Sarah Mishlera and students at Chestnut Ridge Middle School in Pennsylvania received notification this week that their Iditarod project is a winner in curriculum contest to demonstrate 21st Century Teaching and Learning.  During this year’s Iditarod, Herb Brambley, Target® Iditarod 2010 Teacher on the Trail™ communicated via Skype with this classroom as part of the project.  This project will be display along with other winning projects, at the 2010 Student Capitol Day in May.

Congratulations to Sarah Mishlera and her students!  Thanks for demonstrating that Iditarod and the Target® Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™ program are 21st Century tools of instruction!  Keep up the GREAT job!

Notification read:

“One of the goals of the Student Capitol Day is to get the good news stories out about the wonderful 21st Century Teaching and Learning with Technology that is happening in Pennsylvania High Schools.

Your use of 21st Century Teaching and Learning equipment, principles and resources to provide rigorous, authentic and student centered classroom experiences for your students is exciting.”

PROJECT INFORMATION

Project title: Riding the Digital Highway on the 2010 Alaskan Iditarod

A. Give a brief description of the project. (This description will be included in the day’s program.)
This unit allowed students to learn about the Alaskan Iditarod as experienced by the 2010 Iditarod Target® Teacher on the Trail, Herb Brambley.  Mr. Brambley is a teacher in a school district from a neighboring county.  Students became acquainted with him by reading accounts of his experience in the local newspaper and on Internet.  Teacher Sarah Mishler made arrangements for her students to be actively involved in his experience by utilizing web 2.0 technologies such as Skype and the official blog of the Iditarod. Students read a soon-to-be published short story that Mr. Brambley authored and interviewed him on three separate occasions.

Appropriate grade level(s): 7

B. How does this project promote 21st Century teaching and learning with the emphasis on higher-order thinking skills?
Alaska, and the day-to-day experiences of those participating in the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, can be far removed for students in a classroom in central-western Pennsylvania. Web 2.0 technologies made the world a smaller place and provided the vehicle for students to increase their global awareness of the Alaskan wilderness and the multicultural backgrounds of the participating mushers themselves. Students in Sarah Mishlera’s Extended Learning Opportunities (ELO) class were challenged to read several short stories about the sled dog race and several past participants. They also read a soon-to-be published short story that Iditarod 2010 Target® Teacher on the Trail, Herb Brambley authored.  From these readings, students were assigned the task of evaluating the content, determining its purpose, and using their findings to develop a group strategy for interviewing Mr. Brambley via Skype as he made his way along the trail. In addition to the creation of appropriate questions, decisions were made as to who would serve as the interviewers. This structure required students to demonstrate teaming, collaboration and interpersonal skills as potential questions were discussed and developed. Students were reminded to be cognizant of their audience; that Mr. Brambley was a teacher in an environment and culture very foreign to himself, and effective questions should examine those aspects of his experience. For the initial Skype video call, students were encouraged to be creative in their questioning as long as the basis for the question was rooted in their findings from the original readings. During the first online meeting, Mr. Brambley shared with participating students his blog content on the official blog site for the Iditarod. Here, students were able to study additional resources, curriculum connections, and related links provided for teachers and students alike. These resources became the foundation from which students worked while developing the questions for the remaining two Skype interviews. The use of the blog and its related material, provided students the chance to use 21st century tools to plan and prioritize high quality questions. The three Skype connections which took place required students to listen critically to Mr. Brambley, and to respond in kind with appropriate answers or opinions to the questions which he posed to them.  He held them to a higher level of accountability with each subsequent connection. As his experience unfolded, students experienced cross-curricular activities in science, geography, history and mathematics. This 21st century learning experience was a unique experience for these Chestnut Ridge seventh graders. The high level of engagement and the feeling of “being there” increased student learning to a far greater level than the more traditional method of reading and writing about the infamous sled dog race. Our many thanks to Mr. Brambley for allowing us to share his experience!

Applicable PA Standard(s):
1.1.7.A  Apply appropriate strategies to describe and interpret author’s purpose using grade level tex

1.2.7.A  Evaluate text organization and content to determine author’s purpose, point of view and effectiveness according to the author’s position, accuracy, thoroughness and use of logic

1.6.7.A  Listen critically and respond to others in small and large group situations. Respond with grade level appropriate questions, ideas, information, or opinions, 1.6.8.B Demonstrate awareness of audience using appropriate volume and clarity in formal speaking presentations

National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS*S) addressed?
Creativity and Innovation
Communication and Collaboration
Research and Information Fluency
Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
Digital Citizenship
Technology Operations and Concepts

21st Century skills addressed:

Digital-Age Literacy
Inventive Thinking
Effective Communication
High Productivity

Highest level of the revised Blooms taxonomy addressed: Create

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2010 was the first year that the Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™ program formally used Skype during the race with students outside Alaska.   To become involved in this project, please let us know you Skpye by sending an email and notifying us of your interest.