Introducing... me (and us)

My name is Rob Sbaglia, and I have been an ICT coach in the Loddon Mallee region of Victoria, Australia, for the past two years. As of this year, I am a Grade 5/6 teacher at Castlemaine North PS. The school has 160 students, and all Grade 5 and 6 students will have their own personal netbook that they can take home. My intention is to help the school become a leader in the use of ICT in education in our region.

Currently, we use blogs extensively through the school's unofficial online home, http://thenorthschool.com. However, our goal is to make meaningful connections outside of the classroom. We have already begun to do this through online debates using Skype and Etherpad with other Australian schools. We coordinate debates and organise for other schools to join us.

Further, we are using Skype to allow access to worldwide expertise. For example, next week we are studying science, and my students will interview three scientists on three different continents to discover what it is that scientists actually do. Our long term goal is to have not just scientists, but artists, environmentalists, architects, writers, etc etc that we can bring in the classroom through Skype. If you can help in this regard please let me know; I'm willing to reciprocate as I used to be a scientist: I have a PhD in medicinal chemistry and would be happy to be a guest expert for a class.

Our next debate is on whether Australian sports people should travel to India for the various sporting events being held there this year. Considering the ill-feeling between Australia and India being played out in the media, I'd love if there was an Indian school or individual willing to speak to our students.

Anyway, that's where we are. We would love to hear from anyone really who could provide us with another link to the outside world.

Cheers,
Rob.

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Introducing... me (and us)

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