We have lots of exciting news to share about Flat Classroom®. If you are still on holiday (southern hemisphere) I recommend you save this email and come back to it in a week or so. We don't want you to miss out!

Teachers, make sure you join in on our Flat Classrooms Ning for educators only, that is where the conversations are ongoing about global learning and global collaboration; that is where partners are found and global innovations in learning are shared!

1. Flat Classroom Projects - We are launching all of our projects again in February 2013. Our goal is to facilitate the best global collaborative projects in the world where students co-create. Make sure you get your applications in! Download a brochure to share.


2. Flat Classroom School Subscription  Co-founders of Flat Classroom, Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis, have a solution for schools who want to 'go flat' and include more classrooms and teachers in Flat Classroom Projects each year AND provide professional development opportunities for teachers. Become a Flat Classroom School!
Prices for 2012-2013
  • Bronze Level - $195 for up to 100 students
  • Silver Level - $495 for 1 certified teacher and up to 200 students
  • Gold Level - $995 for 2 certified teachers and up to 500 students
  • Platinum Level - $1795 for 3 certified teachers and up to 800 students
Each category includes access to all projects across the full year up to the number of students noted. There are three Flat Classroom Certified Teacher courses/cohorts to choose from during the year.
View our current Flat Classroom® Schools on the website!

3. Flat Classroom Certified Teacher course. The next cohort will kick off in February! Come and join us or a PD experience that will not only build your PLN but transform your teaching and learning.
ANNOUNCING! Flat Classroom Certified Teacher - Group discount for schools and organizations (2012-13)
$2000 - 5 certified teachers
$3500 - 10 certified teachers
Contact Flat Classroom now to tailor your professional development needs. [email protected]

4. Flat Classroom Conference  Come and join us at the Yokohama International School, March 8-10 2013 in Yokohama, Japan for this unique, challenge-based event that brings student and teachers together from across the world. We invite you to browse our updated website and consider bringing students to this life-changing opportunity. Teachers looking for course credit for attending this conference watch this space for important updates coming very soon. Virtual participants invited to attend also - watch this space for application form coming by the end of January! REGISTRATION is OPEN!

5. Projects Databank - This is a place for Flat Classroom Certified Teachers, and others, to post their projects and attract classrooms from all over the world to participate.
We invite global project designers to join our Project Databank because:
  • This wiki will be the face of each project but the real power will be in the searchable database currently being built
  • Flat Classroom style projects are about community and networking - and we will provide this for our Flat Classroom community to thrive
Congratulations to Aaron Maurer, Flat Classroom Certified teacher cohort 11-1.
Aaron is running an incubator project, Bald Eagle Project you must see!

6. Future Learning Action Talks (F.L.A.T.s) - We invite you to consider presenting in Blackboard Collaborate and share your global adventures and successes. An archive of past FLATS are on the website. Upcoming F.L.A.T.s with Australian Chris Betcher, the FCP 12-2 keynoter, on January 29, 10pm AEST / 6am EST USA. Topic: The Flat Classroom Project - Taking the Long View.

7. Announcing: The World Wide Think Tank is a joint initiative by THINK Global School and Flat Classroom. It is a student initiated and student driven global student leadership forum. It was launched by students, Hannah, Yada and Paul, during a presentation at the Global Education Conference, 2012.
AIMS:
To foster leadership skills.
To encourage global conversations.
To generate change.
CONNECT WITH WWTTJoin the SPOTX online community
Like the Facebook page
Complete the online form to be sent further updates.
Browse the website to learn more and sign up: WWTT website.
Please spread the word!! #WWThinkTank is our hashtag - tweet it out!
Join in for the next online meeting (week starting January 28), volunteer to be a student leader!

8. Global Events - We invite you to use the Flat Classroom Educators network to advertise your global events. Make sure you keep an eye out for what is coming up!
What’s coming up?
  • Meet the Flat Classroom - The next opportunity to meet Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis in an online information session will be Monday January 21, 8pm EST (January 22, 1am GMT). Check your location for date and time.
  • Join a virtual book club -  A new virtual book club is being led by Kyle Dunbar @edtechdunny based on our book, ‘Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds’. If you want to join, there is still time! Julie and Vicki will be coming to some of the sessions. The meetings are about discussing the concepts found in the book for flattened learning, making connections and learning from one another.
  • Projects, F.L.A.T.s and more!

Questions about Flat Classroom®? Please email us: [email protected]

Julie Lindsay (Australia) and Vicki Davis (USA)
Directors and Co-founders, Flat Classroom®
[email protected], [email protected]
Lisa Durff: Flat Classroom Coordinator - [email protected]
http://flatclassroomproject.net
http://twitter.com/flatclassroom
Hashtag: #flatclass
 
 
Press Release: December 5, 2010
(Cross posted with E-Learning Journey's and Elementary Flat Classroom Blog)

Co-founders of the Flat Classroom™ Project, Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay are excited to announce the first ever Elementary School Flat Classroom Project. As a pilot project, eight schools and 9 classrooms from five countries have joined about 170 students together to develop an appropriate global collaborative experience within a curriculum framework for students in Grades 3-5 of ages 8-11.

"It is something we have been wanting to implement for a while as flattening the classroom walls is not defined by an age group or school section.", states Julie, "We have a team of excellent educators working furiously together to make this the best global experience possible, using Flat Classroom and other accepted methodologies."

The project is called "A Week in the Life....." and centers around sharing what life is like for students in their respective schools and countries. It encourages students to connect and communicate to build an online learning community and to collaborate on a common set of guiding questions and objectives. For this project we are using the tool Edmodo which provides flexibility for group creation and file uploading. It also supports development of multimedia collecting and sharing skills, and awareness of collaborative learning environments through the practical application of the project wiki. Topics for the project include School Time, Languages and Clothing, Housing and Transportation, Leisure Time, and Food and Celebrations.

We encourage interested teachers and supporters of global collaborative projects to review the developing wiki material at http://aweekinthelife.flatclassroomproject.org/ This project will run until the end of January, but which time students will have created celebration material based on their collected multimedia.

Applications of interest are being taken now for future projects. We plan to run the next project, after review of the current pilot, starting in late February 2011. See details at http://tinyurl.com/fcpesapplication

Flat Classroom Projects are award winning projects that have been running for the past four years for middle and high schools students. The original project, The Flat Classroom Project, is based on the concepts found in Tom Friedman's book, 'The World is Flat', and subsequently has been included in the reprint of the book in 2007. Other projects include Digiteen Project (raising awareness of digital citizenship) and NetGenEd Project, run in conjunction with Don Tapscott (looks at emerging technologies and netgen norms of behavior). We encourage all educators and global collaborative project supporters to join our Flat Classrooms network to receive further updates on all Flat Classroom Projects. http://flatclassrooms.ning.com More information about Flat Classroom Projects can be found on the website http://flatclassroomproject.net

Participating Schools in 'A Week in the Life...." 2010
American School of Bombay, Mumbai, India - Waciuma Wanjohi and Erica Barclay (supported by Kevin Crouch)
Denton Avenue School, New Hyde Park, New York, USA - Lisa Parisi and Lauryn Tiedemann
The Falcons School for Girls, London, UK - Nick Hitchen
International School of Prague, Prague, Czech Republic - Nancy von Wahlde
Mill Creek School, Geneva, Illinois, USA - Donna Roman
The Phoenix School, Salem, Massachusetts, USA - Betsye Sargent
Yarmouth Elementary School, Yarmouth Maine, USA - Cathy Wolinsky and Rosie Lenehan
Yew Chung International School, Beijing, China - Heather Davis

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Further comments from Julie
I am totally impressed with the dedication of the teachers in this project who have not only spent hours working through it, but also hours working it out!  by that I mean it has been a collaborative effort to actually pull it together and shape it into something that is suitable, appropriate, relevant and rigorous for all classrooms globally. We meet just every week online and discuss progress and situations and issues. It is these meetings, the real time connections, that provide the essential cement to the project. Actual project management and the importance of this can not be underestimated.

I encourage everyone to listen to the Global Education Conference presentation by Kevin Crouch, technology integration teacher at the American School of Bombay, who is supporting two of the school’s elementary classrooms through this project. He talks about how the technology supports learning in a variety of ways and how global education and development of technical awareness and skills in communication and collaboration are so important as 21st century objectives for all curriculum areas. – Flat Classroom A Week in the Life.