Who's+Who?

**Tom McGee**
**Project Leader** [|Lower Merion School District], **Ardmore, Pa** EMAIL** [|mcgeet@lmsd.org]
 * BLOG** [|http://forwardslant.blogspot.com]
 * WiKi** http://tommcgee.wikispaces.com
 * TWITTER: mcgeet

I am the technology specialist for a School District outside of Philadelphia- Lower Merion SD. We are a public school K-12 with roughly 5,000 students. We are English speaking, although we have ESL and foreign languages taught in our schools (mainly Spanish and French). You might have heard of Kobe Bryant? He was one of our students! We are a leading school district in technology, and have been exploring global learning these past few years via videoconferencing. What we are asking for in this project is NOT perfection, or even close to it. As new as some of you are to a project like this, keep in mind that we are all new to each other, and trying to predict an outcome of this project is impossible. Student learning and engagement is the most important aspect. We ask that you become fearless, flexible, and open to new ideas during this learning process. (...and a good sense of humor would most certainly help!) Best of Luck!

[|Hartman Public School] ,Aurora, Ontario, Canada Websites: [|Literacy Links] [|Techie Kids] email: [|chris.prefontaine@yrdsb.edu.on.ca]
 * Chris Prefontaine**


 * Hartman Puiblic School** is a newly opened (Sept. 07) K to 8 school in the suburb of Aurora Ontario. I have 35 students in a grade 6 (11 years old) with a variety of behavioral problems. All but one or two of my students were born in Canada and all speak English very well. Some of their parents were born in Romania, Albania, Iran, Columbia, Afghanistan, China, Viet Nam, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Jamaica, and Cuba. It is an middle to upper-middle class area although money might be an issue in a couple of families.

I would like to know more about our timelines and expectations in the project whenever possible. At the moment, my teleconferencing equipement has not arrived and I will need to give some notice to a friend to be able to borrow his "stuff". Depending in "events" and activities, I am thinking it might be appropriate for me to try and involve our grade 7 or 8 in this project as well. I am looking forward to working with everyone!

[|G. W. Carver Middle School, Chester, VA]
 * Lee Stone**
 * **BLOG** [|http://blog.mrstone.us]
 * Website: [|www.mrstone.us]
 * **EMAIL:** [|lee_stone@ccpsnet.net]

I am part of a two person team this year, and we have 45 total students. I teach History and English 7 to 12 and 13 year-old students. History and Science are semester-long courses with students switching in January. We are located in beautiful Chester, VA. It is a small bedroom community off I-95 about 25 miles south of Richmond, VA. Our school population pulls from the very rich to the very poor. This year, I do not have any international or first-generation students. I will be building a class subsection to my website, www.mrstone.us. I will also be setting u a blog tool for Project Lemonade there. You can reach me through the website or at [|lee_stone@ccpsnet.net]. I've had more interest in this project, with these students than any in a long time.

The sixth grade Communication Arts class from Bonduel Middle School is proud to be part of this project! Our class consists of 19 American English speaking eleven and twelve year-old students.

We're located 30 minutes northwest of the infamous Lambeau Field where the Green Bay Packers play in Wisconsin, USA. This is Packer Country, even though our crazy teacher is a Dallas Cowboy football fan... there's always one rebel in every group. Our baseball team is the Milwaukee Brewers, and September was an exciting month for our team! Our community members enjoy bratwaurts and burgers hot off the grill while they enjoy spectating our favorite sports.

We live in a rural setting where deer hunting, fishing, and other outdoor sports are valued. The village of Bonduel only has approximately 1,200 people residing here, and you can feel the small-town atmosphere upon arrival. You may witness Amish residents in their horses and buggies riding down the road, or see a father tossing an American football to his kids in a backyard.

Celebrations are a staple in this area. You can travel to German, Polish, Norwegian, and other heritage festivals all within a couple hours from here. In this area, our ancestors are primarily from northern Europe.

Feel free to contact us! Our e-mail address is sorlilis@bonduel.k12.wi.us__

Talk to you soon! Mrs. Sorlie's 6th-grade Communication Arts Class

Marlene Allen / Tambra Lewis [|North Daviess Elementary School], Elnora, IN Email: tlewis@ndaviess.k12.in.us Hello! We are Tammy Lewis and Marlene Allen. We team teach fifth grade at North Daviess Elementary School, in Elnora, Indiana. Together we have 41 students. We are located in a rural area in the southwestern part of the state. Our school is a K-6 building with a population of 660 students. Many of the students who attend North Daviess are Amish or Menonite. Several of the families in the area do not have public electric or phone service in their homes. Our system is consolidated and both the grade school and the high school are located on the same campus, enabling cooperative activities between the two student bodies. For a small school we have an advanced technology program in place for our students. We have 4 fifth grade classrooms and enough lap tops for half of our students. That means that we have laptops to use in our classrooms for 2 grading periods (9 weeks), each year. We also have two computer labs in our school, one in the intermediate wing and one in the primary wing of our building. The support staff in our corporation helps us with the upkeep and class projects. They include high school students that sign up for the job during one or more periods each day.**
 * Email: mallen@ndaviess.k12.in.us

Don Douglas Email: ddouglas@qa.org.qf WiKi: one day in the near future Hey there, Working away trying to get report cards done.Blah Blah Blah. On the good side, its 30 degrees out and the family is great. Students are in the midst of an inquiry unit on Rocks. They are currently teaching the class, making my life a lot easier and there confidence soar. Besides school life, Qatar is a good place to be. Oil prices have caused this sleepy country to flourish and produce feets that would take the western world twice the time. As in buildings going up and events being played out. Being in a small country you have the advantage of experiencing things somewhat unattainable back home in Canada. Walking down the fairway with Sergio Garcia or front row tennis match with Hingis(spelled wrong), pretendingto be Ricky Martin. Being in the stands hearing the F1 motorcycles roar by or watching the speed boat races down by the Corniche. Point being, great place for a young family, hesitant for a single female, but eye opening for all.
 * [|Qatar Academy Primary School]**

Teacher: Devoni Wardlow Email**: dwardlow@lcisd.org** Wiki**: http://bjheagles.wikispaces.com/**
 * Howdy! Th****e Briscoe Junior High Eagles are located in Richmond, Texas about 30 miles southwest of Houston on the Brazos River. Our town is known as the place where "The Old 300" landed, the first American settlers in Texas back in the early 1800s. Our school is seven years old and has grades 6-8. We have a diverse population of Caucasian, Hispanic, and African-American students and a small but growing percentage of Asian students. I teach 7th and 8th grade students in Keyboarding, Critical Thinking (Creative Problem Solving for Gifted and Talented students), and Journalism. I plan to combine my Journalism (9 - 8th graders) and Critical Thinking (16 - 7th graders) for this project. I have done numerous one hour distance learning projects in the past and am excited to be participating in this complex but meaningful project. My students have no idea what they are in for - but are thrilled to be a part of it. This wiki stuff is new to me so please be patient!**

Email: ValerieSchmitz@hasd.org Teacher: Crystal Gorwitz Email: CrystalGorwitz@hasd.org Hello! Hortonville Middle School is located in Hortonville, WI about 30 miles south of Green Bay. Our school district's mascot is the polar bear. Our class is an incredibly talented and expressive 8th grade health class who likes technology. The population of our class is primarily caucasian. We are very interested in investigating issues relating to the Polar Bear (our beloved mascot). In particular, we understand that the Polar Bear is in danger of being extinct. Why is the Polar Bear in danger of extinction and how can we help save the Polar Bear on a school level? on a local level? nationally? globally?**
 * Project Leader: Valerie Schmitz

Peggy Ramzinski **[|Wilder Intermediate School], Schertz, TX** Website: **[|http://www.scuc.txed.net/~pramzinski]** WiKi: **http://ramzinski.wikispaces.com** email: **pramzinski@scuc.txed.net

Howdy from Texas! Yeehaw! (We really don't talk like that in Texas, but //ya'll// may already know that!) :) I am pictured here with my very wonderful and supportive teaching partners at Wilder Intermediate School. We are a 5th and 6th grade public school with roughly 635 students. Most of us teach in ‘clusters’ of three, which gives us about 74 students total. I teach Reading and Language Arts for our cluster. We are located in Schertz, Texas, which is a small suburb just north of San Antonio, and about an hour south of Austin (our state capital) – all of which is situated just off of the I-35 corridor. Since we are located near many military bases, we have a very diverse population. Our students consist of a wide variety of ethnic, as well as economic, backgrounds. If you drove around the neighborhoods we serve, you would see everything from mobile homes to 4,000 square foot houses. We have a great technology program which enables me to dive right in to this project with a great deal of support. I’m excited about the learning that will happen through all of this and can’t wait to work with everyone.**

Jan Abernethy [|East Elementary School], Greenville, PA Website: [|Mrs. Abernethy's Cyber Chickens] Wiki: Mrs. Abernethy's Cyber Chickens Email: jabernethy@greenville.k12.pa.us or janabernethy@gmail.com Skype: janabernethy Twitter: jabernethy (Picture of my daughters and me in DC. I am in the middle.) Greetings from Greenville, Pennsylvania. Greenville is a small rural town of about 3,000 in the northwestern part of the state. We are over an hour drive from either Pittsburgh or Cleveland, so there are split loyalties between Steelers and Browns fans. I, of course, am a Steelers fan!

East Elementary houses approximately 350 students in grades 4-6. I am a 5th grade teacher and this year my class calls themselves Mrs. Abernethy's Cyber Chickens. I am in a self-contained classroom, and I teach my students all subjects except we switch for math. My students are very excited to be working with other schools on this project, and they can't wait to get started.

[|Ms Chrissy Hellyer] Email: teachingsagittarian@gmail.com Website: [|Room18tis & Kawekakea] Wiki: Room18tis Skype: nzchrissy Twitter: nzchrissy

Kia Ora from Taradale Intermediate School, Taradale, Napier, New Zealand. Napier is on the East Coast of the North Island (about half way down). We are a class of 32 Year 7 students (11-12 year olds). Whilst our cultural backgrounds are diverse, we are quite similar to one another as most of us can only speak English. Our entire school population is 579 students in Year 7 and Year 8. We have a semi-digital classroom and it's the only classroom in our school like that at the moment. Our school year will not begin until February 2008 so we look forward to joining you all then.




 * Project Leader:** Kraig Western **Email: westernk@winneconne.k12.wi.us**
 * School:** Winneconne Middle School **Location**: Winneconne, Wisconsin
 * Wiki**: http://kwestern.wikispaces.com

Hello everyone! I am Kraig Western and I teach 7th grade social studies at Winneconne Middle School in Winneconne, Wisconsin (United States). We are located about 10 miles southwest of Oskhosh, Wisconsin and about 90 miles north of Milwaukee. On a daily basis I have 120 different students enter my room for 7th grade social studies. Our population at Winneconne lacks diversity with about 98% of our middle schoolers being white. In 7th grade I get the luxury of opening students minds to a world outside of the United States. We locate, anaylze, and try to understand the differences among different cultures in the eastern hemisphere. During the process of this investigation I hope to create knowledge and respect for cultures outside of our own. When I heard about this project it seemed that it would provide another avenue for my students to explore a world outside of their own.

Email: moyv@lmsd.org, jordanj@lmsd.org, floriam@lmsd.org
 * Belmont Hills Elementary School**
 * City:** Ardmore, Pennsylvania
 * Teachers:** Vivian Moy, Jason Jordan & Michelle Florian

Hello everyone! We are the hometown school for this project. Young Alex Scott set up her first lemonade stand only minutes away from our school. The entire community was so proud when her actions received attention across the United States.

Belmont Hills is a school comprised of 436 students. Our school lacks diversity as well, as over 80% of the students are Caucasian. There are 3 third grade classrooms, and each class has 24 or 25 students. Vivian supports several third graders in her learning support classroom. Jason and Michelle are classroom teachers.

We are looking forward to videoconferencing and allowing our students to interact with students all over the world, especially since our Social Studies curriculum deals with world culture and world geography.

City:** Austin. TX Janice Friesen jfriesen@eanes.k12.tx.us Jon Samuelson jsamuels@eanes.k12.tx.us
 * Barton Creek Elementary School
 * Teachers:**
 * Website:** [|http://bce.eanes.k12.tx.us]

Hi everyone! We are a K-5 school located in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. Jon is teacher of the 4th grade class which will be participating in the project. Janice is the Computer Technology Coordinator for the school which is really more like the position of a tech coach. We received a Polycom unit this fall and are excited to be using it in such a terrific project. It is new to us, so we hope you will all be understanding of our mistakes! There are 25 Fourth Graders in the class who are participating and I think that as the time goes on the other three Fourth Grade classes will be very interested in it also.

E-mail abray@qf.org.qa

Hi, I am Avril Bray, a grade 5 teacher in Qatar Academy in Doha, Middle East. I inserted the picture of my class from the Garangoa festival where they come in national dress to give you a flavour of our school. We were orginally set up to educate the local children in Qatar. Expats were welcomed (after passing a test) to allow an international feeling and allow the different nationalities to gain from the cultural experiences and to challenge the locals academically. The students are fabulous and I am continually reminded that kids are kids whereever they are in the world, they are very excited about being involved in this project and thankgoodness are more computer literate than me, otherwise I will not mange the technology!