Susan Fisher’s Dream Classroom

About 15 years ago when the Internet was not widely used in schools and our youngest son was about 10 years old he wrote a description of his ideal classroom.
He described a room full of computers where students could follow their own program by logging into lectures given by professors from universities around the world.
He also loved playing strategy games, writing MOO code, participating in communal Internet story writing sessions and playing chess via email.

He would have absolutely loved Susan Fisher’s Dream Classroom!
During the Global Education Conference http://www.globaleducationconference.com/ Susan Fisher, Talented and Gifted Department Coordinator, Ridgeview I.B. Charter School, Fulton County Schools, Atlanta Georgia shared with us how she uses 21C gaming to encourage global awareness and responsibility in her students in a session titled ‘Dream Classroom Model Encourages Student Role as Global Citizens’

The session description read:
Susan Fisher, at Ridgeview IB Charter School, has created a perfect flipped, inspired, gamified, differentiated and project based classroom. The flexibility of the Inspired Classroom, in conjunction with the Flipped model has allowed her to move away from the traditional linear, sequential, and lecture-based teacher model. With the availability of information and resources on the internet, the teacher no longer has to be the one-stop shop for information and learning. In a true flipped and Inspired Classroom, the teacher fills the role of the facilitator that sets up a series of activities that lead the students as they learn on their own. This year that flexibility has enabled her students to participate in the Urgent Evoke Game created by Jane McGonigal and the World Bank Institute to help students learn about their role as global citizens and future problem solvers. She has incorporated her own game site for the kids, Collabornation, around the games central themes; food security, energy, water security, disaster relief, poverty, pandemic, education, global conflict and human rights which align perfectly with her 7th grade world geography curriculum.

 

Susan has designed a program called Collabornation http://fishersu.wix.com/collabornation

 for her students which incorporates games such as Evoke http://www.urgentevoke.com/

Links that Susan shared during the session included
Camtasia  http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html

Wix http://www.wix.com/

Evoke http://www.urgentevoke.com/

Edmodo http://www.edmodo.com/

Collabornation http://fishersu.wix.com/collabornation

A vimeo about Evoke http://vimeo.com/9723245

A screencast of a CNN segment about Evoke http://www.screencast.com/t/FnvbFTWMD

Susan Fisher’s Scoop.It E-Portfolio http://www.scoop.it/t/susanfisher1

Susan Fisher is @fishersu on Twitter

The recording of the session can be found at https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/recording/playback/link/table/dropin?sid=2008350&suid=D.67BBD9AB93B6AB94176FA74CBE7AE1

 

Re-cataloguing the Gifted Resources Library

Recently I have embarked on the task of re-cataloguing the Gifted Resources Library. Prior to moving from Croydon to Rosebud I returned the 300 VAGTC Library books which I had been housing and circulating to the VAGTC and gave a large number of the 700 Gifted Resources library books to a local homeschooling group.
So I took the Library page down from the Gifted Resources website.

Also I have a stack of new books which I have bought and kind people have donated for Gifted Resources library which have not yet been catalogued and classified.

When I prepared to update the Gifted Resources library catalogue I found that the program I had been using is no longer freeware. So I have started afresh using Excel spreadsheets.

I am enjoying the re-cataloguing as I do not have a time deadline for the work and can pause to read the books as I  assign a classification number and record the details. Some of the books have been signed by the authors.
Also I am reminded of the kindness of the people who donated books to the library – Catriona Coote, Gail Forbes, Jennifer Grant and several others.

When the re-cataloguing is complete I will add the Libray page again and post the catalogue on Gifted Resources website.

#GT Chat goes to TAGT 12

There will not be a Twitter #gtchat session this week due to the US Thanksgiving holiday but next week will be very exciting.

Lisa Conrad, (@gtchatmod) the moderator of #gtchat, will be attending and giving presentations at the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented Building Connections Conference  in Dallas, November 28 – 30, 2012 and TAGT’s Parent Conference on November 30th.

Lisa will be presenting sessions titled “Why You Should #gtchat on Twitter and, “Collaboration, Not Confrontation: Parents and Teachers Working Together”

On Friday, November 30^th, #gtchat will be live from the Social Connections Area in the Exhibit Hall. It will begin @10:30AM CT for conference attendees (although everyone is invited online) and from 11AM to Noon CT [Find your time here.] on Twitter. The topic will be “Building Bridges with #gtchat”.
Following chat, there will be a 40 minute Tweet-Up for those at the conference.

Chat participants on Twitter are invited to tweet about how they have connected with others via #gtchat and how it has affected their lives. Many friendships have been made and many hours of professional development have been delivered since its beginning in January 2010.

In preparation for this chat, Lisa has provided some of the questions that will be presented during the chat on November 30^th. It is hoped that online Tweeps will share with conference attendees the benefits of weekly chats.

Questions:

1) How has #gtchat connected you to the gifted community?

2) How do you use Twitter in your daily life?

3) How has #gtchat affected how you parent/teach?

4) Are you involved in other Twitter chats?

Read all about it on the #gtchat powered by TAGT blog at http://globalgtchatpoweredbytagt.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/gtchat-goes-to-tagt-12/

International Connections

At the Global Education Conference in November 2012, David Stoloff, Professor of Educational Technology at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, Connecticut, and I discussed how gifted students might connect to the world. David invited students and parents to explore http://www.epals.com/  for collaborative projects among classrooms throughout the world.

For college and university students and educators, David invited people to visit http://interconescu.wordpress.com/  One may post a comment on this blog that David would see or email him at stoloffd@easternct.edu to explore becoming involved in international classroom exchanges for college students.

David Stoloff
David L. Stoloff, Ph.D., Professor, Education Department,
Director, Center for Educational Excellence, and
President, University Senate (2011 – )
Eastern Connecticut State University
83 Windham Street, Webb Hall Room 150, LIB 431
Willimantic, CT 06226
tel. no. (860) 465 – 5501, or CEE – 465-4567, 465-0028
email: stoloffd@easternct.edu    
web: http://stolofd.wordpress.com  

Fine Focus Webinar Part 2

Jo Hart has posted on her E-verything! Blog http://johart1.edublogs.org/2012/11/15/edublogs-webinar-overviews-pt-2-de-bono-action-shoes-for-2e-students-a-serendipity-shared-tools/  an overview of the second part of my Fine Focus session ‘Which de Bono Action Shoes are best for a 2E student on Gagne’s DMGT Road?’

The session which was recorded and can still be accessed using the link https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/nativeplayback.jnlp?sid=vclass&psid=2012-10-25.1520.D.4C3548A84E624FA254CD6511B7CA09.vcr

I began with a brief recap of the first session see Jo Hart’s post at http://johart1.edublogs.org/2012/10/23/webinar-overviews-edublogs-serendipity-de-bono-action-shoes-for-2e-students/

Topics covered in the recap were

• Edward de Bono’s Six Action Shoes
• Gagne’s Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent;
• the Six Action Shoes in the context of the Feetspeak Quest Map;
• a reminder of the six shoes and their relationship to the Gagne DMGT model.

The main focus of the second session was a consideration of combinations and variations in the shoes. We explored the possible combinations of two shoe types to produce modified action plans. I also shared some extra shoe types which I have added  that broaden the program possibilities including Sprite’s plaster cast that symbolizes the support that may be available through eligibility for funding!

We looked at the needs of 2E students and the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. methods of varying the program to make provisions for them and discussed them.

GLOBALEDCON 12

The free, online Global Education Conference starts Monday, November 12 and runs around the clock for five days. No registration is required you are encouraged to join the network for email updates and to connect with presenters and participants.
http://www.globaleducationconference.com/

The conference schedule can be found here
http://www.globaleducationconference.com/page/2012-sessions-and-schedule

This is the conference schedule for Victoria Australia
http://www.globaleducationconference.com/page/globaledcon-schedule-gmt-11-1

To get you started there is a ‘How to do it’ prezi by Shamblesguru Chris Smith at
http://prezi.com/ws-gofk52o3w/global-education-conference-2012/

He has also posted a video about Finding a session and connecting on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FippJek0MyY&feature=youtu.be 

The conference presentations will be given in Blackboard Collaborate webinar rooms and you can keep up to date with news of the conference by using the #globaled12 hashtag on Twitter.

Skype Film Discussion

At noon next Tuesday 13 November I will be talking to group of parents in Texas about Film Discussions http://www.giftedresources.org/gr/films.htm  and how they can be used by parents, teachers and gifted kids and we will endeavour to have a mini discussion on the film The Incredibles.

The announcement is at http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Upcoming-GT-Events-in-SBISD.html?soid=1101274885600&aid=4NkrBXAR3hM
 
We will be using Skype.

Dr Lynette Breedlove will print the handouts, facilitate the discussion and screen the PowerPoint presentation in Texas and I will talk to them from the bungalow in Victoria, Australia.

Oh, did I mention that noon Tuesday in Texas is 5.00 am Wednesday in Victoria?

World Clock Meeting Planner meeting planner at http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html