iEARN ONLINE CREATIVE ARTS COURSE

'... I gained a tremendous amount personally from this course... I would have to say that the most valuable reward has been watching the middle school students that I teach interacting with and learning first hand from peers all over the world. - Margaret Mahoney, Fall 2001 participant, USA

When you integrate iEARN into your Creative Arts classroom, your students will be able to explore art, music, and other form of artistic expression. They will discover and appreciate first hand international students' artistic production and will produce and share their own. By doing so, they will learn to appreciate diverse cultures and take pride in theirs.

In this workshop, you will:

• Learn how to integrate an iEARN art project by being involved in one
• Explore the various art projects and their correlation with your local/state/national curriculum standards
• Choose a project that best fits your classroom
• Plan and implement your project with your students
• Discover and learn how to use the appropriate tools to guide your students in their art production both in hardcopy and/or digital form.
• Share your students' artwork and essays in iEARN forums.
• Along with your students, appreciate and give constructive feedback to the work of others.
• Join an open discussion about the issues related to integrating online project-based learning in your classroom.
• Meet and collaborate with local and international teachers who are interested in addressing the same projects/issues using the medium of art. Discuss and plan your project implementation
• Develop ways to teach your students to gather and organize information for print and online publication.
• Make your art lessons more challenging, interesting and engaging and network with colleagues around the world

Current Course Facilitators: Betty Burgos and Betsy Frederick

Betty Burgos

Betty Burgos lives in Paramaribo, the Republic of Suriname. Except for the 11 years of my youth which I spent on the nice little island of Aruba, I have always lived in Suriname. I have studied physical education. I started teaching at the age of 18 and I have been teaching for 42 years now.

I have taught at primary school, at junior high school and at senior high school. At the latter for 30 years. I have also taught at the Teacher Training College and Business School. I have been adjunct principal for seven years and currently am one of the student counselors at the senior high school. I have also been a board member of the Association for Roman Catholic Schools. In sports I have also done a lot. I have played in competition Basketball and Volleyball. I have worked as a board member in the several sports associations. I have trained students for tournaments and competition. I have visited countries in South America and The Caribbean as a sport official. I have participated in several workshops at iEARN conferences and have done the first one line course of creative writing in 2001.

As a project coordinator I am trying to get more schools and students involved in iEARN projects and I am very satisfied with the work done so far. Most of the projects I have coordinated are creative /language arts. The project that is the most interesting in my country is Folk Costumes. We have a multicultural population and have combined that with a lot of creative subjects.

Susan Seyfarth

Susan Seyfarth joined iEARN in 2004 as a student in the Creative Writing course. Her participation has expanded, and now she is co-facilitating the Creative Arts course. Recently, Susan received a Masters in Educational Technology from MSU (Michigan State University). Undergraduate studies were completed at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Susan has taught elementary school for 33 years in Holt, Michigan, USA. Holt is a suburb of Lansing, the capital city of Michigan. Currently, Susan teaches third grade. Last term was her venture into teaching an iEARN course, and she thoroughly enjoyed working with international colleagues. Participation in iEARN has opened up many doors for both her students and Susan. Hopefully, it will for you as well.

Course Developers:

Betsy Frederick, Janet Cook, Celia Einhorn, Larry Frates, Marina Kosinova, Margaret Mahoney, Elena Rekichinskaja