Learning Curve

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Cross-posted on RJS SHS and Changing Connections

The following video and the accompanying text was produced by Miss Brinson

The SHS Model UN team was in competition Saturday, January 17, 2009, at Kutztown University. Overall, there were approx. 300 delegates from about 20 schools in the Lehigh Valley, Berks, Bucks, and Montgomery Counties. They wrote, discussed, bantered, and diplomatically negotiated over issues like: creating a new constitution for the European Union, wargames in the Soviet Bloc in 1989, a Palestinian-Israeli conflict, universal education, private military groups, and imprisonment of terror detainees. It was heated at times, clearly competitive, and overall a whole lot of fun!

The Salisbury Delegation took the following awards:

Economic Social Committee:

Honorable Mention: Alex Weir (Somalia)
Outstanding Delegation: Garred Greenberg and Matt Mattuiz (Russian Federation)

Legal Committee:

Best Position Paper: Anthony Marze and Ryan Kloss (Mozambique)
Distinguished Delegation: Donte’ McCrary-McClain and Victoria Ravenelle (Russian Federation)
Outstanding Delegation: Brandon Aversano and Jeniffer Singley (Republic of Korea)

European Union:

Best Position Paper: Robby Holler and Sean Zimmerman (Sweden)
Outstanding Delegation: Robby Holler and Sean Zimmerman (Sweden)

*It is particularly huge that they were able to win two awards within one committee — that is a first!

German Historical Crisis Committee:

Honorable Mention: Sean McDermott (USSR)

Our delegation of 32 students took the award for Distinguished Delegation for the entire conference!

I am very proud of these kids, but also thankful to you for providing the guidance, mentoring, and leadership that these kids have come to honor and appreciate. We are commended regularly for our strength in competition and in the character and respectfulness that our kids exhibit at every conference we attend. I should also tell you that we are also consistently “commended” for our spirit in the competitions because truly, our kids love to have fun and they cheer each other on and today — welll – they sang with the “Um-Pah” band! What else can I say?

Thanks again for the support, guidance, and leadership that you give our kids! (Classic Brinson–she never takes the credit so leave it to me to tell you she molds the good they do–I know).

Jennifer Brinson
Model UN Coach
Salisbury High School

SHS Model UN Team
Salisbury High School PA
Kutztown Model UN 2009
Model UN
Jennifer Brinson
Education
Turbo Tagger

Cross-posted on Changing Connections and RJS SHS

Try as I would, I was never able to upload any of the IP presentation videos. I did, however, succeed in uploading Jade Letlow and Sam Heddlesten’s independent research project, The Me Generation–1970-1979: How Could Establishment and Anti-Establishment Exist? Here it is.

The Me Decade from RJ Stangherlin on Vimeo.

Me Generation
Integrated Project
Technology
Turbo Tagger

Just when I thnk I know a thing or two about Digital Literacy and Technology Integration within academic frameworks, a.k.a. curriculum, I get thrown a learning curve. And that’s okay. I’ve learned to work with some measure of comfort outside my comfort zone. I take risks and understand that learning can be messy, that “it is what it is, until it isn’t.” I’ll make a VoiceThread and chant these maxims as reminders. So it is that I am venturing into yet another new school blog for my students, setting up yet another annual blogroll, and why not add to the LC (I should have called this blog Learning Curve) a new (for me) twist: Google Docs. So, here we go again, this time with a PPLN Survey, largely copied from Jennifer Dorman’s (a.k.a. Cliotech) DEN Leadership Council presentation at the Discovery Educator Network’s Annual Leadership Council event in July.

I’ve had some issues with Google Docs, but that’s part of my learning curve. Got to go there if I want you to follow, so it’s learning by doing. So, here goes my second attempt. Please take the survey online and click submit when you are finished. You won’t have a Save feature, so complete the survey in one sitting. If all works well, your information will transfer to a spreadsheet where I will have everyone’s information. Why is this helpful for me? you? You’ll help me establish a base line reading of where you are digitally, and I can work from there.