(Make sure you check out the wonderful, varied and interesting comments that the students have made at the end of this post.)
Hello from Hawkesdale, Victoria, Australia
Hello, I am Anne Mirtschin, an information technology(computer studies) teacher in Hawkesdale, Victoria, Australia. It is now autumn and any deciduous trees are starting to colour and lose their leaves. We are a small school of 250 students from prep to year 12 (5yrs – 18 yrs). We are hoping to work together, on blogging, with a school from the USA. Their blog page is entitled “Collaboration Nation”.
In order to get to know each other a little better and thereby, evaluate similarities and differences between our two countries, schools and cultures, I would like to ask you two questions.
1. What is the best thing about living where you do?
2. Tell us why your school is unique?
Please write a post anwering these questions. Then add them as a comment to my blog. Students from both schools are to do this.
Next week, Mr Bogush will write the question a post and it is then hoped that one student per week from alternating schools will write a question for posts.
Below is a photograph of our school.
[...] two posts, one answering my two questions for the joint Collaboration Nation blogs, the other choosing 4 questions that the New Brunswick, [...]
C.T.
1. The best thing about living here, is that we have 4 seasons. Winter, when the ground is covered in snow. Spring, when the flowers start to come up. Summer, when it is hot out, and we don’t have school. And fall, when the leaves change colors and they fall from the tree.
2. Our school is unique beacuse we have so many different people in it. And every teacher teachs in a different way. At our school, some teachers just stand at the board, and talk and write and expect us to copy it all down and understand it. And some teachers, actually explain things and make learning fun!
1. What is the best thing about living where you do?
The best thing about living where we do is I like having four seasons. Not all places experience winter or summer or even fall and spring. The weather varies so well that sometimes you never even know what the next day will be like. After a few months the weather becomes completely different. It makes sports seasons clearer and more designated. Sports are a huge part of my life so it benefits me well.
2. Tell us why your school is unique?
Our school is unique because we are very technology-oriented. As sixthe graders we take a computer class and as you experience new teachers you experience new projects. In some classes we make videos and in Social Studies we have basically everything on computers. We are learning the Classroom 2.0 tools and different ways of communication. I like being able to talk to people from other states and countries. It makes learning interesting and fun.
What it’s like to live in Connecticut
The best thing about living in Connecticut is that the weather is surprising. Somedays it will be really hot and the next day it will be really cold. But there are rarely any natural disators such as tornadoes, hurricanes, etc. We also have snowy winters and really hot summers. I like having a surprise when I wake up in the morning.
The thing that makes our school different is our use of technology and the will of our teachers to try something new and different.
http://kpr08.learnerblogs.org/
1. What is the best thing about living where you do?
The best thing about living where I do is that I know my way around. I am used to the things that surround me. The area where I live is a safe place and I would feel safe just walking around my block by myself. My town and where I live has alot of businesses, which means that I have alot of different places to eat from and alot of different varietites of places to go and to chose from. I also have alot of friends that I know from school and that are my friends that live nearby, so I can do things with them.
2. Tell us why your school is unique?
Our school is different from many other schools. We learn in ways that are fun and not boring. In Social Studies espiecally, we get to interact with other kids from around the world. We get a chance to learn about other kids
that we never imagined we would talk to and communicate with. In Language Arts we get to learn while being in groups and we get to learn how to work together and make new friends. And interact with kids that we don’t usually talk with.
The best thing about living where I do there is a movie theater where I get to hang out with my friends every friday. Also there are these really cool dances that a lot of people go to.They are so awesome because you get to hang out with friends from diffrent schools as well as dancing with them. Then there is my favorite part which is the sports that our town has and the summer programs. They are both really fun and awesome to be in.
Now my school isn’t really unique because its like most schools but maybe to you it might be. Well for starters our school was named after a person and we have a really good sports team. We also have a really good music program that goes to Six Flags every year for competition and they are also always in the memorial day parade. Well I guess thats all I have to say.
1. What is the best thing about living where you do? i love the animals/zoos that we have here. I like animals and wildlife. I also like the amusement parks we have! My favorite rides are Superman and Nitro. these rides are in six flags New Jersey and six flags in Connecticut. i like being in the air then crashing down toward earth at 80+ miles and hour.
2. Tell us why your school is unique? The thing that is most unique about are school is how Mr. Bogush teaches. he is a great/fantastic teacher!! he doesn’t do boring assignments from a text book he does it like with another activity and make it unique. His class is so fun and on top of that he is a unique teacher, not just his class is unique but he is too! He told me a lot of things to help me succeed in life!
1) What is the best thing about where you live?
I think the best thing about living in CT is that we probably have the best weather anyone can ask for. We have all 4 seasons and nothing is ever so severe. Of course, temperatures in the summer reach some all time highs, but nothing so bad. Fall is great because all the leaves are changing colors and the temperature is starting to drop. Winter is a lot of fun with all the snow we get, but we haven’t gotten a blizzard in years thanks to global warming (thanks) . Then spring comes around. Leaves start to grow back on the trees, flowers grow, and the weather has perfect temperature and beautiful days.
2) Our school is unique because we are the only school in our area that has the use of technology in schools. We are the only bloggers that blog on a weekly basis, and the only school that has a wiki that is so popular around the world.
what is the best thing about living where you do?
well i think that the best thing about living where i do is probably that i get to see all the seasons. my cousins live in Florida and they came up here once to visit during the winter and it snowed and they thought that it was so cool because living in Florida where it’s warm all the time they had never seen snow before.
what makes your school unique?
what makes my school unique is probably Mr. Bogush’s class. before 8th grade i had never herd of a class like his. i never thought that a history class could revolve so much around computers i always thought that the most i would ever use computers would be in a computer class!
1. What is the best thing about living where you do?
the sport green trees and the temperature and cool temp and that good it is not to hot not to cold.
2. Tell us why your school is unique?) we are the only school in the state that i no that uses the blog and the wiki and that is a cool thing to get used to and it is better then homework pen and paper
My answer my be slightly different than the kids because I live a couple towns over from school…but only 20 minutes away. I live in the only town that is considered rural in my county and we are by far and away the smallest(4,500pop). 25% of my town is owned by the water company so there is plenty of open space left — everything is covered with trees. I have a small farm – sheep, checkens(eggs and broilers), hogs, sometimes turkeys and steers. I used to be the biggest rabbit and goat farmer in the county but we moved out of those last year. So the most unique thing about where I live is that I get to farm my land. I have ten acres which is considered HUGE around here.
Hmmmm…most unique thing about my school. Almost everything about my school is just like everyother school in the entire country. But the one thing that separates my kiddos from the rest is that they have been part of a wonderful experiement this year to fully integrate technology and collaborating with other schools into our daily life and not just special projects. we have collaborated with schools in many different states and almost everything we have done has been for a specific audience somewhere else on the globe. The kids have been the best “guiniea pigs” in the world this year as I have stumbled and bumbled through completly redesigning how our class operates.
hmmm….”gunie pigs” is a phrase you are familiar with I hope!
After looking at you school on google earth it looks like your rural community is my dream sort of place. Around here you could drive through 10 twons and not even know when one ends and the other begins because it is just house on house. We do have the benifit though of driving 2 hours west and being in New York City, 2o minutes south and being on the ocean, two hours east and being in Boston, and two hours north and being in the mountains.
I have to add my favorite sport is rugby — #9! Any ruggers down there?
Forgot to add one question…in a few weeks I am going to see one of my favorite new bands in the states Airbourne. they are from Victoria right? Are they popular? Do any of you listen to them?
1. What is the best thing about living where you do?
I like how everyone knows each other. unlike in the city where people get robbed walking down a stair case. We all know each other in this little community
2. Tell us why your school is unique?
My School is unique because we do blogging and have wikispaces. Not a lot of people even know about this. It gives us a good start in a career with computers.
I can’t decide about what the best thing about where i live is because there are so many great things about. I like the weather, the scenery and that we have so much freedom. I like that our weather varies so much that we have snow, sun, rain and nice weather all the time. Its also good because we don’t have tornadoes or tsunamis or anything dangerous like that. The snow is always so beautiful when its all over the ground and on the trees. I personally love having snowball fights with my neighbors and building snowman. Sledding is also a lot of fun because i have a huge hill in my front yard that i go surfing on (which is like when i stand on the sled and go downhill). Even though it sounds dangerous , it is so much fun!!I also love going in the swimming pool and having fights with water guns. =]
Our school is unique because we use a lot of technology. we have used podcasts, blogs, wikispaces and so much more. Our teachers are also very creative and different than most. Our school and our country are very unique.
1. What is the best thing about living where you do?
I would probably have to say all of my friends. My friends are everything to me and i wouldn’t be the same without them. I guess that you could say that they complete me. If my friends weren’t all here then I would probably want to move to Hawaii or some place like that where it is always hot and I live on a beach!
2. Tell us why your school is unique?
My school is unique because of all the people in it. There are some many different personalities that make this school who it is.
Although I was born in Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria, and then lived in Adelaide, the capital city of SA, I married a farmer so I live on a farm. Our farm would now be considered a small one but it is 600 acres. I love the quiet atmosphere, the stars in the sky at night, our clean, fresh drinking water and the lovely warm days of summer. We have sheep and cattle on our farm and have just finished shearing the sheep. We have chooks for eggs, peacocks, ducks, 2 pet dogs and a farm dog and a lovely ginger cat. We also grow cut flowers and bunch them and sell them at an honesty stall at the gate. I love coming home from school and going for a ride on our 4 wheeler motorbike.
We never get snow here and very few of our students have seen snow. We love swimming at the pool or in the sea (a 25 min drive away). We have four seasons and it is now autumn. However, our area is in the rich volcanic plains but due to the lack of good rainfalls, we have been declared a drought area for the first time in white man settlement.
I teach information technology at Hawkesdale P12 College to grades 4-12 and I love using web2.0 tools such as wikis, blogs, podcasting etc. Our school is unique, in that it is small, everyone knows everyone and students get a lot of attention. We have large spacious grounds with beautiful gum trees. It is a 5 minute walk to the local outdoor swimming pool and we go swimming for school when it is hot. We have had quite a few 40deg celcius this summer. Today was still 26 deg celcius.
We look forward to your question(s) next week.
1: Tell us the best thing about were you live?
The best thing a bout were I live is that it is nice and quiet. I love my neihborhood because it is not as noisy as new york. It is not like noisy buses going by.
2: What is so uniqe about your school.
What is really uniqe about my school is that we get to chew gum. we get to have cool luches and awesome varieities for unified arts.
The best thing about living in the united states is that we are free.its a free country unlike other places. theres also many places to travel.My school is unique because the way the teachers teach and the way our school is diferent from lets say a school in Europe or Australia. thats why i think my school is unique and thats the best thing about living in the United States of America
1. What is the best thing about living where you do?
I would say the best about living where I do is that I live around all my close friends and can always walk over their house whenever I want to hang out with them.
2. Tell us why your school is unique?
My school is unique because each grade gets separated into teams/groups for example I’m on team 8-2 which is the BEST TEAM EVER!!!!!! Also for my history class we get to blog, which I think is pretty cool.
1. What is the best thing about living where you do?
the best thing about where i live is that everyone knows one another and most people get along. we live in the suburbs and it is nice because it is mostly quiet.
2. Tell us why your school is unique?
My school is unique because it has many different things to offer it has many different unified art classes and we have many gym teaches so we can pick something different things to do.
[...] and powerful exposure to the globe, its cultures and digital citizenship. The students take it in turns to set a post prompt and one [...]