Project Description for "ROW In"TOON"ational"
Big Idea: “Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away.” ~Robert Fulghum
Essential Question: How do we create peace in the hearts of children around the world through animation?
The Challenge: Inspire students to create an animated video that demonstrates how they will show peace to each other and others around the world.
Big Idea: “Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away.” ~Robert Fulghum
Essential Question: How do we create peace in the hearts of children around the world through animation?
The Challenge: Inspire students to create an animated video that demonstrates how they will show peace to each other and others around the world.
Howe High School Students Prepare to “Rock Our World”
45 schools from six continents embark on a journey together learning about peace, animation, and most importantly, each other.
Howe, OK-- September 27, 2010 – This fall, local students at Howe High School will be participating in an exciting global learning experience. The school was one of 45 schools chosen on six continents to participate in Rock Our World, a global learning project started in 2004 by California teacher, Carol Anne McGuire.
When asked why she started “Rock Our World,” Carol Anne had this to say: “I got the idea at my first Apple Institute. To this day, I remember the seat I sat in, who was around me, and everything about that room (I actually went back to that room years later to take a picture in the seat I sat in)! A group of international educators got up to present their project... only they didn't have one! They said that they ended up not completing their assignment, but that we should all do something together. And that was it! ROW was born! I had the crazy idea to move music around the world! We could meet kids all over the globe!
And I learned something...I discovered the power of true collaboration. Not the kind where all the 2nd grade teachers get together and decide that they will work on page 36 on Tuesday and page 37 on Wednesday... but the kind where everyone works together using each other's strengths to work towards a goal. I had plenty of weaknesses when we started... technology was one of them! But it didn't matter, because technology was another person’s strength! Each teacher that joined came in with a unique gift and ability that I didn't have! It was beautiful! The rest is history!”
The initial project focused on creating music together since music surpasses language barriers. The schools in the project first created a drum track that was then sent to another school. The tracks rotated until that original track returns home as a song. While this is still the heart of the “Rock Our World” project, it has grown to include curriculum as well as working with other agencies such as NASA, Apple, and even actor Will Smith.
For this season of “Rock Our World,” Fablevision Founder, author, and illustrator Peter Reynolds will be joining the teachers and students as they learn about the topic of Peace and computer animation. Peter and his company donated two copies of their animation software Animation-ish to each school involved in the project. The end goal of the project is for each school to create a two-minute video showing their animated vision of peace.
Peter Reynolds says "My life's work has been to encourage arts-inspired solutions to move the world to a better place. "Connecting the dots" with Carol Anne McGuire on this global initiative is a dream come true. I'm honored to be a part of the Rock Our World 13: InTOONational team. This is THE decade for visual thinkers who now have the new technology tool to begin to "show what they know". The ROW project raises it to even a higher level - "Show us what you believe in." Inspiring students to have a mission - to be "positive problem solvers - now THAT is powerful learning!""
This project continues to open the lines of communication between citizens of various countries and even states that normally would never occur. A major component of this project is to set-up video-conferences between schools. Instead of reading about the cultures of different locations, the students are able to “call them up” and ask questions that are on their minds.
Howe High School is very excited to have been chosen for this opportunity. Students in 9th-12th grades will be working on creating the animation and working on the music component. Mrs. Tammy Parks will be leading her 30 High School students on this new endeavor.
For more information about “Rock Our World” and Animation-ish please visit the following sites: http://rockourworld.pbworks.com, http://rockourworld.pbworks.com and http://www.fablevision.com/animationish/.
When asked why she started “Rock Our World,” Carol Anne had this to say: “I got the idea at my first Apple Institute. To this day, I remember the seat I sat in, who was around me, and everything about that room (I actually went back to that room years later to take a picture in the seat I sat in)! A group of international educators got up to present their project... only they didn't have one! They said that they ended up not completing their assignment, but that we should all do something together. And that was it! ROW was born! I had the crazy idea to move music around the world! We could meet kids all over the globe!
And I learned something...I discovered the power of true collaboration. Not the kind where all the 2nd grade teachers get together and decide that they will work on page 36 on Tuesday and page 37 on Wednesday... but the kind where everyone works together using each other's strengths to work towards a goal. I had plenty of weaknesses when we started... technology was one of them! But it didn't matter, because technology was another person’s strength! Each teacher that joined came in with a unique gift and ability that I didn't have! It was beautiful! The rest is history!”
The initial project focused on creating music together since music surpasses language barriers. The schools in the project first created a drum track that was then sent to another school. The tracks rotated until that original track returns home as a song. While this is still the heart of the “Rock Our World” project, it has grown to include curriculum as well as working with other agencies such as NASA, Apple, and even actor Will Smith.
For this season of “Rock Our World,” Fablevision Founder, author, and illustrator Peter Reynolds will be joining the teachers and students as they learn about the topic of Peace and computer animation. Peter and his company donated two copies of their animation software Animation-ish to each school involved in the project. The end goal of the project is for each school to create a two-minute video showing their animated vision of peace.
Peter Reynolds says "My life's work has been to encourage arts-inspired solutions to move the world to a better place. "Connecting the dots" with Carol Anne McGuire on this global initiative is a dream come true. I'm honored to be a part of the Rock Our World 13: InTOONational team. This is THE decade for visual thinkers who now have the new technology tool to begin to "show what they know". The ROW project raises it to even a higher level - "Show us what you believe in." Inspiring students to have a mission - to be "positive problem solvers - now THAT is powerful learning!""
This project continues to open the lines of communication between citizens of various countries and even states that normally would never occur. A major component of this project is to set-up video-conferences between schools. Instead of reading about the cultures of different locations, the students are able to “call them up” and ask questions that are on their minds.
Howe High School is very excited to have been chosen for this opportunity. Students in 9th-12th grades will be working on creating the animation and working on the music component. Mrs. Tammy Parks will be leading her 30 High School students on this new endeavor.
For more information about “Rock Our World” and Animation-ish please visit the following sites: http://rockourworld.pbworks.com, http://rockourworld.pbworks.com and http://www.fablevision.com/animationish/.