OTEN GRANT APPLICATION FORM
NAMES OF APPLICANTS
Project Leader: Krystin
Team Members:
TITLE OF PROJECT: Virtual Pen Pals
APPLICANT(S)’ INSTITUTION: Pacific University (Forest Grove Campus)
ADDRESS(of Project Leader or sole applicant)
Phone & Fax numbers:
E-mail address:
SYNOPSIS OF PROJECT(attach additional pages if needed)
This is a social studies project designed for a first grade classroom studying Mexico. The children in this classroom come from very diverse backgrounds. Many were born in countries other than the United States (including Mexico), and are still trying to master the English language and culture. Some take annual vacation trips to far away places, while others have yet to be out of Beaverton.
Pen pal programs have been around for years; they enable people from across the globe to share information and even become friends. Teachers often employ this teaching tool with their students when the class is learning about a foreign country. The students send letters and pictures; exchanging information about their lives, countries and cultures. However, this version of communication is a little outdated and far too abstract for first graders who are wholly engrossed in Piaget’s pre operational stage and only beginning to move into the concrete operational stage. Children at this point need to interact with their environment, manipulate it, and learn from “doing”. That is why I have come up with a way to tweak the old-fashioned pen pal idea and make it applicable to the first grade class.
Through this project students will learn in ways not currently available to them. With the digital camera provided to me by this generous grant the students will participate in a ‘virtual’ pen pal program with a school in Mexico. Each classroom will be able to learn first hand what it is like in their partner classrooms community. Each class will be able to ‘teach’ the other about the people, culture and history of their country. Students will video tape themselves (with the assistance of the teacher –and a tripod!) asking questions to their partner classroom as well as answering the questions they received. Students, with parent permission, will take the camera home to video tape some of their own lives, where they live, what they do for fun. This will create a personal experience with the project. It will create a deep sense of ownership and accomplishment in the students. Allowing students to learn information directly from children in Mexico will create the hands on, concrete environment students at this age need to truly understand the information. Students will be able to experience, first hand, Mexico, it’s culture, and it’s people. They will be given this information in ‘kid language’ so that it is easily understandable and attainable.
Students will gain a vast knowledge of Mexico as well as a deeper understanding of diversity and the fact that no matter how different we may see there are similarities among all of us. Students will also gain practice in speech, a skill requiring attention in first grade. Most importantly these students will gain experience with technology not necessarily available to them otherwise. They will learn how to shoot video, edit, and produce video. They will become knowledgeable in the use of iMovie and the use of a camcorder. They will gain confidence in their skills as a student, a speaker, a producer, and filmmaker.
An added benefit to this grant would be the exposure to technology my mentor teacher would get from this project. I have a fantastic mentor teacher but she is the first to admit that she is not very technologically savvy when it comes to technology. She is very excited for me to do this project since not only will it be a great experience for the kids but she will learn a lot as well. She is timid to try new things with technology and I think this will be a great way to get her involved in a safe learning environment.
I look forward to sharing my project at the OTEN conference this spring. I think that this is a project that will be fairly easy to do in many classrooms across Oregon and I would love to get the word out!
BUDGET
Amount Requested: $449.95
Breakdown of expenditures: (please indicate final guardianship of any materials purchased as part of grant)
Cannon ZR 300 Digital Camcorder (see store.apple.com for details) $449.95
Krystin will have final guardianship of the camcorder for use in her future classroom.
Applicant Signature(s)______Date______
Mentor Teacher Signature______Date______