At the end of this webcast, which features the five teachers involved with the International Teen Life Project, Scott S. Floyd, a teacher from the White Oak ISD and the Tech Liaison for the Bluebonnet Writing Project in Texas, USA asked, "What's one thing that teachers who want to get involved in a global project should keep in mind?" Clarence Fisher, a 7/8 teacher from Snow Lake, Manitoba, Canada began his answer with one word, "Planning... " This only made sense, because the International Teen Life Project that Clarence organized with four colleagues from around the world this last winter and spring is a model for how to go about planning a global project for middle school students. In January 2007, just as "the fun" was about to begin, Clarence wrote about this work in his blog:

In the middle of December, a small group of teachers, Kim Cofino and Jabiz Raisdana from Kuala Lumpur, Jamie Hide from Columbia, Lee Baber from Virginia, and myself began putting our heads together about more intense ways to bring students together. All being middle school teachers, we came up with the idea for a project that would focus our students around examining and reflecting on their own lives first and the lives of other people their age in their nation. From here, we want the kids to think globally and look at the lives and the concerns of people their own age in other parts of the globe.... While we are just beginning off, I am truly excited about this project.We are bringing together so many things: blogging, Skype, wikis, videoconferencing, podcasting, digital storytelling, etc in one place that is truly a new literacies sandbox!

Remote Access: International Teen Life

Hi Bloggers, Wiki writers, WebQuesters, and online learners,
I am currently a doctoral student at the University of Phoenix online program in education, leadership, curriculum, and instruction. As much as I love researching and writing papers, I have to come up with a problem statement for my dissertation. I am interested in online learning, WebQuests, and ways of integrating technology into the EFL/ESL classroom. My EFL high school students are not motivated to learn in the classroom because they learn English from TV, the Internet, and through music.

I am also interested in coaching and relationship education as a way to improve learning. The WebQuest seems to have everything I am interested in: teamwork and social skills, higher order critical thinking skills, and learning by means of technology. But, I can't come up with a research question/problem.