As Durham Academy works on developing an enhanced global program as part of our strategic plan, it is great to know we have folks who are already investigating resources. I have been involved with The UNITE Project since 2003. I hope to take students to Uganda in 2009 so the can meet the students and tour the schools that our efforts have built. They will also be able to go on a safari at Queen Elizabeth National Park.

While at the Laptop Institute in Memphis, I learned about a Global Social Networking site organized and run by students. TakingITGlobal. This site will allow students, teachers and schools connect to projects around the world.

+++++++++++++++++

Upper School Teacher, Tina Bessias traveled to Egypt this summer to attend the iEARN annual conference. Following is her post to the faculty.

There’s an organization called iEARN, the International Education and Resource Network, that held its annual conference in Cairo this summer. I attended it and would like to share information about it with any division or group of teachers who is interested. Our school will be joining in in the next few weeks, and I’ll send out login information when it’s available. There’s much you can see now, though, if you go to the web site: http://www.iearn.org/ The organization facilitates collaborative projects between classes of students at all grade levels, including a teddy bear exchange, discussions of heroes and war experiences, comparing chemical analyses of river water, and lots of other topics.

My message about my summer grant experience also mentioned Just Vision: http://justvision.org and the documentary, Encounter Point, about Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers: http://encounterpoint.com

And just for good measure, here are a few more links:
Yad Vashem, the Jerusalem holocaust museum: http://www.yadvashem.org
the News Hour profile of poet Agi Mishol: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/entertainment/poetry/profiles/poet_mishol.html
the Bible Lands Museum: http://www.blmj.org/