Communications

Acceptance letter

Congratulations! You have been selected to participate in Project 21 for the 2009/2010 school year. We are excited to have you on board!

Once again, here's what you are 'signing up" for:

Workshops on the following Tuesdays: Nov. 17, Dec. 15, Jan. 12 & 19, Feb. 9 & 16, Mar. 9, May 11 5:00-7:00pm First workshop, Wilder Media Center, 3350 Chicago Ave. S All remaining workshops at Webster School in Room 116

Workshops will focus on learning new tools and strategies for project based-learning as well as time to work collaboratively, if you choose, on an interdisciplinary unit that you will teach this year in February or March.

We expect you to attend all meetings (we understand that emergencies do come up, so please notify us if you can't make a meeting).

You will have the opportunity, with additional leadership pay, to guide other 4th grade teachers through an exploration of your unit during our annual June Tech Academy, the first week after school is out.

You will receive a new MacBook laptop, inventoried at the district level, which you will be able to use for as long as you are an MPS employee. You will also receive project-based learning resources to help in planning your units.

You will need to pick up your computer from Room 116 at the District Offices, 807 Broadway any time on Friday, Monday, or Tuesday before the meeting. You will be asked to sign a Computer/Information Contract. Please let Todd know when you plan to come so he can alert the tech staff.

We have sent you via school mail the book, __Reinventing Project-Based Learning__, by Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss. We think this is a great book and will be using it throughout our workshops. Please read the Introduction and Chapter 1 before the November 17th meeting and reflect on this question: What is prompting me to take this journey and to consider new approaches for teaching and learning?

We also **encourage** you to listen to a podcast of a presentation by the authors of this book that they made at NECC a couple of years ago. The link below will also take you to Wesley Fryer's Speed of Creativity blog about the presentation. Poke around his blog a bit, listen to some of the presentation, view the author's bookmarks--and welcome to a new kind of Web 2.0 multimedia learning!

http://tiny.cc/wBJgO

We look forward to working with you this year!

Project 21 Facilitators Todd Pierson, Jean Doolittle, and Diane Wallace-Reid

 e-mail from Todd: Below are the times that teachers have indicated they want to pick up their computers. Everyone on the list has indicated today, but I did give them the option of next Monday or Tuesday as well. Our first meeting is Tuesday at 5:00pm. Not everyone has replied yet. Also below is the process I told them for getting computers. I’ll plan on being with you at 2:30 to help. Todd

Sheilagh Johnson Friday 11/13 at 2:10 pm. Kathy Schuette Friday sometime after 2pm. Sher Swanby Friday around 2:30. Megan MIller Friday about 10:15-10:30 a.m. Martha Richardson around 2:30 Anna Whiting Friday the 13th between 8:15 and 8:45 Jesse Moyer around 4 on Friday Glory Oljace Friday at 2:30.

You can go to Room 116 at 807 to pick up your computer. Plan on about 10 minutes for getting your logon setup. We’ll have a contract for you to sign as well. It’s likely that,Jeff Carlson will help you with setup. Good to have you with us on this project! 