Telecollaborative e-Notebook

Christy Herrera
Cadre 19 EDTC 526

eNotebook
Christy Herrera Cadre 19 EDTC 518 January 27, 2012

Homeless Global Learning Project

Telecollaborative Structures Utilized

Global Classrooms Information Exchanges Parallel Problem Solving Social Action

To be implemented beginning January 31, 2012

Implementation Plan

For this GLP, I plan on collaborating with the ASG/Leadership teacher. As an introduction, we will have the students take the online survey found at http://www.learnmyself.com/poll65475xb9BD44Be. This will serve as a springboard for a discussion about homelessness and the possible reasons a person may find him or herself homeless. The next activity we will do is the What Would I Do Without? activity. Students will each create their own Word Webs. They will choose one thing off their want list and will be challenged to go for 24 hours with that thing. They will be asked to reflect about it on the GLP Live Journal. We will also have a round table discussion about the students findings. The following week, the students will be challenged to choose one thing off their need list and to go 24 hours with it; again, they will reflect about this on the GLP Live Journal, and we will have a discussion about it in class. At this point, the students will be required to conduct their research. According to the GLP, as they are researching they are required to post their findings to the GLP Community Forum. They will create a PowerPoint presentation and submit it to be posted to the GLP web site. Students will then design an informational flyer that provides resources for the homeless in their area of research; they will email the flyer to the GLP coordinator. After completing the above activities, the students will then collaborate to create a service project that will benefit a homeless shelter or organization in our area. Besides taking picture to submit to the GLP organizer, we will also use those photos for our school yearbook, school web site, and district web site.

Homeless Global Learning Project - Home

Homeless Global Learning Project

HOME ABOUT PARTICIPATE CONNECT RESOURCES PRIVACY CONTACT SITE MAP

Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered
Proverbs 21:13

There's a problem....
The number of homeless people each year just in the United States is astounding. Yet whats more astounding is that 40% of the homeless population is families with children! 1.37 million (or 39%) of the total homeless population are children under the age of 18 (Wikipedia 2011). Homelessness effects the future of these children. Many homeless children will drop out of school and become homeless themselves.

http://homelessglp.weebly.com/index.html[1/21/2012 4:37:40 PM]

Homeless Global Learning Project - Home

This Project is for....

Anyone 6th grade and up who wants to make a difference and help the homeless! You may participate with your class, a school club, or as an individual.

More info

Please join us!

Create a free website with

http://homelessglp.weebly.com/index.html[1/21/2012 4:37:40 PM]

Globablogs

Telecollaborative Structures Utilized

Global Classrooms Electronic Publishing Peer Feedback Parallel Problem Solving

To be implemented Spring 2012 (probably in February or March)

Implementation Plan

This GLP will also involve collaboration with the ASG/Leadership class and teacher. I am waiting to hear back from the creator. The project is designed for grades 6-8 and I teach high school; however, I am hopeful that we will be able to participate. Activity 1 is titled Me, Myself, and I. It serves as a way for the students to introduce themselves in a fun way. Many of my high school students do still struggle with grammar, punctuation, and spelling, so I see a benefit to them of doing an activity like this. Activity 2 is Its Story Time. I might exclude the possibility of the students reporting on a movie and make this all about something they have read outside of school. I think this might be an enjoyable activity for the students and I often see students who really do enjoy reading outside of class time. This would give them an opportunity to share the kind of literature they like, instead of having to always focus on literature that is assigned to them that they might not necessarily like. Activity 3 is about Local Trends. Who knows more about trends than high school students? Again, I love this activity because I think the students will be truly interested in it. Activity 4 is Problem Solving. Again, I may change this a little for my students. Instead of them identifying a problem and asking for how to solve it I would have them write about how they would solve the issue. This will be a good practice for them in the art of persuasion. All of the above activities will also give the students the opportunity to respond and give feedback to each other, which will be a required part of each activity. I find that students respond well to peer feedback I think they find more validity in peer feedback as opposed to teacher feedback (in some cases not all!)

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Spring into Blogging!

19
Jan

We already have 1 class signed up for the Spring installment of Globablog. If you have been hesitating to join, now is the time! Globablog is an excellent way to teach blogging in the classroom. Your class can go at it's own pace and still collaborate with others. Whether you can invest one day a week or five, Globablog invites you to join us this spring! 0 Comments

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Fall Update

19
Jan

Thanks to our participants in Costa Rica, Dominica, and Korea for participating in Globablog 2011. The students' blogs are kept in password protected area of our website, but behind the scenes there was a lot of collaboration taking place. The three classes that participated this fall had a great time getting to know one another through commenting. 0 Comments

Calendar Change
To accomodate for more participation, the Globablog Project has changed the

30
Oct

calendar. Classes are now welcome to join and participate in the project at any time. Students will still be able to asynchronously comment and connect through comments. Think of Globablog as a starting point for using blogging regularly in your classroom. If you have any questions, or would like more information on where to begin, please email at info@globablog.com. 0 Comments

What is a Global Learning Project?

19
Jul

At the heart, a global learning project connects 2 classrooms from different countries and cultures in one collaborative learning experience. In Globablog, middle school classes from around the world are encouraged to join in through blogging. Students will write individual blog posts about the same topics ultimately describing their own unique perspectives. From there, students will connect on a global level with other participating students by commenting and having conversations about their work. In the end, students will work together to solve a problem in a collaborative online environment. What is global learning? Join Globalog 2011 and see for yourself! 0 Comments

In-Progress
Working hard on the Globablog website to get it ready for this year's project!! 0 Comments

13
Jul

Globablog
Global + Blog = Globablog 0 Comments

30
Jun

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Homeless GLP www.homelessglp.weebly.com

The students from Century Academys 2012 Leadership Class were eager to participate in the Homeless GLP from Cadre 18. I was able to collaborate with the Leadership teacher, Owen Ryan. We began on February 7, 2012. We were able to follow the implementation plan originally laid out with the exception of one activity. The first the students did was to take the survey about the homeless found at http://www.learnmyself.com/poll65475xb9BD44Be. We had a brief conversation later about why

students thought some people find themselves homeless. The students especially liked the activities of going 24 hours without something they want and then going 24 hours without something they need. We did put some limitations on the need experiment nobody was allowed to go 24 hours without water! Some student comments were very interesting. They were required to post to the GLP forums about their experiences. Here are some of their posts:

It wasnt as easy to get the students to post about their research findings. They were reluctant or maybe just forgot. I had to remind them quite a few times and even at that, not everybody posted in a timely manner. I did guide them a bit through the research process. Part of my requirement for this assignment was that they needed to turn in a one page document showing me what information they had gathered and where they were getting their information. I wasnt strict on format here I just wanted an idea that they were working and I also wanted to see if anybody was struggling so that I could help them out. Im glad I did this and will do it again in the future with this and other projects or assignments. I think the students appreciated it as well because it gave them feedback during their research process so that they knew whether or not they were on the right track. Here is what one student posted during her research phase. Unfortunately, I think most students waited until the very last minute to do thisand then they didnt have time to reply or comment on each others postings:

All students submitted a PowerPoint slideshow to report their research. I am attaching one at the end of this paper as an example. The only part of the project that is different than what was originally planned is the flyer. Students were originally going to create an informational flyer about resources for the homeless in the city they were researching. The end of the school year came about faster than we had anticipated and we just ran out of time to complete this part of the project. We did, however, do the culminating activity, which was to participate in a service project. The students chose to volunteer their time at a local church that offers a hot meal for the needy every Monday evening. They showed up early enough to help set up and serve the meal. The students were touched by this experience especially because it was not a huge operation. They were able to not only serve the food, but to sit and chat with some of the recipients. I think this especially impressed them because they had an opportunity to see that anyone is at risk of becoming homeless and the opportunity to sit and talk with someone who is experiencing homelessness made it more real for them.

What I learned from this project is that the next time I implement a GLP I am going to have to be more specific with the students about timelines, etc. Our school has a different format than most we only meet once a week. This makes it a little more difficult in some ways to keep this kind of project going. I am going to have to be more consistent and more firm about deadlines. Overall though, I think the students had a solid learning experience and I am excited to try this GLP again! The second GLP I was going to do with students was Globablog (http://www.globablog.com/). However, when I contacted the teacher who is facilitating this GLP, she let me know that she is firm about it only being for middle school students, and I teach high school.

Homelessness in Philadelphia, PA
Facts; who helps; how to help

General InformationMaking up the homeless population in Philadelphia are

Single men at 44% Single women at 13% Families with children at 36% Unaccompanied minors at 7%

Causes For HomelessnessMany factors put people at risk of homelessness: issues of unemployment and low wages, expensive housing, lack of health insurance all link to personal issues such as domestic violence, abuse of alcohol and other drugs, and serious mental and physical illnesses to create this persistent social problem of homelessness.

The most common causes seen in Philadelphia are alcohol/drug abuse, mental health, and physical health issues.

Challenges of HomelessnessHomeless people are particular victims of certain diseases: approximately 1/3 have mental illnesses; up to 1/2 have a current or past drug or alcohol addiction. Communicable diseases, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other infections, ravage the homeless population; trauma resulting from violence and conditions (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a big one). Homeless people have the same health problems as people with homes, but at rates 3 to 6 times greater than housed people. Without a home, there is no place to rest and recover from an illness or to treat an injury, and health problems tend only to get far worse before they get better.

Aid To The Homeless Over 40 homeless shelters in Philadelphia is more than

a start to the effort to cease homelessness. From specifically adolescent shelters, to shelters that house families, Philadelphia is making the strides towards a housed city. There are also plenty of organizations that get involved without providing shelter, some that help with providing food, some that donate goods directly to homeless shelters or homeless people on the streets, and some that provide more specific services.

Travelers Aid Family Service, for example, provides services for families as well as individual homeless people.

What Can I Do?

There are, as I said, over 40 shelters in Philadelphia, not including other organizations that give different kinds of aid to homeless. Among most of these, there are ways to donate online to provide money for the costs basic necessities any of these organizations may have.

Youth Emergency ServiceYES is a shelter for adolescents:

1526 Fairmont Ave Philadelphia, PA 19130 Phone Number: 215-787-0633 Youth Emergency Services

Youth Emergency Service (YES), founded in 1976, is the largest shelter in the Philadelphia area offering immediate housing to homeless and runaway youth. Beyond meeting the basic needs of our youth, YES offers many support services, including on-site medical treatment, counseling, educational enrichment and recreational opportunities. Annually, YES provides a safe and supportive environment to more than 400 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17. The shelters services include: Around-the-clock emergency shelter and protection for youth ages 12-17 Telephone hotline and referral services Medical exams and follow-up Mental health services Voluntary and confidential HIV/AIDS testing Counseling for teens and family members Intensive program for youth and families to preserve the family unit Supervised educational and recreational programs Outreach to parents, children and community agencies

Works Citedhttp://www.jefferson. edu/jeffhope/patientsvcs/HomelessnessFacts. cfm http://ysiphilly.org/programs/youthemergency-service/ http://www.taphilly.org/ http://www.projecthome.org/ http://www.homelessshelterdirectory.org/cgibin/id/city.cgi?city=Philadelphia&state=PA