Teachers Teaching Teachers #126 - Halloween, Screamo/Emo, and the Day of the Dead 10.22.08

Find out what happens when you bring together two Spanish Language teachers from the USA, an Emo student, and an English Language teacher from Mexico. On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers, Susan Ettenheim and Paul Allison invited three new teachers and a student to join them to think about how to connect accross and through cultures and language.

Joining us on this show:

• Christian, a 10th grader at East West School of International Studies, Flushing, NYC, USA
• Señorita Leslie Davison, Tercer grado de una primaria en Colorado, USA
• Marcy Webb, 8th grade Spanish teacher at the Watkinson School, Hartford, CT, USA
• Angeles B, an English as a Foreigh Language teacher on an island off the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico
• Bill Oneal, an English Teacher from Trenton Central High School, West, Trenton, NJ, USA

What are your ideas about Halloween and el Día de los Muertos? What are the similarities? What are the differences? Which would you/do you prefer to celebrate? Why?

We invite you to join the teachers and students who are posting their "Thoughts About Halloween and el Día de los Muertos" in the Spanish Language group on Youth Voices.

Join the Screamo/Emo Group

On the Youth Voices Screamo/Emo Group students began by asking each other:

1. Why is music so important to us and why do we need it?
2. Have you ever heard a song with such a deep meaning that it changed the way you think now?

Christian, a 10 grader at East-West School of International Studies, and the founding manager of the Screamo/Emo group invites you to add your thoughts about these questions.

 20:56:10 Paul Allison: Teachers Teaching Teachers will begin soon
20:57:35 Paul Allison: Hi Kim
20:57:42 KimBrosan: hi Paul
20:57:43 Paul Allison: We'll start in a couple of minutes.
20:57:47 Paul Allison: Are you a teacher?
20:57:49 KimBrosan: okay, thank you
20:57:57 KimBrosan: yes, a high school librarian
20:58:02 Paul Allison: welcome.
20:58:18 Paul Allison: BILL!
20:58:29 Paul Allison: can you join us via skype?
20:58:35 PeggyG: Hi all!
20:58:37 Bill O'Neal: Sure, but going for a glass of water...be right back.
20:58:40 Paul Allison: TTT will start momentarily
20:58:57 KimBrosan: hello Peggy
20:59:00 Paul Allison: Susan had Parent Teacher night... and just rushed to her home.
20:59:04 Paul Allison: Hi Peggy.
20:59:23 Paul Allison: I think Foreign Language is one of our agenda items.
20:59:31 Paul Allison: But also Screamo/Emo.
20:59:52 Bill O'Neal: i'm back and readt for a call...
20:59:57 PeggyG: Saw the tweet about Screamo/Emo :-) Looking forward to the conversation.
21:02:00 PeggyG: http://www.dial2do.com/  Have you seen this site? Liz Kolb talked about it on her radio show today and blogged about it. Fantastic tool! will translate phone calls to other languages. :-)
21:02:52 PeggyG: http://www.cellphonesinlearning.com/  You can read the description here on Liz's blog. Free and similar to JOTT (which now charges for most features)
21:03:28 Paul Allison: We are cracking it up!
21:03:33 Paul Allison: just a second.
21:03:52 SusanEttenheim: hi everyone
21:04:01 KimBrosan: hello Susan
21:04:03 PeggyG: Hi Susan! Pant! Pant! Great to see you!
21:04:05 alexr: Hi Everyone.
21:04:18 KimBrosan: hi Alexr
21:04:53 alexr: Hi Kim.
21:06:18 alexr: You guys streaming yet?l
21:08:04 SusanEttenheim: in one sec
21:08:11 alexr: Great.  Just checking.
21:08:13 alexr: Thanks.
21:08:44 PeggyG: http://youthvoices.net/node/582  Browse here while we wait for stream. :-)
21:09:37 angelesb: Hi everyone
21:09:43 SusanEttenheim: can everyone hear us?
21:09:52 PeggyG: audio is coming through for me now :-)
21:10:05 alexr: Got it.
21:10:05 angelesb: I can´t listen :-(
21:10:19 alexr: Sounds good.
21:10:23 PeggyG: Click on ETT-A to listen
21:11:05 PeggyG: volume is really weak for Marcie and ??
21:11:17 angelesb: I can listen now
21:11:25 PeggyG: Paul and Susan are very clear
21:12:15 SusanEttenheim: hi everyone can you hear us now ok?
21:12:44 PeggyG: can you do another sound check with Marcie and Leslie? can't hear them well
21:12:47 KimBrosan: I can hear fine
21:12:50 alexr: Susan -- THey both sound far away.  Can you turn your mic donw?
21:13:25 alexr: NP -- Or just back off the mic.
21:13:43 alexr: I know that editing the conversations afterwards
21:13:50 alexr: Everyone is coming through fine.
21:13:59 alexr: Same on the stream, but you should be fine.
21:14:05 alexr: Just edit at the end
21:14:06 PeggyG: everyone sounds far away for me except for Susan
21:15:16 myke lawyer: hello
21:15:23 KimBrosan: much better leslie
21:15:55 Paul Allison: I'm back
21:16:07 Paul Allison: Power outage...
21:16:10 PeggyG: Hi Myke
21:16:15 Paul Allison: We
21:16:18 KimBrosan: hi Myke
21:16:23 SusanEttenheim: yikes where are you?
21:16:24 Paul Allison: We'll start I think...
21:16:33 SusanEttenheim: ringing
21:16:35 SusanEttenheim: you
21:16:46 myke lawyer: hi dose any one have any information on eaching in japan
21:17:12 myke lawyer: teaching not eaching
21:17:27 PeggyG: Sorry Myke-I don't have any sources re teaching in Japan.
21:17:49 KimBrosan: none here either Myke
21:18:34 PeggyG: getting better Paul :-)
21:19:01 KimBrosan: hello gail
21:19:08 SusanEttenheim: hi gail!
21:19:09 MarcyWebb: Hello, Everyone!
21:19:19 Gail Desler: Hi Kim and everyone
21:19:20 SusanEttenheim: hi everyone - what a crazy night to get going!
21:19:53 PeggyG: What great guests! Looking forward to their stories. :-)
21:20:08 SusanEttenheim: thanks for being here peggy as always!
21:20:23 myke lawyer: i want to go to japan and i cant think of a way to get there
21:20:41 PeggyG: Always learn something new from your shows and meet such interesting people!
21:20:53 KimBrosan: hello sheila
21:21:03 PeggyG: Hi Sheila :-)
21:21:09 sheila: Hi Kim and all!
21:21:24 sheila: I'm still following you PeggyG  :)
21:21:45 PeggyG: http://youthvoices.net/node/582  screamo/Emo group
21:22:29 Gail Desler: Hello PeggyG
21:22:42 PeggyG: Hi Gail! Great to see you!
21:22:51 SusanEttenheim: hi bonnine louisiana welcome!
21:23:21 KimBrosan: hi Bonnine
21:23:29 SusanEttenheim: please everyone - I"m so pooped from parent teacher conferences tonight! please introduce yourself! where and what do yout teach?
21:23:54 KimBrosan: HS librarian, central PA
21:24:12 Gail Desler: I'll jump in, susan - I'm Gail from Calif - I provide tech support to teachers in my district
21:24:17 sheila: 7th grade science, seacoast NH
21:24:20 angelesb: I'm angelesb, EFL teacher, Mexico
21:24:24 bonnine louisiana: HS French;technology inservice
21:24:36 PeggyG: retired elementary principal and university teacher ed instructor, Phoenix AZ
21:24:57 SusanEttenheim: angelesb - this is too perfect!! How is it that you are joining us tonight? Have you been with us before?
21:25:02 Gail Desler: Love GCast - option for podcasting from a cell phone is very cool
21:25:22 angelesb: I found the link in twitter, this is my first time here :-)
21:25:23 PeggyG: Gcast is a perfect tool for languages!
21:25:38 SusanEttenheim: hi bonnie - how can this be that we have a french teacher tonight too!!!
21:25:45 SusanEttenheim: I am sooo excited!
21:26:09 bonnine louisiana: incr?©ible!! haven't been on in a long time
21:26:21 bonnine louisiana: usually on tues with wow2
21:26:29 SusanEttenheim: angelesb - where in Mexico are you teaching? What age students? Could your students join us?
21:27:02 SusanEttenheim: bonnie we set up the French group but we need some more french teachers to launch it! What ages do you teach?
21:27:03 angelesb: students from 13 to 15, secondary school level
21:27:08 bonnine louisiana: I use a blog called classchatter for my french students
21:27:45 bonnine louisiana: my students are high school 9-12
21:27:55 SusanEttenheim: angelesb - do your students work online?
21:28:08 SusanEttenheim: oh and let me introduce myself too - high school in NYC
21:28:27 angelesb: not in this moment, we are going to open a media classroom next month at school
21:28:32 PeggyG: Great to meet you Christian-my son-in-law is from Ecuador. :-)
21:28:54 SusanEttenheim: wow! could we invite your students to talk with our students online in youth voices?
21:29:09 bonnine louisiana: I taught spanish k-7 in a private school for 12 years
21:29:15 SusanEttenheim: ahh peggy! maybe we could invite him into the group too!
21:29:25 bonnine louisiana: now i'm teaching in pubic school teaching french
21:29:26 angelesb: yes, I can, they will love the idea
21:29:41 angelesb: are they going to speak in Spanish?
21:30:03 SusanEttenheim: yes but also we have some students from Spain who would like to practice their English too
21:30:06 Gail Desler: @peggy and @susan - isn't it amazing the connections made possible via the Internet
21:30:15 PeggyG: He's not an educator and he's very shy. I'm not sure I could talk him into it. But my daughter might do it. She's not from Ecuador but she speaks fluent Spanish. :-) She spent several weeks in Ecuador a couple of months ago.
21:30:48 angelesb: will be interesting :-)
21:30:55 PeggyG: yes the connections are incredible!
21:32:27 PeggyG: what are your plans for the audio group?
21:32:36 Gail Desler: hello Matt
21:32:39 matt montagne: PT Conferences 2.0!!
21:33:32 SusanEttenheim: my students are putting up self portraits in audio - a mix of music and sounds that reflect you - then in another week or so we're going to do a self portrait in audio - words
21:33:43 SusanEttenheim: hi matt! welcome!
21:33:49 PeggyG: Hi Matt-seems PT conferences are the featured activities this week! Exhausting but so valuable.
21:34:55 PeggyG: the self-portraits sound wonderful! I'll bet they're really motivated to do that!
21:37:26 Bill O'Neal: Looks like I'll be inviting a pair of students from each of my three 9th grade lit courses to blog two or three 1/2 blocks a week for starters.
21:38:14 Bill O'Neal: Up to six can do this at the same time if interest is high...
21:38:37 PeggyG: Screamo/Emo seems to be making a big hit! already 113 reads :-)
21:38:59 PeggyG: The name is very creative and makes you want to find out more :-)
21:41:35 bonnine louisiana: @Susan where is the group work posted
21:42:46 SusanEttenheim: bonnie - which work? - the audio?
21:42:55 PeggyG: http://youthvoices.net/community/digital-audio/1676
21:43:18 bonnine louisiana: the self portraits and also the screamo/emo group?
21:43:39 Gail Desler: @Susan, could that student post instructions for going thru itunes to convert file to mp3?
21:43:48 SusanEttenheim: in youthvoices.net - click on groups directory
21:43:57 SusanEttenheim: good idea gail!
21:44:15 SusanEttenheim: I just have my 9th graders making jing screencasts about how to post banners
21:44:35 Gail Desler: Where are the screencasts posted?
21:45:00 SusanEttenheim: not up yet
21:45:12 SusanEttenheim: gail you're moving faster than my students!
21:45:22 PeggyG: is there a tutorial location or group on the site for posting instructions for various things the students are doing? that would be so helpful! gcast instructions, converting audio to mp3, Jing videos, etc.
21:46:26 bonnine louisiana: I see screamo/emo but what is the self portrait group called?
21:47:10 alexr: Is youthvoices still for high school students?  Where has personallearningspace gone?  I have some 7th graders who might be interested.
21:48:15 PeggyG: http://youthvoices.net/school/east-west-school-international-studies-flu...  link for East-West School assignments and postings
21:49:32 Gail Desler: great GCast tutorial at https://k12learning20.wikispaces.com/file/view/Gcast_Thing18.pdf
21:50:11 PeggyG: Thanks Gail-that would be great to post on YouthVoices :-)
21:50:40 SusanEttenheim: bonnie the self portraits in audio are in the audio group
21:50:47 Gail Desler: You bet, Peggy.  I'll link it a little later
21:51:14 Gail Desler: Need to head out now. Night all.
21:51:23 SusanEttenheim: night gail
21:51:27 PeggyG: Good night Gail
21:53:51 PeggyG: if you can match the age group somewhat closely their interests will be more in common
21:54:49 PeggyG: It would be fascinating for the students to compare their holidays-Day of the Dead, Halloween, etc.
21:55:27 PeggyG: A voicethread would be perfect for posting the photos and adding audio in both Spanish and English :-)
21:55:37 bonnine louisiana: i'm lost... where is the audio group?
21:56:12 SusanEttenheim: ah sorry bonnine - in youth voices - click on groups directory
21:56:17 SusanEttenheim: do you see that?
21:56:21 bonnine louisiana: i thinnk i need the group name
21:56:27 SusanEttenheim: audio
21:56:41 SusanEttenheim: the groups are in reverse alphabetical order
21:56:53 bonnine louisiana: ah, just figured that out.
21:56:58 Bill O'Neal: http://youthvoices.net/community/digital-audio/1676
21:57:00 bonnine louisiana: and is it digital audio?
21:57:11 SusanEttenheim: thanks bill!
21:57:16 SusanEttenheim: yes
21:57:26 Bill O'Neal: You're welcome!
21:57:55 bonnine louisiana: thanks bill and susan...now if it will just load!:?
21:58:21 SusanEttenheim: bonnie you can also search in itunes for the youth voices podcast
21:58:28 bonnine louisiana: got it!
21:58:49 SusanEttenheim: hi alex - do you have Spanish teachers too who might like to join us?
21:59:15 bonnine louisiana: so i don't see any assignments, etc on the digital audio page
21:59:28 SusanEttenheim: no bonnie I didn't get it up yet there
21:59:34 Bill O'Neal: Hey. It's the Irish way.. not the American way!
22:00:46 bonnine louisiana: i found it on itunes and look forward to listening
22:00:52 Bill O'Neal: It was Samhaim way before Halloween came along
22:01:31 PeggyG: @bonnine - how did you find it on iTunes?
22:03:45 SusanEttenheim: just search youth voices peggy
22:04:22 PeggyG: I know where the audio is on Youth Voices but I was curious about where it was on iTunes. Do I subscribe to the RSS feed?
22:04:30 bonnine louisiana: searched for youth voices podcast and it came right up
22:05:15 PeggyG: thanks bonnine-I'll explore after the webcast so I don't lose my iTunes stream.
22:05:44 bonnine louisiana: searching the store didn't interrupt my itunes stream
22:06:11 Bill O'Neal: Anyway, Samhaim was th eold Celtic New Year. They still set off firewirks in Ireland to celbrate the holiday. It's when the dead were thought to come in to visit their kin. That's why All Soul's Day follows on the 1st of November.... Christianization of pagan holidays..
22:06:44 PeggyG: some very exciting connections tonight!! :-)
22:07:32 PeggyG: Announcements would work for advertising, wouldn't it?
22:08:49 PeggyG: Thank you Marcie, Leslie and Christian! Great to hear your plans! Very exciting!
22:10:16 Paul Allison: yes Peggy...
22:10:40 Paul Allison: Maybe we can rename that... and think about another tab for sentence starters.
22:10:42 alexr: night all!  Great work.
22:10:43 PeggyG: If you'd like us to include a special invitation in the ETT newsletter about participating in the language opportunities, let me know.
22:10:56 bonnine louisiana: Merci et/y gracias
22:11:10 Paul Allison: see you all later.
22:11:33 PeggyG: Thanks Paul and Susan. Great conversations! Love the excitement around Youth Voices!