcoming Events!
10. iEARN-Morocco (MEARN) to host 16th Annual iEARN Conference and 13th Youth Summit, July 19-25.

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Seeking Partners: iEARN Projects and Activities
Download the 2007-2008 iEARN Project Book (in Arabic, Azeri, English, French, Spanish): http://www.iearn.org/projects/projectbook.html for a full listing of iEARN projects, see: http://media.iearn.org/projects/.
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1. REGISTER NOW FOR THE NEXT SESSION OF iEARN ONLINE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSES FOR EDUCATORS. The courses will bring together participants from around the world, and will run from October 13 - December 15, 2008. Each course is designed so that by the end of nine weeks you will have outlined how you will use a standards-based iEARN project in your classroom. Courses include: Creative Arts, Language Arts/Writing, Social Studies/Contemporary Affairs/Geography, Science/Environment/Math, Teaching of Foreign and Second Langauges, Helping Students Cope With Traumatic Events, Learning Circles, Moving Voices (making digital documentaries), and PEARL (integrating journalism skills into the classroom). Read more and register now to save your spot here.

2. REGISTER NOW FOR THE NEXT SESSION OF iEARN LEARNING CIRCLES. Learning Circles are highly interactive, project-based partnerships among a small number of schools located throughout the world. Two sessions take place each year -- September 30, 2008 - January 12, 2009, and January 30, 2009 - May 18, 2009. Learning Circle Placement forms are due September 15, 2008 for the September-January session. To learn more about Learning Circles and to link to a placement form, visit http://www.iearn.org/circles/.

3. JOIN THE "OUR FOOTPRINTS, OUR FUTURE" CARBON FOOTPRINT LEARNING CIRCLE PROJECT. Classrooms worldwide are invited to participate in a new series of Carbon Footprint Learning Circles. Each circle will essentially be a country without borders, working together to reduce their carbon footprint. The project will use Elluminate web conferencing tools to enable circles to "meet" once a month in order to set goals, discuss progress, etc. In addition, we are having a networking tool set up for the project to allow each circle to also communicate asynchronously. Each month, classes will use a different medium (prose, art, photography, video, etc) in order to communicate their activities to their learning circle. On Earth Day in April, we will then bring all of the different learning circles together via a 24 hour web and or video conference, passing the torch through the various time zones as each participant can celebrate their successes. If you have any ideas and/or you would like to participate in the project, please contact Jim or Mali at iEARN Canada. For more about Our Footprints, Our Future, see http://of2.iearn.org/

4. HELPING YOUTH SAY 'NO' TO GUN VIOLENCE. This project aims to eradicate the use of gun among young people/student around the world, especially in post-conflict areas. Students and teachers are encouraged to take part in Student Dialogue Forums (SDFs) to raise awareness in their communities. Contact Ibrahim S. Kamara or Abraham Kah in Sierra Leone. See http://media.iearn.org/projects/dialogue

5. 1, 2 BUCKLE MY SHOE PROJECT FOR YOUNG CHILDREN AGES 3-10. In this activity-oriented project the children are encouraged to explore and discover fascinating mathematical concepts in an exciting and interesting way. They perform a series of hands-on mathematical activities which they share between the participants. Children invent and play games whilst they learn to follow rules. Math is a seamless part of the children's play. Contact Ewa Kurzak in Poland. http://twinmath.wikispaces.com/

6. CLASS IN SWAZILAND LOOKING FOR CULTURAL EXCHANGE PARTNER. Hi everyone, we are a school called Ngomane High School in Swaziland in Africa. We are looking for schools for cultural exchange especially in Europe and USA. Swaziland where we are is very rich in African culture. Contact Lucas Chaebwa in Swaziland.

7. WHAT IS MY COUNTRY FOR ME? Participants try to analyze their comprehension of what their countries/nations mean for them by choosing the aspects they value their countries for and sharing essays on these topics with their counterparts from other countries. Ages 14-18. The project begins on September 22, 2008 and takes about 16 weeks (about two weeks for each stage). Contact Andrew Polevik in Belarus.

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Check it Out! Resources, Contests, Websites, Announcements.
(This includes resources that are not part of iEARN)
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8. CHECK OUT A NEW VIDEO CELEBRATING iEARN's 20th ANNIVERSARY! Created by iEARN-USA.

9. NEW iEARN-AZERBAIJAN WEBSITE. http://www.iearn.az.

10. CHECK OUT THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OF THE iEARN GLOBAL CONNECTIONS AND EXCHANGE PROGRAM NEWSLETTER.

11. CONGRATULATIONS TO RONALD DDUNGU, iEARN-UGANDA TEACHER! Ronald Ddungu of Gayaza High School has received a major award at Microsoft’s first Pan-African Innovative Teachers Forum for his project on Education for Sustainability, conducted with 13 – 19 year old Mathematics and Physics students. This Microsoft Forum was to provide teachers with an opportunity to network and share ideas and also to allow them to make friends with colleagues in other countries who they can collaborate with on future projects. See more about iEARN-Uganda: http://schoolnetuganda.sc.ug/.