Weekly Updates for Global Scholars
My goal is to write a short recap each week at the end of the week. I will also provide information on what's coming up next. The most recent update will be at the top but I will save all of the updates as we progress through the year...keep scrolling to see past updates.
My goal is to write a short recap each week at the end of the week. I will also provide information on what's coming up next. The most recent update will be at the top but I will save all of the updates as we progress through the year...keep scrolling to see past updates.
October 21st-October 25th:
This week we are working on our video clips in groups for the Meet the Global Scholars video. All video needs to be filmed by Wednesday & we need to have our videos clips edited & uploaded by Friday, October 25th.
This week we are working on our video clips in groups for the Meet the Global Scholars video. All video needs to be filmed by Wednesday & we need to have our videos clips edited & uploaded by Friday, October 25th.
October 14th-October 17th:
This week we have been planning for our first digital project, the Meet the Global Scholars video. Students have divided into groups to cover information required for the video. We have the following groups: Introduce LaVilla, introduce our city, how nature is part of our city, & what it means to be a Global scholar. Each group will record a video sharing information with our global peers & then all of the videos will be combined into one three minute video that will be shared in the e-classroom. Attendance is key as we work in groups to accomplish filming our video clips. All videos must be completed & uploaded to the e-classroom no later than Friday, October 25th!!
This week we have been planning for our first digital project, the Meet the Global Scholars video. Students have divided into groups to cover information required for the video. We have the following groups: Introduce LaVilla, introduce our city, how nature is part of our city, & what it means to be a Global scholar. Each group will record a video sharing information with our global peers & then all of the videos will be combined into one three minute video that will be shared in the e-classroom. Attendance is key as we work in groups to accomplish filming our video clips. All videos must be completed & uploaded to the e-classroom no later than Friday, October 25th!!
October 7th-October 11th:
Students started to receive replies to their discussion board posts from their global peers! We also drafted & uploaded our reply posts to our global peers' posts this week. Students received the Rubric that will be used ta assess the reply posts throughout the year & it is in their classroom folder with their discussion board Rubric so that they can reference those each time we do a discussion board post. I mentioned this in last week's update but I will say it again, students are only allowed to upload to the e-classroom discussion board during our class time & after they have been given my approval. We started to organize our ideas for the digital project video this week. Students are in the planning stages but we need any video clips or pictures of our city & nature in our city ASAP. If you happen to be out & about in Jax & see a good opportunity to document nature in our city, PLEASE DO!! :) Next week we need to start making REAL PROGRESS on the class videos...the deadline is fast approaching, October 24th!
Students started to receive replies to their discussion board posts from their global peers! We also drafted & uploaded our reply posts to our global peers' posts this week. Students received the Rubric that will be used ta assess the reply posts throughout the year & it is in their classroom folder with their discussion board Rubric so that they can reference those each time we do a discussion board post. I mentioned this in last week's update but I will say it again, students are only allowed to upload to the e-classroom discussion board during our class time & after they have been given my approval. We started to organize our ideas for the digital project video this week. Students are in the planning stages but we need any video clips or pictures of our city & nature in our city ASAP. If you happen to be out & about in Jax & see a good opportunity to document nature in our city, PLEASE DO!! :) Next week we need to start making REAL PROGRESS on the class videos...the deadline is fast approaching, October 24th!
September 30th-October 4th:
This week we completed a timezone activity & the students drafted their first post for the e-classroom discussion board! I provided students with the Rubric that will be used to assess the discussion boards posts throughout the year. It is also important to note that students must have approval from me before posting any comments on a discussion board & all discussion board posts must be uploaded during our class time! I also introduced our first digital project, a video introducing our city, school & class to our global peers. We are brainstorming ideas for what to include in our videos & our video project will be ongoing over the next several weeks!
This week we completed a timezone activity & the students drafted their first post for the e-classroom discussion board! I provided students with the Rubric that will be used to assess the discussion boards posts throughout the year. It is also important to note that students must have approval from me before posting any comments on a discussion board & all discussion board posts must be uploaded during our class time! I also introduced our first digital project, a video introducing our city, school & class to our global peers. We are brainstorming ideas for what to include in our videos & our video project will be ongoing over the next several weeks!
September 23rd-September 27th:
This week we kicked-off our official Global Scholars Curriculum! Students received their Global Scholars USB drive, This is a VERY important piece of our class! students must be responsible for their USB drive & have it with them in class each day. I gave all students their usernames & passwords for the e-classroom & we downloaded our Unit 1 workbook to the USB drives. Students also completed the Global Scholars Pre-Program Survey. We found out our collaboration cities...see below to check out each collaboration's list of cities! We found all of our collaboration cities on a map & completed pages 1-8 in our workbook. Next week we will do a unit plan with a calendar page!
This week we kicked-off our official Global Scholars Curriculum! Students received their Global Scholars USB drive, This is a VERY important piece of our class! students must be responsible for their USB drive & have it with them in class each day. I gave all students their usernames & passwords for the e-classroom & we downloaded our Unit 1 workbook to the USB drives. Students also completed the Global Scholars Pre-Program Survey. We found out our collaboration cities...see below to check out each collaboration's list of cities! We found all of our collaboration cities on a map & completed pages 1-8 in our workbook. Next week we will do a unit plan with a calendar page!
September 16th-September 20th:
Students finished up presenting their Social Issues Infographics this week & we concluded that project with a peer evaluation. We will work in groups for many of our digital projects this year & after each group project, students will have their chance to express their thoughts & feelings regarding the group dynamics through a peer evaluation. They also finished their books in Book Creator & I will work on assessing those as quickly as possible since our official Global Scholars curriculum begins on Monday, September 23rd. On Friday I started handing out the student Global Scholars USB drives. Each student will receive ONE USB drive & they are responsible for having that with them each day in class. If the USB drive is lost or damaged the student & their family will be responsible for replacing it with a comparable USB drive.
In addition, we began discussing Fridays For Future this week. Click this link to learn more...Global #WeekForFuture September 20-27, 2019 Should our Global Scholars students participate in a protest against climate change inaction?!?!? There was a protest in Hemming Plaza at 10 AM on Friday, September 20th & I was tempted to take the 6th period students! There may be something on Friday, September 27th & it would be great if some of the Global Scholars students could attend! Have discussions at home & let me know what you think by sending me an email: [email protected]
Students finished up presenting their Social Issues Infographics this week & we concluded that project with a peer evaluation. We will work in groups for many of our digital projects this year & after each group project, students will have their chance to express their thoughts & feelings regarding the group dynamics through a peer evaluation. They also finished their books in Book Creator & I will work on assessing those as quickly as possible since our official Global Scholars curriculum begins on Monday, September 23rd. On Friday I started handing out the student Global Scholars USB drives. Each student will receive ONE USB drive & they are responsible for having that with them each day in class. If the USB drive is lost or damaged the student & their family will be responsible for replacing it with a comparable USB drive.
In addition, we began discussing Fridays For Future this week. Click this link to learn more...Global #WeekForFuture September 20-27, 2019 Should our Global Scholars students participate in a protest against climate change inaction?!?!? There was a protest in Hemming Plaza at 10 AM on Friday, September 20th & I was tempted to take the 6th period students! There may be something on Friday, September 27th & it would be great if some of the Global Scholars students could attend! Have discussions at home & let me know what you think by sending me an email: [email protected]
September 9th-September 13th:
This week the Global Scholars students finished up a small group project with Piktochart on a social issue from A Teen Guide to Global Action. We will work on presenting those in class over the next few class periods into next week. I also introduced the next digital tool that we we use this year, Book Creator. Students are working on creating books about themselves with a Geography component. They have been given creative freedom as far as their life story & then for the Geography portion students need to identify 3 countries outside of the US that they might like to visit one day. They need to include a picture showing where each country is on the map & then explain why they want to go there & what they hope to see & learn while they're there. Students have been told they can email pictures to their student email accounts to include in their books. We will work on the books next week in class & then our official Global Scholars curriculum begins on Monday, September 23rd.
This week the Global Scholars students finished up a small group project with Piktochart on a social issue from A Teen Guide to Global Action. We will work on presenting those in class over the next few class periods into next week. I also introduced the next digital tool that we we use this year, Book Creator. Students are working on creating books about themselves with a Geography component. They have been given creative freedom as far as their life story & then for the Geography portion students need to identify 3 countries outside of the US that they might like to visit one day. They need to include a picture showing where each country is on the map & then explain why they want to go there & what they hope to see & learn while they're there. Students have been told they can email pictures to their student email accounts to include in their books. We will work on the books next week in class & then our official Global Scholars curriculum begins on Monday, September 23rd.
September 10th, 2019:
It's Open House night at LaVilla! I hope to see lots of parents tonight. This is where you find the weekly updates about what is happening in class. Check at the end of the week or over the weekend to see what we've been working on!
It's Open House night at LaVilla! I hope to see lots of parents tonight. This is where you find the weekly updates about what is happening in class. Check at the end of the week or over the weekend to see what we've been working on!
August 19th-August 23rd:
This week we started to learn about some youth organizations from A Teen Guide to Global Action. Students explored a youth organization of their choice through some online research to gather facts & information about the organization. We also set up Piktochart accounts & the students will start to learn about this digital tool by creating an Infographic about the youth organization they researched. We will be sharing these when they are complete; Friday & Monday we should be finished & ready to share.
I sent home a letter on Friday with students & will send it home with 2nd & 4th period students on Monday. The letter is about the Green Apple Day of Service here at LaVilla. I have attached the documents below as well. If you will be able to help on September 7th here at LaVilla, please email me at [email protected].
Next week after we finish looking at the youth organization Infographics, we will begin to do some group work. Many of the activities for the Global Scholars curriculum will be completed in small groups or teams.
This week we started to learn about some youth organizations from A Teen Guide to Global Action. Students explored a youth organization of their choice through some online research to gather facts & information about the organization. We also set up Piktochart accounts & the students will start to learn about this digital tool by creating an Infographic about the youth organization they researched. We will be sharing these when they are complete; Friday & Monday we should be finished & ready to share.
I sent home a letter on Friday with students & will send it home with 2nd & 4th period students on Monday. The letter is about the Green Apple Day of Service here at LaVilla. I have attached the documents below as well. If you will be able to help on September 7th here at LaVilla, please email me at [email protected].
Next week after we finish looking at the youth organization Infographics, we will begin to do some group work. Many of the activities for the Global Scholars curriculum will be completed in small groups or teams.
August 12th-August 16th:
We survived the first week of school!! On our first day together I gave all students a brief welcome letter & overview of the Global Scholars curriculum for the year. The theme for the year is Nature in Our Cities. We explored some videos about the Global Scholars program & talked about some of the things we did last year. Students took a district baseline assessment this week because this course was listed as "Engaged Citizenship" on their schedules. We discovered that the test did NOT align with our curriculum so the students will not be taking that test again & the course will be re-coded as "Research" on the students' schedules. The students did a quick map activity to activate their prior knowledge in world geography & show me what they remember. We started reading from a book called A Teen Guide to Global Action that will prepare us for when the actual Global Scholars curriculum begins in late September. Check out the 'contact' page to see how to sign up for Remind if you haven't done that yet. Enjoy the first weekend of our new school year!!
We survived the first week of school!! On our first day together I gave all students a brief welcome letter & overview of the Global Scholars curriculum for the year. The theme for the year is Nature in Our Cities. We explored some videos about the Global Scholars program & talked about some of the things we did last year. Students took a district baseline assessment this week because this course was listed as "Engaged Citizenship" on their schedules. We discovered that the test did NOT align with our curriculum so the students will not be taking that test again & the course will be re-coded as "Research" on the students' schedules. The students did a quick map activity to activate their prior knowledge in world geography & show me what they remember. We started reading from a book called A Teen Guide to Global Action that will prepare us for when the actual Global Scholars curriculum begins in late September. Check out the 'contact' page to see how to sign up for Remind if you haven't done that yet. Enjoy the first weekend of our new school year!!
2019-2020
Global Scholars (course listed as "Engaged Citizenship" on schedules!)
Nature in Our Cities
As we begin a new year in Global Scholars you may want to scroll through the information from last year. The theme & information for Global Scholars changes from year-to-year but the general format of the class will be similar. This year's 8th grade class is a mixture of Creative Writing students who did have Global Scholars last year as well as students who did not. At this time there is no Global Scholars class for the current 7th grade Creative Writing students. 6th grade Creative Writers are obviously ALL new to Global Scholars! Welcome to the class or welcome back! :)
Global Scholars (course listed as "Engaged Citizenship" on schedules!)
Nature in Our Cities
As we begin a new year in Global Scholars you may want to scroll through the information from last year. The theme & information for Global Scholars changes from year-to-year but the general format of the class will be similar. This year's 8th grade class is a mixture of Creative Writing students who did have Global Scholars last year as well as students who did not. At this time there is no Global Scholars class for the current 7th grade Creative Writing students. 6th grade Creative Writers are obviously ALL new to Global Scholars! Welcome to the class or welcome back! :)
BELOW ARE UPDATES FROM 2018-2019
May 6th-May 18th:
(double update for two weeks!)
Each Global Scholars class is working on three Community Action Projects in class. Students are working in small groups but lending a hand with other groups as they finish their work or while they are waiting to work on something for their own project. Things have been tough with our testing schedules & classes not meeting but progress is being made nonetheless! Please engage your student in a meaningful conversation about what project(s) they are working on, I think you'll be impressed! I included a few examples of posters they are creating below this update...check 'em out!
A group in the 3rd period class designed a button that we are going to sell for $1.00 with all of the proceeds going to support The St. Johns Riverkeeper! Check out the image below this update...I think the button adorable & I'm pretty sure we will sell out the 100 buttons we ordered! We plan to sell the buttons before school in the cafeteria starting on Wednesday, May 22nd & continuing until we sell out (or order more)!
Our BIG project across all three classes is participating in a community beach clean-up with the Sea Shepherd organization. The event is being held on Hands Across the Sand day, May 18th, at the Jax Beach Pier. All Global Scholars students are expected to attend, if they do not attand they will be required to complete an alternate assignment. Here are the details I put in Focus regarding the alternate assignment:
Global Scholars students are required to participate in a community clean-up for their Community Action Project. We have agreed to participate in Hands Across the Sand on Saturday, May 18th from 11 AM-12:15 PM with Sea Shepherd, a local ocean conservation organization, at the Jax Beach Pier. If students are unable to attend they will need to complete the alternate assignment & upload it to Focus no later than May 27th:
(double update for two weeks!)
Each Global Scholars class is working on three Community Action Projects in class. Students are working in small groups but lending a hand with other groups as they finish their work or while they are waiting to work on something for their own project. Things have been tough with our testing schedules & classes not meeting but progress is being made nonetheless! Please engage your student in a meaningful conversation about what project(s) they are working on, I think you'll be impressed! I included a few examples of posters they are creating below this update...check 'em out!
A group in the 3rd period class designed a button that we are going to sell for $1.00 with all of the proceeds going to support The St. Johns Riverkeeper! Check out the image below this update...I think the button adorable & I'm pretty sure we will sell out the 100 buttons we ordered! We plan to sell the buttons before school in the cafeteria starting on Wednesday, May 22nd & continuing until we sell out (or order more)!
Our BIG project across all three classes is participating in a community beach clean-up with the Sea Shepherd organization. The event is being held on Hands Across the Sand day, May 18th, at the Jax Beach Pier. All Global Scholars students are expected to attend, if they do not attand they will be required to complete an alternate assignment. Here are the details I put in Focus regarding the alternate assignment:
Global Scholars students are required to participate in a community clean-up for their Community Action Project. We have agreed to participate in Hands Across the Sand on Saturday, May 18th from 11 AM-12:15 PM with Sea Shepherd, a local ocean conservation organization, at the Jax Beach Pier. If students are unable to attend they will need to complete the alternate assignment & upload it to Focus no later than May 27th:
- Clean up litter around your own neighborhood (maybe near a body of water?) for approximately 30 minutes & take pictures of your clean-up efforts.
- Type a one page reflection piece about your experience, include a picture & upload it to the community clean-up assignment in Focus.
- Consider the following questions for your reflection piece:
How did the experience change or affect you?
What was the most enjoyable moment?
Did this experience change your perspective on litter in our community?
What impact did this experience have on how you feel about litter in our city?
What was something you encountered that you did not expect?
Describe the challenges, successes, and setbacks you experienced picking up litter in your community.
April 29th-May 3rd:
Students are working on Community Action Projects in small groups. Each class has three different projects they are working on. See last week's update to get an idea of what projects each class is working on! Please engage your Global Scholars students in a conversation about what we are working on!! Parent involvement is absolutely necessary for some of our projects to come together!
Students are working on Community Action Projects in small groups. Each class has three different projects they are working on. See last week's update to get an idea of what projects each class is working on! Please engage your Global Scholars students in a conversation about what we are working on!! Parent involvement is absolutely necessary for some of our projects to come together!
April 23rd-April 26th:
This week we worked on deciding what to do for our Unit 5 Community Action Projects. From now until the end of the school year students will be responsible for putting together everything that is needed for their group's projects. It is so important that students are present in class & working cooperatively with their group members to ensure the success of the Community Action Projects they have decided on. The purpose of the Community Action Project is to work on providing solutions to the water issues facing our city. Here is a summary of what each class discussed this week:
This week we worked on deciding what to do for our Unit 5 Community Action Projects. From now until the end of the school year students will be responsible for putting together everything that is needed for their group's projects. It is so important that students are present in class & working cooperatively with their group members to ensure the success of the Community Action Projects they have decided on. The purpose of the Community Action Project is to work on providing solutions to the water issues facing our city. Here is a summary of what each class discussed this week:
- All three of the Global Scholars classes will work on a community clean up; this will be mandatory (like the Writer's Reading) for all GS/CW students but we will be opening it up to invite all of LaVilla as well. We are going to join an existing organization, this one looks most likely: https://seashepherd.org/jacksonville/. The date of the clean-up coincides with Hands Across the Sand, May 18th at Jacksonville Beach Pier from 11:00 AM-12:15 PM.
- 1st period (mostly 8th graders) will also address trash cans & storm drains in our city. Their idea is to create posters that we can hang up on trash cans & near the storm drains in downtown to educate people...we are in the process of reaching out to the city to see if we need permits/permission, if we do & they won't give it to us, we'll just hang the posters around school near water access points. (**UPDATE: As of Monday, April 29th we DO NOT have permission from the city to put up our posters in the downtown area; students in the poster groups will need to come up with an alternate plan for where they will hang their posters!!**)
- 2nd period (mostly 7th graders) will create an environmental fact calendar for the month of May 2019 as well as a fact for each day of the 2019-2020 school year. These facts will be read on the morning announcements each morning with every day of the week focusing on a theme...like Water-Wise Wednesday. This class will also petition the maintenance department at DCPS to help us with some of the water issues we discovered through our school wide water audit. Some of the things they would like to address are toilets that flush too long, faucets that run for too long, & any major leaks/drips. This class will also create a gmail account for the Global Scholars students to use as well as a Weebly website & a Piktochart account for the class.
- 3rd period (mostly 6th graders) is taking on creating brochures about water issues that they can use as teaching tools. We would like to ask the Science teachers if the students could come to their classes the last week of school to share some information & the brochures with their classes. They will also be selling pins/buttons with water tips on them. We have gotten permission from the CW Boosters to purchase 100 custom buttons for $32, we will repay the Boosters with our profits & the rest of our profits will be donated to a water cause here in Jax.
April 15th-April 18th:
We finished up our Unit 4 Digital Project this week! The students did a nice job with their infographics! We also completed the View & Reply assignment associated with the digital project & completed the Unit 4 Reflection on page 80 in the workbook as well. To get ready for our Unit 5 Community Action Project we took a look back at everything we learned throughout the first four units. We will utilize EVERYTHING we've learned so far for this last unit! Unit 5 is basically one GIANT digital project! We are in the process of brainstorming ideas for what WE can do to help with the water issues in our community--here at school & beyond! Next week we need to determine what types of projects we are going to take on & start planning!
We finished up our Unit 4 Digital Project this week! The students did a nice job with their infographics! We also completed the View & Reply assignment associated with the digital project & completed the Unit 4 Reflection on page 80 in the workbook as well. To get ready for our Unit 5 Community Action Project we took a look back at everything we learned throughout the first four units. We will utilize EVERYTHING we've learned so far for this last unit! Unit 5 is basically one GIANT digital project! We are in the process of brainstorming ideas for what WE can do to help with the water issues in our community--here at school & beyond! Next week we need to determine what types of projects we are going to take on & start planning!
April 8th-April 12th:
This week we worked on creating infographics with Piktochart for our Unit 4 Digital Project. The infographic is how we are sharing our Water Issues Survey information with our global peers. I created an example infographic to share with all of the Science teachers that helped us with our surveys.
You can view my example infographic below or at this link:
https://create.piktochart.com/output/38107698-water-issues-survey
Students had two work periods this week to put together their infographics in class but only TWO groups finished out of 13 total groups. That means the most of the students MUST finish their inforgraphics this weekend & have the link ready to share first thing on Monday, April 15th in class. On Monday we also need to view our peers' projects & complete our Read & Reply posts for the digital project discussion board as well as the Unit 4 Reflection.
Technically, our final unit begins on Monday as well. This is the BIG Community Action Project unit where we take all of the things we've been learning about water this year & do something to make a difference in our community! I'm excited to see what the students have learned that has stuck with them & what they think we can do about the water issues facing our city.
This week we worked on creating infographics with Piktochart for our Unit 4 Digital Project. The infographic is how we are sharing our Water Issues Survey information with our global peers. I created an example infographic to share with all of the Science teachers that helped us with our surveys.
You can view my example infographic below or at this link:
https://create.piktochart.com/output/38107698-water-issues-survey
Students had two work periods this week to put together their infographics in class but only TWO groups finished out of 13 total groups. That means the most of the students MUST finish their inforgraphics this weekend & have the link ready to share first thing on Monday, April 15th in class. On Monday we also need to view our peers' projects & complete our Read & Reply posts for the digital project discussion board as well as the Unit 4 Reflection.
Technically, our final unit begins on Monday as well. This is the BIG Community Action Project unit where we take all of the things we've been learning about water this year & do something to make a difference in our community! I'm excited to see what the students have learned that has stuck with them & what they think we can do about the water issues facing our city.
April 1st-April 5th:
This week we started our Unit 4 Digital Project which involves a Water Issues Survey. On Friday we compiled the surveys we received from the science classes here at LaVilla along with the surveys that students did outside of school with their friends & family. I have attached a photograph of the final numbers for each of the classes. Students need to complete the Water Issue Survey packet & page 74 in their workbook before class on Tuesday. We need to have those things DONE in order to move forward with creating our infographic using Piktochart. Our deadline is fast approaching, April 15th!
This week we started our Unit 4 Digital Project which involves a Water Issues Survey. On Friday we compiled the surveys we received from the science classes here at LaVilla along with the surveys that students did outside of school with their friends & family. I have attached a photograph of the final numbers for each of the classes. Students need to complete the Water Issue Survey packet & page 74 in their workbook before class on Tuesday. We need to have those things DONE in order to move forward with creating our infographic using Piktochart. Our deadline is fast approaching, April 15th!
March 25th-March 29th:
I only received HALF of the signed publicity release forms back on Tuesday... :( PLEASE be sure you return your signed form to me BEFORE lunch on Wednesday, March 27th. I will be on room 105 all day!
We wrote reply posts for our Global Water Issues discussion board in class on Tuesday & played a water security game. HOMEWORK FOR TUESDAY (due at the start of class Thursday!!): Complete pages 68 & 69 in your workbook. Be prepared to upload posts on Thursday in class! We also have to start preparing for the Unit 4 Digital Project...focus digital tool is Piktochart! Check it out so your ready to create something for the unit project!
Students should also keep looking for recent Climate Change news stories to discuss in class!
I only received HALF of the signed publicity release forms back on Tuesday... :( PLEASE be sure you return your signed form to me BEFORE lunch on Wednesday, March 27th. I will be on room 105 all day!
We wrote reply posts for our Global Water Issues discussion board in class on Tuesday & played a water security game. HOMEWORK FOR TUESDAY (due at the start of class Thursday!!): Complete pages 68 & 69 in your workbook. Be prepared to upload posts on Thursday in class! We also have to start preparing for the Unit 4 Digital Project...focus digital tool is Piktochart! Check it out so your ready to create something for the unit project!
Students should also keep looking for recent Climate Change news stories to discuss in class!
March 18th-March 21st:
We had some really good news this week...Global Scholars wants to recognize our EXEMPLARY work!! I sent home a letter & a publicity release form that Global Scholars needs signed by parents/guardians in order to share our work with a larger audience. I must have these signed forms returned on Tuesday, March 26th!
In class we have been discussing Climate Change news we've been hearing about. We had our first discussion board post this week on Global Water Issues. Students began to research Global Water Equity to learn about worldwide water security & it just so happen that this Friday, March 22nd is World Water Day! To learn more click here: World Water Day.
Next week we will continue looking at water security...
We had some really good news this week...Global Scholars wants to recognize our EXEMPLARY work!! I sent home a letter & a publicity release form that Global Scholars needs signed by parents/guardians in order to share our work with a larger audience. I must have these signed forms returned on Tuesday, March 26th!
In class we have been discussing Climate Change news we've been hearing about. We had our first discussion board post this week on Global Water Issues. Students began to research Global Water Equity to learn about worldwide water security & it just so happen that this Friday, March 22nd is World Water Day! To learn more click here: World Water Day.
Next week we will continue looking at water security...
March 4th-March 8th:
This week we learned more about the pollution in the St. Johns River & how it may effect the global water supply. We had a discussion board post due on Friday but not all students were able to finish because of our testing day on Wednesday. After Spring Break we will finish those discussion board posts for the class grade but the discussion board will most likely be closed so we may not be able to upload for this one. Students should be paying attention for news stories or articles about Climate Change, we will need various news articles to refer to for the week we return from Spring Break. Here are a few examples that I have found over the last couple of weeks:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/03/06/winter-weather-usa-slogged-through-wettest-winter-ever-recorded/3083767002/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/25/global-warming-could-zap-earths-clouds-bake-us-even-more/2980788002/
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/28/us/hoodwinker-sunfish-north-america-trnd/index.html
This week we learned more about the pollution in the St. Johns River & how it may effect the global water supply. We had a discussion board post due on Friday but not all students were able to finish because of our testing day on Wednesday. After Spring Break we will finish those discussion board posts for the class grade but the discussion board will most likely be closed so we may not be able to upload for this one. Students should be paying attention for news stories or articles about Climate Change, we will need various news articles to refer to for the week we return from Spring Break. Here are a few examples that I have found over the last couple of weeks:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/03/06/winter-weather-usa-slogged-through-wettest-winter-ever-recorded/3083767002/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/25/global-warming-could-zap-earths-clouds-bake-us-even-more/2980788002/
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/28/us/hoodwinker-sunfish-north-america-trnd/index.html
February 25th-March 1st:
The students had a substitute on Tuesday while I was at a Professional Development day for Global Scholars teachers in Duval County. I left very detailed instructions for what the students were to complete in my absence & each student was provided a printed copy of the instructions. I checked that work at the start of class on Thursday. On Thursday in class we posted our reply posts to our peers' My Local Waterway Digital Projects--in 3rd period ONLY. The other 2 classes will post their replies on Monday next week! We also started to plan for Unit 4: Water Connects Us; each student was provided with a March/April calendar & we scheduled each & every day for Unit 4! It is important that students keep up with the calendar especially if they are absent from class.
The Digital Tool for Unit 4 is Piktochart. I think the students are going to like using this one! Please check out the information & create an account using your school email information. https://piktochart.com
OTHER RESOURCES:
The students had a substitute on Tuesday while I was at a Professional Development day for Global Scholars teachers in Duval County. I left very detailed instructions for what the students were to complete in my absence & each student was provided a printed copy of the instructions. I checked that work at the start of class on Thursday. On Thursday in class we posted our reply posts to our peers' My Local Waterway Digital Projects--in 3rd period ONLY. The other 2 classes will post their replies on Monday next week! We also started to plan for Unit 4: Water Connects Us; each student was provided with a March/April calendar & we scheduled each & every day for Unit 4! It is important that students keep up with the calendar especially if they are absent from class.
The Digital Tool for Unit 4 is Piktochart. I think the students are going to like using this one! Please check out the information & create an account using your school email information. https://piktochart.com
OTHER RESOURCES:
- An augmented reality game for your phone or tablet to learn more about the importance of RIVERS! There is also an option to explore rivers around the world. Find one of our collaboration cities & explore the rivers in their city! https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/explore-wwf-free-rivers-a-new-augmented-reality-app
- This is a website with informative games about WATER! Play to learn & pay close attention to the SOLUTIONS offered! www.discoverwater.org
- An organization working to end the Global Water Crisis. The stories on this website are truly remarkable! Matt Damon is the spokesperson & if you are able, purchase a chalice to provide a person in a developing country with 5 YEARS of clean water! https://water.org
February 19th-February 22nd:
I think this has been our best, most productive week yet in Global Scholars! The students are really trying to work together & a majority of them are improving at meeting deadlines! We really worked on organization for Unit 3 & it has paid off! This week we finalized our Unit 3 Digital Project, which was creating a website about the St. Johns River. www.lavillaglobalscholars.weebly.com
We met our deadline & uploaded our project to the discussion board in class on Friday. We spent some time admiring our website as well as discussing what we learned & what inspired us to help our river in the future. Next week I will be at a training with other Global Scholars teachers & the students will have a substitute. It is SO important that the students are productive & well behaved while they have a substitute, I discussed this with each class! They will be finishing up the last assignment for this unit, the Unit 3 Reflection & getting ready for Unit 4.
I think this has been our best, most productive week yet in Global Scholars! The students are really trying to work together & a majority of them are improving at meeting deadlines! We really worked on organization for Unit 3 & it has paid off! This week we finalized our Unit 3 Digital Project, which was creating a website about the St. Johns River. www.lavillaglobalscholars.weebly.com
We met our deadline & uploaded our project to the discussion board in class on Friday. We spent some time admiring our website as well as discussing what we learned & what inspired us to help our river in the future. Next week I will be at a training with other Global Scholars teachers & the students will have a substitute. It is SO important that the students are productive & well behaved while they have a substitute, I discussed this with each class! They will be finishing up the last assignment for this unit, the Unit 3 Reflection & getting ready for Unit 4.
February 11th-February 14th:
This week in Global Scholars class we continued conducting our research for the St. Johns River website we are creating for the Unit 3 Digital Project. Students worked together to organize into two main groups & then they divided up the information that needed to be researched for their page of the website. Each student has a responsibility & I even emailed the students who were absent to inform them of their responsibilities. Students should be researching for homework Tuesday-Wednesday & be ready to turn in their drafted information in a Word document by the end of Thursday's class period. I will work on uploading everything to the website by Wednesday, February 20th. That day in class we will do a final review of the website so that it can be uploaded to the discussion board on Friday, February 22nd.
This week in Global Scholars class we continued conducting our research for the St. Johns River website we are creating for the Unit 3 Digital Project. Students worked together to organize into two main groups & then they divided up the information that needed to be researched for their page of the website. Each student has a responsibility & I even emailed the students who were absent to inform them of their responsibilities. Students should be researching for homework Tuesday-Wednesday & be ready to turn in their drafted information in a Word document by the end of Thursday's class period. I will work on uploading everything to the website by Wednesday, February 20th. That day in class we will do a final review of the website so that it can be uploaded to the discussion board on Friday, February 22nd.
Unit 3 Digital Project--St. Johns River Website
DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 20TH
The following slideshow is a plan for our website. Students can consult the images to see what research they can be doing at home.
DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 20TH
The following slideshow is a plan for our website. Students can consult the images to see what research they can be doing at home.
February 4th-February 8th:
This week the students read their peers' discussion board posts regarding City Solutions. We replied to the posts on Monday. On Wednesday we brainstormed what type of information we need for our St. Johns River Digital Project. We are creating a website all about the St. Johns River to share with our global peers. If you'd like to check in on our progress as we build the website here's the address: https://lavillaglobalscholars.weebly.com On Friday we had our guest speaker from the St. Johns Riverkeeper come to talk about the river as well as help us do some water testing to find out about the health of our river. It was quite an interesting day! Check out some pictures below!! Next week we will work on our Digital Project. For homework students can be getting started on background research & information gathering for their part of the website (see the slideshow above!). 1st period is responsible for our Culture & Economy tabs, 2nd period is responsible for our Challenges & Protect Our River tabs & 3rd period is responsible for our History & Art Connections tabs. In class we brainstormed a list of things that should be addressed on each page. Any research students can get done at home & bring to class will be GREATLY APPRECIATED! Our deadline to have the website completed is Wednesday, February 20th...only 2 working class periods before due date!
This week the students read their peers' discussion board posts regarding City Solutions. We replied to the posts on Monday. On Wednesday we brainstormed what type of information we need for our St. Johns River Digital Project. We are creating a website all about the St. Johns River to share with our global peers. If you'd like to check in on our progress as we build the website here's the address: https://lavillaglobalscholars.weebly.com On Friday we had our guest speaker from the St. Johns Riverkeeper come to talk about the river as well as help us do some water testing to find out about the health of our river. It was quite an interesting day! Check out some pictures below!! Next week we will work on our Digital Project. For homework students can be getting started on background research & information gathering for their part of the website (see the slideshow above!). 1st period is responsible for our Culture & Economy tabs, 2nd period is responsible for our Challenges & Protect Our River tabs & 3rd period is responsible for our History & Art Connections tabs. In class we brainstormed a list of things that should be addressed on each page. Any research students can get done at home & bring to class will be GREATLY APPRECIATED! Our deadline to have the website completed is Wednesday, February 20th...only 2 working class periods before due date!
January 28th-February 1st:
On Tuesday this week the students had a homework assignment due (see last week's update below)...it was a complete disappointment! The homework that is assigned for this course is something that is necessary to keep up with the pace of the curriculum; all of the homework I will assign will be needed for what we are doing the class period it is due. If students do not complete their homework they will receive a zero & it will not be able to be made-up or recovered. I explained this at length with each class. Each homework will normally be worth 10 points but I informed the students that I was going to DOUBLE this weeks homework grade to help recover all the zeros from the last homework assignment. However, that means if the homework is NOT completed this week students will be in an even bigger unsatisfactory grade hole!
On Tuesday in class the students used their homework research to begin drafting their City Solutions discussion board post with a team of two or three other students. Students are always reminded that every student in the group should have the information in their own workbooks instead of relying on one student to be responsible for the group's work.
On Thursday student teams finalized their City Solutions discussion board posts & uploaded them to the Global Scholars discussion board. Then they started to read posts from their global peers. We also previewed our digital project for this unit to start coming up with a plan of action. Finally, homework was assigned. The homework requires access to the internet so I printed out the website for students who thought that internet access may be a problem for them. The following is the information students received in class on Thursday:
•Research the ecology of the St. Johns River.
•http://www.stjohnsriverkeeper.org/the-river/ecology
•In your research notebook, write down some important & interesting facts you learn from reading through the website.
•What questions do you have? Try to come up with 3 questions that we could ask our guest speaker on Friday.
•I will put this information on my website & send a Remind, when would you like to receive the Remind?
•Be sure to bring your USB drive & your research notebook to class each day.
Next week we have a guest speaker coming...Emily Floore, Director of Education for the St. Johns Riverkeeper, will give a presentation to all three classes on Friday, February 8th. It is important students are in attendance as this is our preparation for the Unit 3 digital project...creating a website about our St. Johns River.
On Tuesday this week the students had a homework assignment due (see last week's update below)...it was a complete disappointment! The homework that is assigned for this course is something that is necessary to keep up with the pace of the curriculum; all of the homework I will assign will be needed for what we are doing the class period it is due. If students do not complete their homework they will receive a zero & it will not be able to be made-up or recovered. I explained this at length with each class. Each homework will normally be worth 10 points but I informed the students that I was going to DOUBLE this weeks homework grade to help recover all the zeros from the last homework assignment. However, that means if the homework is NOT completed this week students will be in an even bigger unsatisfactory grade hole!
On Tuesday in class the students used their homework research to begin drafting their City Solutions discussion board post with a team of two or three other students. Students are always reminded that every student in the group should have the information in their own workbooks instead of relying on one student to be responsible for the group's work.
On Thursday student teams finalized their City Solutions discussion board posts & uploaded them to the Global Scholars discussion board. Then they started to read posts from their global peers. We also previewed our digital project for this unit to start coming up with a plan of action. Finally, homework was assigned. The homework requires access to the internet so I printed out the website for students who thought that internet access may be a problem for them. The following is the information students received in class on Thursday:
•Research the ecology of the St. Johns River.
•http://www.stjohnsriverkeeper.org/the-river/ecology
•In your research notebook, write down some important & interesting facts you learn from reading through the website.
•What questions do you have? Try to come up with 3 questions that we could ask our guest speaker on Friday.
•I will put this information on my website & send a Remind, when would you like to receive the Remind?
•Be sure to bring your USB drive & your research notebook to class each day.
Next week we have a guest speaker coming...Emily Floore, Director of Education for the St. Johns Riverkeeper, will give a presentation to all three classes on Friday, February 8th. It is important students are in attendance as this is our preparation for the Unit 3 digital project...creating a website about our St. Johns River.
January 22nd-January 25th:
This week students drafted replies to the From Nature to Faucet discussion board posts written by their global peers. The students had a substitute on Wednesday & the drafts were to be completed in class that day...that did not happen so on Friday most students had to work on their drafts & that has left us behind schedule. We were supposed to start researching city solutions to stormwater & wastewater however, with the drafts not being completed in my absence, students will need to conduct research at home over the weekend. There are three videos on the the Global Scholars website https://learn.globalcities.org under the Unit 3: Water in Our Cities tab. Scroll down & you will see the three videos. Students also need to complete page 48 in their workbook while they are conducting their research. I found another interesting & beautiful way to collect rain water in Singapore. https://www.cnn.com/2012/06/08/world/asia/singapore-supertrees-gardens-bay/index.html Students should try to find one additional interesting way of dealing with stormwater or wastewater that they can share with the class on Tuesday, January 29th. Our next DEADLINE is Thursday, January 31st!!
This week students drafted replies to the From Nature to Faucet discussion board posts written by their global peers. The students had a substitute on Wednesday & the drafts were to be completed in class that day...that did not happen so on Friday most students had to work on their drafts & that has left us behind schedule. We were supposed to start researching city solutions to stormwater & wastewater however, with the drafts not being completed in my absence, students will need to conduct research at home over the weekend. There are three videos on the the Global Scholars website https://learn.globalcities.org under the Unit 3: Water in Our Cities tab. Scroll down & you will see the three videos. Students also need to complete page 48 in their workbook while they are conducting their research. I found another interesting & beautiful way to collect rain water in Singapore. https://www.cnn.com/2012/06/08/world/asia/singapore-supertrees-gardens-bay/index.html Students should try to find one additional interesting way of dealing with stormwater or wastewater that they can share with the class on Tuesday, January 29th. Our next DEADLINE is Thursday, January 31st!!
January 14th-January 18th:
This week the students continued their research of the JEA water processing system in preparation for our first discussion board post for Unit 3. On Wednesday students began drafting their posts on page 44 in the workbook. They are working in pairs or threes for this assignment & the discussion board post were due Friday, January 18th.
We also did a quick activity to update our bulletin board, each student wrote a water conservation tip on a drop of water to educate our LaVilla community on being water-wise!
We also started to look at pages 45 & 46 in the workbook to learn about following the flow of our water--wastewater & stormwater. We will continue with that research next week by looking at how cities around the world are tackling wastewater & stormwater. We will begin to prepare for our next discussion board post which is due on Thursday, January 31st! The next post will be about City Solutions to wastewater & stormwater.
This week the students continued their research of the JEA water processing system in preparation for our first discussion board post for Unit 3. On Wednesday students began drafting their posts on page 44 in the workbook. They are working in pairs or threes for this assignment & the discussion board post were due Friday, January 18th.
We also did a quick activity to update our bulletin board, each student wrote a water conservation tip on a drop of water to educate our LaVilla community on being water-wise!
We also started to look at pages 45 & 46 in the workbook to learn about following the flow of our water--wastewater & stormwater. We will continue with that research next week by looking at how cities around the world are tackling wastewater & stormwater. We will begin to prepare for our next discussion board post which is due on Thursday, January 31st! The next post will be about City Solutions to wastewater & stormwater.
January 8th-January 11th:
Welcome back! I hope everyone had a restful break & that you are now ready for 2019!
In class this week we watched a documentary about the St. Johns River called The Green Monster. This will provide us with some background knowledge on our local waterways as we embark on Unit 3: Water in Our Cities. We took some time to preview this unit to help with organizing tasks throughout the unit. I provided each student with a calendar to record the important deadlines as well as what we should be doing in between those deadline dates to stay on track. We talked a lot about the curriculum & what has been working as well as where we have some room for improvement. Hopefully with more organization we can keep this unit moving along smoothly.
Students began to research how JEA gets our water from nature to our faucets for our first discussion board post which is due on January 18th. We will continue with the research next week as well as drafting & posting our research findings in the discussion board..
December 17th-December 21st:
This week we finished up Unit Two: Water Every Day, by replying to the other classes Water Audit Presentations & completing the Unit Two Reflection. Students had class time to complete the reflection assignment but not every student finished their work so it may have come home to be completed. The Unit Two Reflection was due at the start of class on Thursday. We had wonderful JEA Ambassadors come out to speak to each class on Thursday & I think (hope!) the students learned lots of new information about how important water is in our city as well as how our water is processed before it reaches our homes. When we return from break, Unit Three is all about Water in Our Cities.
This week we finished up Unit Two: Water Every Day, by replying to the other classes Water Audit Presentations & completing the Unit Two Reflection. Students had class time to complete the reflection assignment but not every student finished their work so it may have come home to be completed. The Unit Two Reflection was due at the start of class on Thursday. We had wonderful JEA Ambassadors come out to speak to each class on Thursday & I think (hope!) the students learned lots of new information about how important water is in our city as well as how our water is processed before it reaches our homes. When we return from break, Unit Three is all about Water in Our Cities.
December 10th-December 14th:
Our Unit Two Digital Project is COMPLETE! The students spent the week organizing, analyzing & interpreting their data while I created the presentation using Adobe Spark. Here is the link to the presentation if you'd like to take a look:
https://spark.adobe.com/page/Swyint6kGOEGC/
On Friday the students completed a peer evaluation for the group work they participated in for the Unit Two Digital Project. They also completed an end of first semester reflection looking back at the Global Scholars curriculum. We also took a look at the other Water Audit projects that were submitted to the discussion board. Next week we will work on drafting our replies to the Water Audit Presentations, watch a documentary about the St. Johns River & have JEA ambassadors come to give a presentation to each class.
Our Unit Two Digital Project is COMPLETE! The students spent the week organizing, analyzing & interpreting their data while I created the presentation using Adobe Spark. Here is the link to the presentation if you'd like to take a look:
https://spark.adobe.com/page/Swyint6kGOEGC/
On Friday the students completed a peer evaluation for the group work they participated in for the Unit Two Digital Project. They also completed an end of first semester reflection looking back at the Global Scholars curriculum. We also took a look at the other Water Audit projects that were submitted to the discussion board. Next week we will work on drafting our replies to the Water Audit Presentations, watch a documentary about the St. Johns River & have JEA ambassadors come to give a presentation to each class.
December 3rd-December 7th:
This week we conducted some great field research at our water access points here at school for our water audit. We have also been checking the water meter as part of our field research. We divided up the research responsibilities so that we can create ONE digital project to submit for both of our collaborations...this water audit was a BIG undertaking!! Each class period was assigned a specific type of fixture & a specific area of the school to gather data about. We collected most of the data we needed this week so next week we will continue to organize, analyze & interpret that data...we started that on Thursday this week. I have started the outline for the digital presentation (in both Conva & Adobe Spark) so the students are responsible for providing me with their information in a Word document so that it can be easily inserted into the presentation. I have been modeling each step & providing guidance on how to analyze & interpret the data we have collected. Our digital project is DUE next Friday, December 14th so ALL information must be given to me by the end of class on Wednesday, December 12th so I can get it into the presentation before Friday's deadline.
This week we conducted some great field research at our water access points here at school for our water audit. We have also been checking the water meter as part of our field research. We divided up the research responsibilities so that we can create ONE digital project to submit for both of our collaborations...this water audit was a BIG undertaking!! Each class period was assigned a specific type of fixture & a specific area of the school to gather data about. We collected most of the data we needed this week so next week we will continue to organize, analyze & interpret that data...we started that on Thursday this week. I have started the outline for the digital presentation (in both Conva & Adobe Spark) so the students are responsible for providing me with their information in a Word document so that it can be easily inserted into the presentation. I have been modeling each step & providing guidance on how to analyze & interpret the data we have collected. Our digital project is DUE next Friday, December 14th so ALL information must be given to me by the end of class on Wednesday, December 12th so I can get it into the presentation before Friday's deadline.
November 26th-November 30th:
This week we posted replies to the Water Footprint discussion posts in the e-classroom on Monday. * I received a message on Wednesday from the Global Scholars Team in NY & they have asked that my students only reply to posts that have no replies. They also want the students (or me) to go back & delete replies that have multiple LaVilla student replies. I ask the students to choose posts with no replies each time we do this so from now on, if a student replies to a post that another LaVilla student has replied to, their grade will be negatively impacted. * I also introduced the School Wide Water Audit we will be working on for the next couple of weeks for our Unit Two Digital Project. On Wednesday the students had a substitute while I went to meetings at JU with the executive director of the marine science institute & the St. Johns Riverkeeper education outreach staff. The students had several assignments to work on in my absence: #1 reading about water in the human body (workbook page 25) & doing some internet research about how different organs in our bodies rely on water to write facts on a graphic organizer; #2 investigate a Public Health Campaign in Florida (website provided) & complete page 26 in the workbook; #3 design a water bottle that encourages kids to drink the daily recommended amount of water by including informative & interesting facts in the design of the bottle. According to the notes from the substitute, the students were overly talkative despite the fact that they were told to work independently with little to no discussion! I have spoken with the students AT LENGTH about my expectations for when a substitute is covering my classes & they continue to misbehave, this is extremely disappointing & frustrating! On Friday we learned how to read the school's water meter & divided into groups for doing our field research observations. Field research will continue next week.
This week we posted replies to the Water Footprint discussion posts in the e-classroom on Monday. * I received a message on Wednesday from the Global Scholars Team in NY & they have asked that my students only reply to posts that have no replies. They also want the students (or me) to go back & delete replies that have multiple LaVilla student replies. I ask the students to choose posts with no replies each time we do this so from now on, if a student replies to a post that another LaVilla student has replied to, their grade will be negatively impacted. * I also introduced the School Wide Water Audit we will be working on for the next couple of weeks for our Unit Two Digital Project. On Wednesday the students had a substitute while I went to meetings at JU with the executive director of the marine science institute & the St. Johns Riverkeeper education outreach staff. The students had several assignments to work on in my absence: #1 reading about water in the human body (workbook page 25) & doing some internet research about how different organs in our bodies rely on water to write facts on a graphic organizer; #2 investigate a Public Health Campaign in Florida (website provided) & complete page 26 in the workbook; #3 design a water bottle that encourages kids to drink the daily recommended amount of water by including informative & interesting facts in the design of the bottle. According to the notes from the substitute, the students were overly talkative despite the fact that they were told to work independently with little to no discussion! I have spoken with the students AT LENGTH about my expectations for when a substitute is covering my classes & they continue to misbehave, this is extremely disappointing & frustrating! On Friday we learned how to read the school's water meter & divided into groups for doing our field research observations. Field research will continue next week.
November 19th:
It was a very short week due to the Thanksgiving break but we had a full day in Global Scholars! The class period started off rough because a MAJORITY of the students did not complete their homework. This was especially disappointing because last week we had BIG discussions regarding the schedule & everyone wrote down information on a calendar page or in their planners. I also wrote about the homework here (see below) & sent a Remind. I can't do much more than that, it MUST be up to the students to do their work!!
Things got better as were were productive with our water footprint quizzes & subsequent discussion board posts. The majority of the students were able to post their water footprint response in the e-classroom with the exception of a few students in 3rd period.
The day REALLY got better at about 4:30 when Mrs. Knight & I received the following email from the Global Scholars team in New York:
Hi Ms. Knight,
Just wanted to give a shout out to your students in the Compass collaboration. Their e-classroom posts and replies in the Water in My Culture discussion have been mature, well-written, and informative. Thank you for all your hard work with them. It shows!
Have a great week!
Colleen Khachatourians
Global Cities, Inc.,
A Program of Bloomberg Philanthropies
One Rockefeller Plaza, Suite 1134
New York, NY 10020
tel: (212) 618-6345
mobile: (646)935-9640
[email protected]
www.globalcities.org
As a result of that email I went ahead & gave EVERY student full credit for the Water in My Culture post! It is nice to know our hard work is being recognized :) Let's keep that momentum going...
It was a very short week due to the Thanksgiving break but we had a full day in Global Scholars! The class period started off rough because a MAJORITY of the students did not complete their homework. This was especially disappointing because last week we had BIG discussions regarding the schedule & everyone wrote down information on a calendar page or in their planners. I also wrote about the homework here (see below) & sent a Remind. I can't do much more than that, it MUST be up to the students to do their work!!
Things got better as were were productive with our water footprint quizzes & subsequent discussion board posts. The majority of the students were able to post their water footprint response in the e-classroom with the exception of a few students in 3rd period.
The day REALLY got better at about 4:30 when Mrs. Knight & I received the following email from the Global Scholars team in New York:
Hi Ms. Knight,
Just wanted to give a shout out to your students in the Compass collaboration. Their e-classroom posts and replies in the Water in My Culture discussion have been mature, well-written, and informative. Thank you for all your hard work with them. It shows!
Have a great week!
Colleen Khachatourians
Global Cities, Inc.,
A Program of Bloomberg Philanthropies
One Rockefeller Plaza, Suite 1134
New York, NY 10020
tel: (212) 618-6345
mobile: (646)935-9640
[email protected]
www.globalcities.org
As a result of that email I went ahead & gave EVERY student full credit for the Water in My Culture post! It is nice to know our hard work is being recognized :) Let's keep that momentum going...
November 13th-November 16th:
This week we finished our research on a water activity or event in our city & then we posted information about our findings on the e-classroom discussion board. We also started to read other students' posts so that we could offer our replies. Not all students were able to complete these tasks in class so there is homework to be done! Students who did not finish & post their replies in class on Thursday must complete their drafts in their workbook on page 27. You must reply to TWO posts & try to find ones that don't have any comments. Both replies will fit on page 27, just skip a line between the two different posts. Be SURE you read the directions for what is expected in your reply before you start writing. DO NOT POST ANYTHING!! JUST DRAFT YOUR REPLIES IN THE WORKBOOK, I have to approve ALL posts before they are posted in the e-classroom & we are only allowed to post during OUR CLASS TIME!
ALL Global Scholars have homework...
We need start collecting data through field research! All students were given a field research notebook to start tracking how they use water on a daily basis. Students should be collecting data from Thursday evening until Sunday evening using the guiding questions in their field research notebook. We will use this information in class on Monday, November 19th to complete a water footprint quiz & then we have another post to make on the e-classroom discussion board!
This week we finished our research on a water activity or event in our city & then we posted information about our findings on the e-classroom discussion board. We also started to read other students' posts so that we could offer our replies. Not all students were able to complete these tasks in class so there is homework to be done! Students who did not finish & post their replies in class on Thursday must complete their drafts in their workbook on page 27. You must reply to TWO posts & try to find ones that don't have any comments. Both replies will fit on page 27, just skip a line between the two different posts. Be SURE you read the directions for what is expected in your reply before you start writing. DO NOT POST ANYTHING!! JUST DRAFT YOUR REPLIES IN THE WORKBOOK, I have to approve ALL posts before they are posted in the e-classroom & we are only allowed to post during OUR CLASS TIME!
ALL Global Scholars have homework...
We need start collecting data through field research! All students were given a field research notebook to start tracking how they use water on a daily basis. Students should be collecting data from Thursday evening until Sunday evening using the guiding questions in their field research notebook. We will use this information in class on Monday, November 19th to complete a water footprint quiz & then we have another post to make on the e-classroom discussion board!
November 5th-November 8th:
Global Scholars had a Skype-A-Thon this week! 1st & 2nd periods were able to Skype with classes from South Florida & Queens, New York on Thursday in class!! Check out the pictures below :) It was interesting to see & speak to classes in other parts of our country. There will be one more Skype-A-Thon in a few months so hopefully we'll get another chance to 'meet' some other Global Scholars!
After meeting with Mrs. Knight & Mr. Sznakowski, I discussed with each class an opportunity to create a new video for the Unit One Digital Project: Meet the Global Scholars, either individually or in small groups. We all agreed that the original videos that were created by the 3 classes were not sufficient to post in the e-classroom, the quality was simply not an accurate reflection of what our students are capable of. I saved the folder of videos clips that were made by each class to each student's individual Global Scholars flash drive so they would have some footage to work with. They can choose to use some of that footage or they can create a whole new video meeting the specific requirements. The requirements & steps are all clearly detailed on the workbook pages, each student was given a (second) printed copy of all 5 workbook pages that cover the video creation & a digital copy is saved to their Global Scholars flash drive as well. If you/your student is not comfortable with using video editing software, I recommend recording one video & then saving it directly to the Global Scholars flash drive. The last day I will accept remade videos is Thursday, November 15th.
We started Unit Two this week. This unit is focused on how we use water in our everyday lives & how we can better conserve water. The first discussion post for this unit requires students to research a water activity or festival in our city. We brainstormed lots of different activities & events & the students were assigned one of those activities to research with a partner. We started doing research in class this week & we will post our findings in the e-classroom in the form of a discussion post next week.
Global Scholars had a Skype-A-Thon this week! 1st & 2nd periods were able to Skype with classes from South Florida & Queens, New York on Thursday in class!! Check out the pictures below :) It was interesting to see & speak to classes in other parts of our country. There will be one more Skype-A-Thon in a few months so hopefully we'll get another chance to 'meet' some other Global Scholars!
After meeting with Mrs. Knight & Mr. Sznakowski, I discussed with each class an opportunity to create a new video for the Unit One Digital Project: Meet the Global Scholars, either individually or in small groups. We all agreed that the original videos that were created by the 3 classes were not sufficient to post in the e-classroom, the quality was simply not an accurate reflection of what our students are capable of. I saved the folder of videos clips that were made by each class to each student's individual Global Scholars flash drive so they would have some footage to work with. They can choose to use some of that footage or they can create a whole new video meeting the specific requirements. The requirements & steps are all clearly detailed on the workbook pages, each student was given a (second) printed copy of all 5 workbook pages that cover the video creation & a digital copy is saved to their Global Scholars flash drive as well. If you/your student is not comfortable with using video editing software, I recommend recording one video & then saving it directly to the Global Scholars flash drive. The last day I will accept remade videos is Thursday, November 15th.
We started Unit Two this week. This unit is focused on how we use water in our everyday lives & how we can better conserve water. The first discussion post for this unit requires students to research a water activity or festival in our city. We brainstormed lots of different activities & events & the students were assigned one of those activities to research with a partner. We started doing research in class this week & we will post our findings in the e-classroom in the form of a discussion post next week.
October 29th-November 2nd:
This week was a VERY busy one in Global Scholars but unfortunately, it did NOT end up being a very productive week :( We were supposed to complete our Unit One Digital Project LAST week which was creating a 3-minute video about our school & our city, I'm sad to report that the students did not get their videos created despite filming lots of little video clips throughout this week & last week. There were a number of obstacles that prohibited us from finalizing the videos from struggling through the brainstorming & planning phases to difficulties with Adobe Spark to create the video but, the bottom line is the Global Scholars students did not focus their time & attention sufficiently to compete their projects! As I told them in class, I understand that this is a learning process for ALL of us but, we need to start recognizing where we are falling short so we can make improvements & adjustments so that we do not continue to miss deadlines. This curriculum is meant to be student-driven so I need DRIVEN STUDENTS!! We are about a week behind in the curriculum at this point so next week we will start Unit Two & try to catch-up to the schedule as quickly as possible! I have reached out to the Global Scholars Team to see if we can still post our videos next week & I am waiting to hear back from them as I type this update. We did manage to view the other classes videos that were posted & we wrote feedback replies to those videos on Thursday.
This week was a VERY busy one in Global Scholars but unfortunately, it did NOT end up being a very productive week :( We were supposed to complete our Unit One Digital Project LAST week which was creating a 3-minute video about our school & our city, I'm sad to report that the students did not get their videos created despite filming lots of little video clips throughout this week & last week. There were a number of obstacles that prohibited us from finalizing the videos from struggling through the brainstorming & planning phases to difficulties with Adobe Spark to create the video but, the bottom line is the Global Scholars students did not focus their time & attention sufficiently to compete their projects! As I told them in class, I understand that this is a learning process for ALL of us but, we need to start recognizing where we are falling short so we can make improvements & adjustments so that we do not continue to miss deadlines. This curriculum is meant to be student-driven so I need DRIVEN STUDENTS!! We are about a week behind in the curriculum at this point so next week we will start Unit Two & try to catch-up to the schedule as quickly as possible! I have reached out to the Global Scholars Team to see if we can still post our videos next week & I am waiting to hear back from them as I type this update. We did manage to view the other classes videos that were posted & we wrote feedback replies to those videos on Thursday.
October 22nd-October 26th:
The students started the week with a substitute as I continued to recover from surgery. In my absence they continued to plan their videos & write the scripts. When I returned on Wednesday we reviewed what they had accomplished & continued to work scripts & we even started shooting some clips for our videos! On Friday we worked on getting all the little parts filmed & then uploaded to Adobe Spark to create our 3-minute videos. Hopefully by Tuesday next week we can upload our videos to the e-classroom!
The students started the week with a substitute as I continued to recover from surgery. In my absence they continued to plan their videos & write the scripts. When I returned on Wednesday we reviewed what they had accomplished & continued to work scripts & we even started shooting some clips for our videos! On Friday we worked on getting all the little parts filmed & then uploaded to Adobe Spark to create our 3-minute videos. Hopefully by Tuesday next week we can upload our videos to the e-classroom!
October 15th-October 18th:
We worked on posting replies to the Say Hello posts from our global peers & began to plan our Unit One Digital Project. I had to be out for the latter part of the week to have surgery but the students worked on brainstorming & planning their Digital Project, a 3-minute video introducing our school & city to our global peers.
We worked on posting replies to the Say Hello posts from our global peers & began to plan our Unit One Digital Project. I had to be out for the latter part of the week to have surgery but the students worked on brainstorming & planning their Digital Project, a 3-minute video introducing our school & city to our global peers.
October 8th-October 12th:
This week the Compass Collaboration got a chance to read any replies that were posted to their Say Hello posts from last week. We also read LOTS of interesting posts from our international peers!! It's really cool to see pictures from their cities so that's going to be the homework for this weekend! Take a picture(s) of your city/neighborhood to share with your peers in the discussion board. They also replied to a minimum of 4 of their peers' Say Hello Posts. We discussed perspective & went through pages 9-11 in our workbook.
The Discovery Collaboration completed pages 9-11 in their workbooks & they posted their Say Hello posts this week. Next week they hopefully have some replies to their posts to read & we will begin to draft our 4 replies. The homework is the same...Take a picture(s) of your city/neighborhood to share with your peers in the discussion board.
This week the Compass Collaboration got a chance to read any replies that were posted to their Say Hello posts from last week. We also read LOTS of interesting posts from our international peers!! It's really cool to see pictures from their cities so that's going to be the homework for this weekend! Take a picture(s) of your city/neighborhood to share with your peers in the discussion board. They also replied to a minimum of 4 of their peers' Say Hello Posts. We discussed perspective & went through pages 9-11 in our workbook.
The Discovery Collaboration completed pages 9-11 in their workbooks & they posted their Say Hello posts this week. Next week they hopefully have some replies to their posts to read & we will begin to draft our 4 replies. The homework is the same...Take a picture(s) of your city/neighborhood to share with your peers in the discussion board.
October 1st-October 5th:
Time zones is how we started our Monday in Global Scholars! After learning about what time it was in all of our collaboration cities we took the Global Scholars Pledge, went over the Internet Safety Agreement with lots of discussion! We looked at an example 'Say Hello' post & I prepared my students for my absence on Wednesday. There were a few things to do with Mr. Smith on Wednesday including; writing a rough draft of the 'Say Hello' post, reading an article about traditional foods in Barcelona, Spain, & reading an article about how pizza & sushi came to America. On Friday I did some "fixing-up" from Wednesday & students did some editing & revising of their welcome posts before posting them on the discussion board in the e-classroom. I am excited to read welcome posts from students around the world & work on reply posts next week!
Time zones is how we started our Monday in Global Scholars! After learning about what time it was in all of our collaboration cities we took the Global Scholars Pledge, went over the Internet Safety Agreement with lots of discussion! We looked at an example 'Say Hello' post & I prepared my students for my absence on Wednesday. There were a few things to do with Mr. Smith on Wednesday including; writing a rough draft of the 'Say Hello' post, reading an article about traditional foods in Barcelona, Spain, & reading an article about how pizza & sushi came to America. On Friday I did some "fixing-up" from Wednesday & students did some editing & revising of their welcome posts before posting them on the discussion board in the e-classroom. I am excited to read welcome posts from students around the world & work on reply posts next week!
September 24th-September 28th:
This week the Global Scholars students located their collaboration cities on a world map, they took the pre-program survey, they saved their workbooks to their flash drives along with a copy of a world map, & they started to learn a little bit about the collaboration cities by working on the Global Scholars Community Challenge. For the GS Community Challenge students had to find out the language(s) spoken in each city, the population of each city & two famous buildings in each city. 1st & 2nd periods were able to start that in class & they are required to finish it up for homework--due Monday, October 1st; 3rd period didn't quite get to start that in class on Thursday so we will work on it in class on Monday, October 1st & finish it for homework if necessary.
This week the Global Scholars students located their collaboration cities on a world map, they took the pre-program survey, they saved their workbooks to their flash drives along with a copy of a world map, & they started to learn a little bit about the collaboration cities by working on the Global Scholars Community Challenge. For the GS Community Challenge students had to find out the language(s) spoken in each city, the population of each city & two famous buildings in each city. 1st & 2nd periods were able to start that in class & they are required to finish it up for homework--due Monday, October 1st; 3rd period didn't quite get to start that in class on Thursday so we will work on it in class on Monday, October 1st & finish it for homework if necessary.
September 17th-September 21st:
This week we spent Monday & Wednesday working on the presentations about a country & the social issues that country faces. On Wednesday we also did a short water related activity that I was going to assign for homework this weekend. We looked at a quick video about why the ocean matters & then we read an article with an accompanying slideshow about how plastics are overtaking the oceans & affecting marine life. Students wrote a short reflection paragraph where they explained which of the images had the biggest impact on them & what they could do to reduce their dependency on plastics. That means there is NO HOMEWORK this weekend :) Friday was an exciting day...we learned which cities we will be collaborating with in Global Scholars! I had the students discover the cities & countries through a little scavenger hunt on the internet. I found an interesting place in each of the cities & gave that to the students. From there they had to use the internet to discover what that was, the city it was located in, the country or state it was located in & then I had them sketch each country or city flag. The OFFICIAL Global Scholars program starts next week! Here are our collaborations:
Compass Collaboration--1st & 2nd periods
Will be working together with classes from:
Will be working together with classes from:
This week we spent Monday & Wednesday working on the presentations about a country & the social issues that country faces. On Wednesday we also did a short water related activity that I was going to assign for homework this weekend. We looked at a quick video about why the ocean matters & then we read an article with an accompanying slideshow about how plastics are overtaking the oceans & affecting marine life. Students wrote a short reflection paragraph where they explained which of the images had the biggest impact on them & what they could do to reduce their dependency on plastics. That means there is NO HOMEWORK this weekend :) Friday was an exciting day...we learned which cities we will be collaborating with in Global Scholars! I had the students discover the cities & countries through a little scavenger hunt on the internet. I found an interesting place in each of the cities & gave that to the students. From there they had to use the internet to discover what that was, the city it was located in, the country or state it was located in & then I had them sketch each country or city flag. The OFFICIAL Global Scholars program starts next week! Here are our collaborations:
Compass Collaboration--1st & 2nd periods
Will be working together with classes from:
- Barcelona (Spain)
- Buenos Aires (Argentina)
- Fort Lauderdale/Broward (United States)
- Jacksonville (United States)
- Madrid (Spain)
- Mumbai (India)
- New York (United States)
- Tel Aviv (Israel)
Will be working together with classes from:
- Astana (Kazakhstan)
- Barcelona (Spain)
- Boston/Everett (United States)
- Buffalo (United States)
- Fort Lauderdale/Broward (United States)
- Jacksonville (United States)
- Madrid (Spain)
- Manchester (United Kingdom)
- Taipei (Taiwan)
September 10th-September 14th:
ALL of the 8th graders turned in their red tide homework this week--I am SOOO proud of them, let's keep that up from here on out! And I would love for my other two classes to get to 100% completion for homework...I know you can do it!
We have continued working on our research projects about various countries & their issues this week. On Tuesday we took notes & learned what makes a presentation ENGAGING! On Thursday the students had the entire period to work on creating their presentations in Canva...we are learning lots about Canva--some good & some bad! Next week we'll work out some more kinks & finish up our research presentations because we only have one more week before the OFFICIAL Global Scholars curriculum begins on September 24th!
Homework: https://climatekids.nasa.gov/10-things-water/
Visit the website, read the 10 facts about water (jot down key words & facts as you go through the slides) & write a poem that includes some (not all!) of the facts you read about. Your poem should be a Shakespearean Sonnet!! Here are the details:
Shakespearean Sonnet Structure:
14 lines total; 4 stanzas
Rhyme Scheme Structure:
3 Quatrains; 1 Couplet
ABAB (first stanza)
CDCD (second stanza)
EFEF (third stanza)
GG (fourth stanza)
Ms. Bethel & I are SOOOO excited to read the Water Sonnets!!
ALL of the 8th graders turned in their red tide homework this week--I am SOOO proud of them, let's keep that up from here on out! And I would love for my other two classes to get to 100% completion for homework...I know you can do it!
We have continued working on our research projects about various countries & their issues this week. On Tuesday we took notes & learned what makes a presentation ENGAGING! On Thursday the students had the entire period to work on creating their presentations in Canva...we are learning lots about Canva--some good & some bad! Next week we'll work out some more kinks & finish up our research presentations because we only have one more week before the OFFICIAL Global Scholars curriculum begins on September 24th!
Homework: https://climatekids.nasa.gov/10-things-water/
Visit the website, read the 10 facts about water (jot down key words & facts as you go through the slides) & write a poem that includes some (not all!) of the facts you read about. Your poem should be a Shakespearean Sonnet!! Here are the details:
Shakespearean Sonnet Structure:
14 lines total; 4 stanzas
Rhyme Scheme Structure:
3 Quatrains; 1 Couplet
ABAB (first stanza)
CDCD (second stanza)
EFEF (third stanza)
GG (fourth stanza)
Ms. Bethel & I are SOOOO excited to read the Water Sonnets!!
September 4th-September 7th:
This week students did a pretty good job getting their homework assignment completed! We started a new procedure where students will fill out an "apology" slip when they don't have their homework. I will ALWAYS accept late work but there will be a point deduction for the lateness. The "apology" slip is the students' reminder that they owe me an assignment!
We focused our research projects on an issue & a country a bit more this week. We determined exactly what needed to be researched & figured out what information would go on which slides in the presentation. Students were all given a copy of the PowerPoint slides that detailed what information each student was responsible for researching. We will begin to create our Canva presentations when we have all of the research complete, I anticipate doing that on Tuesday next week.
Homework:
•https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/redtide.html
• First read the information on this website about “red tide”. It is under the video so scroll down a bit.
•Then, watch the 4 minute video about Red Tide.
•Write a short summary of your thoughts about what you’ve learned from the video & the information on the website.
•Summaries should be approximately one paragraph in length.
This week students did a pretty good job getting their homework assignment completed! We started a new procedure where students will fill out an "apology" slip when they don't have their homework. I will ALWAYS accept late work but there will be a point deduction for the lateness. The "apology" slip is the students' reminder that they owe me an assignment!
We focused our research projects on an issue & a country a bit more this week. We determined exactly what needed to be researched & figured out what information would go on which slides in the presentation. Students were all given a copy of the PowerPoint slides that detailed what information each student was responsible for researching. We will begin to create our Canva presentations when we have all of the research complete, I anticipate doing that on Tuesday next week.
Homework:
•https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/redtide.html
• First read the information on this website about “red tide”. It is under the video so scroll down a bit.
•Then, watch the 4 minute video about Red Tide.
•Write a short summary of your thoughts about what you’ve learned from the video & the information on the website.
•Summaries should be approximately one paragraph in length.
August 27th-August 31st:
GOOD NEWS...Most of my Global Scholars did their Prezi homework!! Thank you...but I do have some bad news. We need to delete our presentations & possibly accounts because Prezi is NOT private! We went over all of this in class on Friday but some students may still need to delete presentations or accounts at home. We signed up for our NEW online presentation tool...Canva, which allows me to control our privacy settings! Students were all invited to join my team through an email sent to their school Outlook accounts. Most students were able to join my team on Friday but I still have a few students to get signed on next week.
We spent most of the week doing our Prezi presentations about our families which went pretty well for our first attempt! We discussed what makes a presentation engaging & interesting so that we can make the best presentations to share with our international peers as we move forward. We also got back to researching our country/issue in small groups to create presentations with our new resource...Canva. We will continue with our research next week & hopefully begin creating our Canva presentations by Friday.
Homework:
•http://www.stjohnsriverkeeper.org/issues
•Visit this website & read about the issues that threaten our St. John’s River.
• Choose TWO of the issues that face our river & then write FIVE questions about each issue that you would ask the St. John’s Riverkeeper to learn more about our river.
•My plan is to make contact with her & have her in for a visit!
GOOD NEWS...Most of my Global Scholars did their Prezi homework!! Thank you...but I do have some bad news. We need to delete our presentations & possibly accounts because Prezi is NOT private! We went over all of this in class on Friday but some students may still need to delete presentations or accounts at home. We signed up for our NEW online presentation tool...Canva, which allows me to control our privacy settings! Students were all invited to join my team through an email sent to their school Outlook accounts. Most students were able to join my team on Friday but I still have a few students to get signed on next week.
We spent most of the week doing our Prezi presentations about our families which went pretty well for our first attempt! We discussed what makes a presentation engaging & interesting so that we can make the best presentations to share with our international peers as we move forward. We also got back to researching our country/issue in small groups to create presentations with our new resource...Canva. We will continue with our research next week & hopefully begin creating our Canva presentations by Friday.
Homework:
•http://www.stjohnsriverkeeper.org/issues
•Visit this website & read about the issues that threaten our St. John’s River.
• Choose TWO of the issues that face our river & then write FIVE questions about each issue that you would ask the St. John’s Riverkeeper to learn more about our river.
•My plan is to make contact with her & have her in for a visit!
August 20th-August 24th:
I'm going to start this update with the bad news... :( I assigned the Global Scholars students their first homework assignment last Friday (due this Tuesday) and VERY FEW students actually did it! NONE of the 8th graders, only ONE of the 7th graders and about FOUR 6th graders actually did the assignment which was extremely upsetting for me. The assignment was for the students to go to www.wecharity.org and explore the website. They were asked to be prepared to share something they learned from the website in a class discussion. Needless to say, I expressed my disappointment sufficiently and our class discussion was useless because the students did not do their part. I even sent a message in Remind...TWICE! In the future I will expect that my Global Scholars follow through with their commitments and obligations!!
This week in class we divided into groups based on the "what's your issue" quiz results. Students were grouped with other students who shared their high interest issue and each group was assigned a specific country/city that we learned about from reading our class book, The Teen Guide to Global Action. The groups are researching their issue/country and they will create a Prezi presentation about what they learned from their research. Which leads me to this week's homework... Students will create a FREE Prezi account and then begin to learn the features of this digital tool by creating a short Prezi about their families. Each student will present their Prezi to the class on Monday, August 27th. (website: www.prezi.com)
I'm going to start this update with the bad news... :( I assigned the Global Scholars students their first homework assignment last Friday (due this Tuesday) and VERY FEW students actually did it! NONE of the 8th graders, only ONE of the 7th graders and about FOUR 6th graders actually did the assignment which was extremely upsetting for me. The assignment was for the students to go to www.wecharity.org and explore the website. They were asked to be prepared to share something they learned from the website in a class discussion. Needless to say, I expressed my disappointment sufficiently and our class discussion was useless because the students did not do their part. I even sent a message in Remind...TWICE! In the future I will expect that my Global Scholars follow through with their commitments and obligations!!
This week in class we divided into groups based on the "what's your issue" quiz results. Students were grouped with other students who shared their high interest issue and each group was assigned a specific country/city that we learned about from reading our class book, The Teen Guide to Global Action. The groups are researching their issue/country and they will create a Prezi presentation about what they learned from their research. Which leads me to this week's homework... Students will create a FREE Prezi account and then begin to learn the features of this digital tool by creating a short Prezi about their families. Each student will present their Prezi to the class on Monday, August 27th. (website: www.prezi.com)
August 13th-August 17th:
This week we embarked on our adventure with a new course for the Creative Writing students, Global Scholars. I am genuinely excited (and a little nervous!!) about this new curriculum! On day one we did a brief introduction to what this program will offer as well as the theme for this year: World of Water. We also got connected to Remind (check the Contact tab for information on how to join) and I sent out my first announcements...one just a fun welcome (in Spanish & then English) and the other the homework assignment for the weekend. In addition, we started to explore some Geography and began reading our class book: The Teen Guide to Global Action. I hope you will have interesting conversations at home as we learn new things about the world!!
This week we embarked on our adventure with a new course for the Creative Writing students, Global Scholars. I am genuinely excited (and a little nervous!!) about this new curriculum! On day one we did a brief introduction to what this program will offer as well as the theme for this year: World of Water. We also got connected to Remind (check the Contact tab for information on how to join) and I sent out my first announcements...one just a fun welcome (in Spanish & then English) and the other the homework assignment for the weekend. In addition, we started to explore some Geography and began reading our class book: The Teen Guide to Global Action. I hope you will have interesting conversations at home as we learn new things about the world!!