Teacher+Guide

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=**Project Lemonade** **Teacher Guide**= = =

**Rationale**
This is a collaborative project with the Lower Merion School District in Ardmore, PA, and classrooms around the globe. Inspired by the true story of Alex Scott, the Lemon Project was started to get kids to think about how they can make a difference in the world. Alex's Lemonade Stand has gained national attention, and has raised millions of dollars for pediatric Cancer Research. This project will encompass the participation of classrooms all over the world. A 5 month long project duration will enable classrooms to connect, whenever, wherever. 5 videoconference events will take place to get the excitement going, and connect kids from other countries. Through videoconferncing and blogging, students from differene cultures will work together to solve real problems in their own school, community, country, and the world. Students will debate, discuss, and generate questions based on essential questions that will drive the project. The project will culminate with a product to be shared via video, podcast, etc. **This project is about real world problems and how we deal with them.**

**The BIG Idea**:
How can kids make a difference? (Alex's Lemonade stand is just one example!) When life hands "you" lemons, what will "you" do? How will "you" make lemonade?

**Project Goals:**

 * Get kids connecting globally whenever, wherever
 * Interacting with students from other cultures
 * Getting kids to solve real world problems
 * Tapping into different learning styles through creative uses of technology and choice of project ideas
 * Interaction and participation beyond just the VC component via wiki, blog, skype, other web 2.0 tools
 * Project will be **//Student- Driven//**


 * 5 month long project
 * Set Videoconferences up with kids hosting and coordinate with different time zones
 * 3 Videconference events January, March, and May- 60-90 minutes each
 * Participants will be asked to share what they've done in the 2nd and 3rd videoconference segments.
 * Schools may need to be flexible to participate when they are not normally in session due to time zone differences.

**Classroom Requirements:**

 * Each class will post blog comments once a month and respond to another comment
 * Each class will have their own wiki page (within the project wiki) to construct whenever, wherever- Creativity is encouraged!!
 * Each class will produce a 2-4 minute "reflective" video on the project

**Individual Students Requirement:**

 * Each student will produce a reflective project to answer the question, "When life hands you lemons, what would would you do?"
 * Student's will choose the medium- samples: a podcast, a persuasive writing piece, a written narrative, a poem, a musical song or rap
 * Rubric will be provided to all participating schools as a framework or guideline


 * Participating teachers will have full support on getting over the "tech" hurdles. We will help you with the blogging, wikis, podcasting,videoconferencing, etc.** **We plan to hold mini webinars or videoconferences just for teachers or facilitators during the project duration.**

**(Due to International time zones, times and dates TBD)**
We will have a better understanding of the times and dates once registration closes. Keep in mind that most of this project will be done outside of the videoconference events.

__I. Professional Development (November TBD)__
 * 1) All participating teachers will meet via videoconference to discuss format, goals, and requirements of the project
 * 2) Session will last for approx one hour
 * 3) We will have an open Q&A session
 * 4) Teachers will need to look into firewall issues regarding the project blog and wiki
 * 5) Having a laptop or desktop during the session is required
 * 6) Teachers will be encouraged to connect with one school from another country or region

__II. Opening Segue / How can kids make a difference in school?__
 * 1) Introductions- each school will need to introduce themselves- creativity is highly encouraged for the introduction!
 * 2) Lower Merion VJ's will call each school for their 60 second intro
 * 3) The LM VJ's will open the event with a project overview- project blog and wiki
 * 4) Each school will have an opportunity to discuss the issues in their schools and develop solutions to those issues
 * 5) Discuss culminating video- start thinking of ideas of Kids making a difference. What does it mean to you?
 * 6) Closing comments


 * Begin blogging on communities
 * Start building your class wiki page

__III. How can kids make a difference in their community?__
 * 1) Opening Remarks
 * 2) Blog of the month- Making a difference in your community!
 * 3) Wiki Page of the Month!
 * 4) Mystery Guest- Liz/Jay Scott, parents of Alex Scott
 * 5) Lm VJ's will call each school for discussion on issues in communities and discuss solutions
 * 6) Q&A
 * 7) Closing Comments

__IV. How can kids make a difference in their country__
 * Begin blogging on country issues
 * Continue building your class wiki page
 * 1) Opening Remarks
 * 2) Blog on the Month!
 * 3) Wiki Page of the Month!
 * 4) Mystery Guest- ?
 * 5) LM Vj's will call each school for discussion on issues in their countries and discuss solutions
 * 6) Q&A
 * 7) Closing Comments


 * Begin blogging on world issues
 * Continue building your class wiki page
 * Video Project due next month!

__V. Closing event / How can kids make a difference in the world__
 * 1) Opening Remarks
 * 2) Blog of the Month
 * 3) Wiki of the Month
 * 4) Mystery guest- ?
 * 5) LM Vj's will call each school for discussion on issues in the world and discuss solutions
 * 6) Culminating Video Projects- each school will get to view 2-4 minute video of the project
 * Response to the original question: How can kids make a difference? When life hands you lemons, what do you do?
 * 1) Announce best video project

http://projectlemonade.blogspot.com/

 * Restricted access for steering committee- Post Bi-Weekly Questions for Classroom Discussion.
 * All participating schools are required to make at least ONE post a month to any or all questions OR comments of others
 * Each month we will have a different focus on a topic (Ex: school, community, country, world)
 * Participants will use the comments to post their stories/ideas/experiences.
 * Comments can be made by one individual student, many students, OR an entire class as one.
 * the blog is a free for all- encourage students to check frequently in school or at home and join the discussion
 * Remember, others will be responding to the main question OR a comment someone made- even you!
 * The blog will help mainstream the project so that schools can post their ideas, stories, and comments to others

These are some sample blog questions
 * Blog Questions:**
 * -Who is one person you admire and why? Living? Non Living?
 * -Have you ever faced a challenge? Describe that challenge and tell how you overcame that challenge
 * -Describe a problem happening in your community and give some possible solutions to fix it
 * -Where do problems come from?
 * -Who inspires you in your school? community? Country? World?
 * -What is one world problem that stands out to you the most?
 * -Who are people we look up to and Why?
 * -What Does It Mean To Make a Difference?

http://projectlemonade.wikispaces.com/

 * Open for all participating schools-
 * Each school will have access to their own page in the wiki- creativity is highly encouraged
 * We will also encourage other schools willing to participate who do not have videoconference capabilities
 * There will be a page for instructions on using the wiki, and we will discuss it at our professional development session
 * Sample pages might include:
 * We will have separate pages to post resources/links to stories
 * Post "best blog comment" page each month, or each driving question and include class picture
 * List of problems generated by kids
 * On your class page, you can create a link for each student to have his or her own page! Have them develop their own answer to what it means to make a difference.

**Podcasts:**
(Link will be available shortly)
 * A podcast server will be available for anyone interested in contributing to the podcast
 * This is not a requirement, just an option for creativity
 * Further details on podcasting coming soon


 * Poetry Contest
 * Art contest
 * Music Contest
 * Persuasive Writing Contest

**Overcoming Obstacles:**

 * Set up a staff development session VC and walk them through the wiki and blog...setting expectations Q&A
 * Give teachers activities, discussions to do with kids..writing assignments etc..
 * I can create a short video tutorial on how to use the wiki & blog
 * I think we'll need to do some end work on teaching the teachers to make this successful...Most have never done a project like this. Once they realize that it's not much different than what they already do, just different, they'll be ok.