Megaconference Jr. 2009
February 19, 2009

St. Charles Elementary School in Lima has been involved with Megaconference Jr. since its beginning in 2004. The following report by Kathy Lewis, Technology Teacher K-8/Specialist, summarizes this year's event.

A group of 39 St. Charles School sixth graders hosted a presentation titled Idiom or No Idiom – Does the Cat Have Your Tongue?  "Howie Mandel" and numerous suitcases filled with idioms were available for the interactive schools: Roosevelt School in North Dakota, Concordia Lutheran School in North Carolina and J. Myhre School in North Dakota. All students involved enjoy the learning experience.

St. Charles was invited to serve as one of the 10 international VJ (video jockey) teams. The 2-hour time slot was co-anchored with Frankfort, Kentucky. This year we found it very successful to have co-VJs. The co-VJs worked together writing scripts ahead of time and were able to play off each other during the introductions. Throughout the day, the technology made it almost seem as if the two VJ teams were in the same location. 

This is the third year St. Charles students have served as VJs. I am always amazed how well young students maturely handle time in front of the camera. Today, as the VJs introduced a presentation, they were informed (through a backstage chat room) of technical problems, and they needed to fill 15 minutes of dead air time. We have all seen professionals stumble...the kids just rolled with the punches.

A committee of VJs – St. Charles of Lima, Worthington-Kilbourne in Columbus and Scott Highlands School in Minnesota – met and developed this year’s theme of Hope and Change – Friends Around the World. This committee then worked with a graphic artist in Michigan to create this year's logo for the VJs' T-shirts.

I opened the computer lab to the community after school until 7 p.m. With the evening's icy roads, I was pleasantly surprised to have parents and students stopping in throughout the evening.

For more information:
Kathy Lewis
Technology Teacher K-8/Specialist
St. Charles School
2175 W. Elm
Lima, OH 45805, U.S.A.
Phone: 419-222-2536
Fax: 419-222-8720
IP: 66.114.1.145

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