Students from three District 97 schools in Oak Park (Julian, Lincoln and Mann) recently competed in the Global Virtual Classroom Contest, which is a free online collaborative learning project that fosters creativity, cross cultural understanding and helping others; provides children with the opportunity to use research, writing and communication skills; and teaches IT and Web site design skills to students from around the world. The student teams who participated had their entries judged on a number of criteria, including content, presentation, collaboration and a helping focus. The helping focus encourages students to demonstrate achievement of a helpful objective such as personal, social and/or environmental responsibility, or support for a worthy cause.
The district's student teams received seven awards this year, including:
Primary School Team Winners
Mann Elementary School’s fifth graders won the grand prize for the site Lacing Up the Digital Divide. The class partnered on the project with students from the Ivory Coast. The teacher leader for the team was Cristen Vincent.
Lincoln Elementary School's fifth graders won second prize for the site The Art of Living. The class partnered on the project with students from India and the Czech Republic. The teacher leader for the team was Matt Kuntz.
Julian Middle School’s seventh graders won a special merit award for exceptional creativity for the site Travel: Hotspots Around the World. The class partnered on the project with students from Israel and Mississippi. The teacher leader for the team was Adrienne Court.
Mann Elementary School's fourth graders won special merit awards for the sites Numbers Everywhere to Help Us, Disaster and Adventure Island. The class that worked on the Numbers Everywhere to Help Us site won an award for exceptional academic merit, partnered on the project with students from Arizona and was led by teacher Colin Reynolds. The class that worked on the Disasters site won an award for exceptional multimedia, partnered on the project with students from Florida and was led by teacher Jim Hayward. The class that worked on the Adventure Island site won an award for exceptional creativity, partnered on the project with students from New York and Hungary and was led by teacher Beth Diviacchi.
Secondary School Team Winners
Julian Middle School's eighth graders won third place for the site Enter the Creative World of Music. The class partnered on the project with students from California and the United Kingdom. The teacher leader for the team was Adrienne Court.
Since 2005, District 97 has won eight grand prize awards, four second place awards, two third place awards and nine special merit awards in the competition.
