Becoming Junior International Broadcast Journalists!

New York City Public School 56 Queens is a Title I school with a student body of approximately 70% eligible for free lunch. Our school had the good fortune to be rewired for Internet connectivity and we were fortunate to receive a grant for wireless laptops! It's a privilege for which we are always grateful. We have partners in Blackpool, England and we have a collaborative project we hope can expand to broadcast journalism. While we are PC based, there's no denying that Apple's i-Movie (called i-Life06) and i-Sight (the Apple version of videoconferencing) is making going global ever easier for students. Thomas Friedman's "The World Is Flat" emphasizes globalization and education's responsibilities. In keeping with that, we have arranged with our UK partners to regularly choose a topic in the news and have students present from each country's point of view. We're also examining the potential of podcasts to upload to a server that is waiting for our materials. What would make this accessible to students is the editing and podcasting features on a new Apple MacBook Pro. It's pricey listing includes all the features which would add up to more if we had to purchase them separately. The specifics of the project are the following: Both schools (Richmond Hill and Blackpool, UK students) are collaborating currently to develop a literacy rubric that includes peer assessment. That rubric will be used as students develop video of themselves presenting for broadcast a topic that is of interest to both British and American students. Students would videoconference before to discuss the issues, and then develop their broadcasts for presentation on both sides. Students would need to edit video according to the rubrics developed collaboratively. This would be regularly scheduled every two weeks (so the video would have to be edited quickly and kept to broadcast length of no more than a minute 30 seconds. Podcasting will also be a regular feature of this project with audio rubrics developed for literacy through writing. We feel this will enhance the 21 century learning environment. PS 56Q and the Anchorsholme Blackpool (UK) schools are currently working together and the tech teams have already met. Our British colleagues found funding to fly in for 3 days to plan for this and Apple's technology lends itself best to achieving our goals for elementary school students (grade 5). Archives will be available of our work because it has already been set up by our British counterparts on a secure server. They are offering us unlimited space to place student work for future reference and modeling best practices. We also have an extended use for this specific equipment. We realize that this is a huge wish, and we don't need the model with the fancy larger screen, only the power to edit movies and use i-Sight. We also have space science buddies in California with whom we collaborate on NASA projects and they only have the Apple i-Sight. Apple can only talk to Apple, it seems, another reason to acquire this new computer with its many built-in features. If this could in any way be possible, we'd be able to edit video and videoconference with the Apple interface, and yes, go global. There's no denying it. Donors Choose has been AWESOME in making dreams come true and we know we're asking for the sun and the moon. Please help us shoot for the stars with this request. Thank you!