Teacher Preparation

Background Information:
This project is designed for 4th grade students studying Michigan. Through video conference technology, students are able to meet other students in Michigan while learning about the geography of Michigan.

Prior to the video conference each classroom will create a presentation with clues about their city or town. The other classrooms, using maps, the Internet, textbooks, and other resources, will try to discover the location of each participating classroom.

COST: This project is FREE to TWICE members. Non-members pay $50. In addition, all schools are responsible for any line fees incurred.

Your Classroom Presentation:
Six classes will share a five minute presentation on their location. Each classroom should plan a five minute presentation. For more information on what it can include, visit the Media Tips page. Talk to your technology or distance learning coordinator to determine the possibilities available to you in your distance learning room. Your technology coordinator can help you gather the necessary equipment and will be helpful to you in preparing your presentation.

Your students' classroom presentation should answer a geography theme questions. In answering the questions you will help other classes figure out your location. Use the research web links to help you find the answers, as well as other print resources you have in your school.

When creating your presentation, please recognize the need to clearly communicate the clues. If you are making a creative presentation, please make sure to clearly indicate which clue is being given. You don't need to present the clues in order, however, please clearly indicate the category of the clue (region, place, etc.). This will help the efficiency of taking notes. Give the other classes time to find the clue and write it down.

To clearly communicate clues, we highly recommend visual cues of the clues. This could be a PowerPoint presentation to accompany the clues; using the document camera to present the text of the clues; or using large signs that students hold up while presenting. Visual cues assist in getting the spelling correct, understanding when students mispronounce location names, and help those taking notes get accurate information. When using visual clues, be sure to leave them on the screen long enough to allow copying. See examples from the MysteryQuest world geography website.

When working on your presentation, you may wish to divide the questions among the students in your classroom so that all students participate in the research and presentation preparation. Or find other ways to have all students involved. Decide who will talk for each portion of the event.

Introduction
In addition, prepare a short (a minute or less) statement for a student or two to say at the beginning. We will use this statement to check the audio at each site. Make sure your statement doesn't give away any information on your location! It could be a poem, rhyme, or joke. Let your students be creative!

Video Releases
The event will be taped by TWICE for improvement of the project, as well as illustrations to post on the web for next year's project. In addition, many schools tape the program they participate in. Because of this, please make sure the students who appear on camera have permission from their parents/guardian. (Some schools have a video/photograph release form built into their registration process. Here's a Word file sample you can use. Please leave the credit at the bottom of the form.)

Preparation for the Event:
Divide your students into five teams. Each team will be responsible for discovering one location presented by the other classrooms. The students will have half an hour after the completion of all presentations to match the classrooms with their corresponding locations, using books, atlases, the Internet, etc.

Go over the agenda with students so that they understand the process for the day. If possible, take along a poster of the agenda to post in your distance learning room to help students keep on track during the day.

Have students practice the presentation. Time the presentation to make sure it is 5 minutes or less. Emphasize speaking slowly, loudly and clearly. The biggest issue with this project is audio. Remind students that everyone else is listening carefully to their presentation to take notes. The goal is to have the other students clearly hear the clues and be able to record the information. Communicating the clues understandably is crucial! If students are reading clues, have them read from note cards instead of paper. Rustling paper during a video conference can make it impossible to hear the clue.

Make sure students understand the process for asking one question of each classroom. After the half hour is up each team will be allowed to ask each classroom one question. Each school should come up with a question for all the other classrooms. The questions should be 'eliminating' questions. In other words if the students believe the town or city is this or that, they pose a question that eliminates one. The questions should be "yes or no" questions only! In addition, do not ask, "Is your city Lansing?" as this type of question gives it away for the rest of the schools. Questions could be:

Revealing The Answer
Prepare a visual to reveal your location. Use a map to show on the document camera or with a big poster so that other schools can easily tell whether or not they got it correct. Be creative here if you want!

Materials to bring:

Other Videoconference Project Tips