Teachers Teaching Teachers #246 - Quakestories - Updates from Japan: Kim Cofino, Eric Bossieux, Mary Fish, David Bantz - 5.4.11

Post-Show description: 

Every few weeks, since the 72256687_dbeb50d63fMarch 11th earthquake, tsunami, and ongoing nuclear crises in Japan, we've been checking in with a few teachers there.

On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers we are joined once again by Kim Cofino who gives us us a general update on her own, her students' and colleagues', and her neighbors' responses to the crises. Kim also describes “quakestories,” a project she started along with Mary Fish, who also joins us from her school in Japan on this episode of TTT.

Another teacher from Japan and self-described “change agent,” Eric Bossieux, joins us once again, and a colleague of Paul Allison’s at East-West School for International Studies, David Bantz brings his perspective as well. David is a Japanese language teacher who had just returned from a trip to Japan a week before this webcast.

Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

20:51:45 Paul Allison: http://paulallison.tumblr.com/post/5186554458/report-from-japan-quakesto...
20:52:00 Paul Allison: http://quakestories.wikispaces.com/
20:52:08 Paul Allison: http://quakestories.wikispaces.com/6A+English
20:52:14 Paul Allison: http://youthvoices.net/search/node/quakestories
20:52:24 Paul Allison: http://youthvoices.net/search/node/japan
20:53:35 Paul Allison: http://nwpbookgroups.ning.com/
20:55:31 PeggyG: Hi all. Very excited to hear from your guests tonight!
20:56:30 Paul Allison: Me too.
20:56:33 Paul Allison: Hi Peggy
20:56:42 Paul Allison: Ah... Susan checks in. How are you?
20:56:48 SusanEttenheim: hi all
20:57:01 Paul Allison: I wasn't worried. Well maybe a little.
20:57:04 SusanEttenheim: just called you Paul.. no answer
20:57:06 PeggyG: Hi Paul, Susan and DrThomasHo!
20:57:12 SusanEttenheim: I'll try again now
20:57:15 SusanEttenheim: Hi Peggy
20:57:20 PeggyG: you haven't started the stream yet right?
20:57:30 SusanEttenheim: welcome and welcome @DrThomas
20:57:33 SusanEttenheim: no not yet
20:57:42 PeggyG: worth the wait!! :-)
20:58:50 PeggyG: this is my 5th webcast/webinar today! What an awesome day of learning and connecting!
21:00:58 PeggyG: hearing the end of 21st century learning show right now :-)
21:01:32 PeggyG: Hi David
21:01:51 PeggyG: hearing you now Paul!! Hooray!
21:02:06 SusanEttenheim: hi all!
21:02:10 PeggyG: hearing the typing
21:03:03 @DrThomasHo: I can hear
21:03:15 SusanEttenheim: hi lcastiglione welcome!
21:03:40 PeggyG: Hi Lynne!! How exciting to have you joining us tonight!!
21:04:04 lcastiglione: Hello I just happen to see your post Peggy1
21:04:05 PeggyG: another AZ educator!!!! and my friend!!! @lcastiglione!
21:04:08 SusanEttenheim: everyone - please introduce yourself! Where and what do you teach?
21:04:09 PeggyG: woo hoo!!
21:04:19 SusanEttenheim: I'm in high school in NYC - and you>?
21:04:25 PeggyG: I'm a retired elementary principal and university pre-service instructor in Phoenix AZ
21:04:41 PeggyG: hearing you all just great!
21:04:56 ericfromtokyo: Hello from Tokyo
21:05:19 PeggyG: Thrilled to be hearing from Kim Cofino and her students!!!
21:05:21 SusanEttenheim: peggy - 5 webcasts!
21:05:23 lcastiglione: I teach 3rd-6th grade gifted students- Reading & Math in PHX AZ
21:05:30 PeggyG: yup!! all great too!
21:05:48 SusanEttenheim: welcome lcastiglione!
21:05:59 SusanEttenheim: so much for being retired peggy!
21:06:03 PeggyG: :-)
21:06:14 PeggyG: never too old to learn!!
21:06:21 SusanEttenheim: I am released from jury duty as of today whoo hoo!
21:06:31 PeggyG: congrats Susan!!
21:06:39 SusanEttenheim: whew ;)
21:06:46 @DrThomasHo: I'm a retired university faculty member in computing and helping with http://s.hofamily.me/iconnectma
21:07:04 SusanEttenheim: welcome back DrThomasHo!
21:07:19 PeggyG: always love having you join us DrThomas!!
21:08:53 PeggyG: very interesting observation!! still friendly even with heightened level of stress
21:09:35 PeggyG: are there schools that need to be rebuilt?
21:10:29 SusanEttenheim: hi matt!
21:10:39 PeggyG: grief expression must be very important to help with healing
21:11:36 SusanEttenheim: so some really nice relationships may come out of this!
21:11:52 SusanEttenheim: I wish we could make intercounty connections too
21:12:03 PeggyG: that sounds terrific Kim!!!
21:12:29 PeggyG: Kim can you describe exactly where you are and what your role is right now? Are you teaching every day?
21:13:09 PeggyG: what a great point!! what do you do with all of the debris??
21:13:53 PeggyG: that is very refreshing the administrators recognize the efforts of volunteers in giving credit for their courses
21:15:03 lcastiglione: That's wonderful- that students would get credit for community service.
21:15:16 SusanEttenheim: hi chris!
21:15:26 @DrThomasHo: Hi Matt
21:15:26 PeggyG: can vehicles get in and out to be able to evacuate people for relocation?
21:15:39 PeggyG: Hi Matt! Great to see you!
21:15:43 Chris Sloan: hi. had trouble connecting with Firefox and Chrome, but Safari is working now
21:16:04 PeggyG: welcome Chris!!!
21:16:45 SusanEttenheim: isn't that strange - I had the same thing tonight
21:17:02 SusanEttenheim: peggy have you had trouble with chrome and this chatroom?
21:17:03 PeggyG: http://www.amazon.com/Aftershocks-Stories-Japan-Earthquake-ebook/dp/B004...
21:17:18 Chris Sloan: Got here a little late. Quake stories on Kindle. That's fast publication
21:17:19 PeggyG: that's the kindle version--I'm so glad to know about it
21:17:38 PeggyG: yes Susan--I have had problems with Chrome and the ETT chat
21:17:44 PeggyG: I'm using Firefox tonight
21:17:51 SusanEttenheim: ahhh I'm using Safari tonight
21:17:54 Chris Sloan: weird
21:18:10 Chris Sloan: url for quake stories again?
21:18:26 SusanEttenheim: thank you peggy...
21:18:29 PeggyG: the Kindle price is only $9.99 :-)
21:18:40 PeggyG: https://www.amazon.com/gp/digital/fiona/thank-you?ie=UTF8&kc=AG56TWVU5XW...
21:20:33 lcastiglione: Excerpts from the book and info www.quakebook.org
21:20:42 PeggyG: I will look forward to the student version!!
21:20:52 PeggyG: thanks for that link Lynn
21:21:34 PeggyG: http://quakestories.wikispaces.com
21:21:40 ericfromtokyo: here is the link for quakestories
21:22:32 PeggyG: how exciting!! we get to hear some of the audio!!
21:24:14 lcastiglione: :-) my students would be very interested in reading what the students have written
21:24:15 PeggyG: dramatic sound effects!!
21:25:24 PeggyG: is that on the wiki where we can hear it again?
21:25:55 SusanEttenheim: hi Sarah H welcome!
21:26:05 PeggyG: wow! produced his own song!! very impressive!
21:26:24 SusanEttenheim: Sarah - where and what do you teach?
21:26:57 PeggyG: I love my Kindle! Already have the book on it!!
21:26:58 SusanEttenheim: oops Sarah is out but will be back hopefully
21:27:05 SusanEttenheim: go Peggy!
21:27:16 SusanEttenheim: I love love love books on my iPad
21:28:09 PeggyG: no iPad yet :-(
21:29:22 PeggyG: I think a wiki is a great way to share with a broader audience
21:30:47 PeggyG: are all of the submissions to the wiki in English or Japanese? curious about how you manage translations
21:31:37 matt montagne: I think they were making geiger counters using arduino
21:31:40 SusanEttenheim: www.safecast.org
21:32:16 PeggyG: how funny!! the link for that came through 30 secs before the audio mentioned it
21:32:43 matt montagne: DIY geiger counters built on Arduino Gehttp://www.ibtimes.com/articles/136054/20110419/spanish-co-libelium-sell...
21:33:03 PeggyG: can you repost that link Matt? not clickable
21:33:46 matt montagne: arduino based geirger counter: http://arduino.cc/blog/2011/04/15/libeliums-new-geiger-counter/
21:33:46 SusanEttenheim: http://english.ajazeera.net/news/asia/2011/04/201142317359479927.html
21:34:01 PeggyG: thanks!
21:34:52 PeggyG: are there lots of people using the geiger counter individually?
21:35:23 PeggyG: that is such a great point about the fish! how can you really know what's safe??
21:36:12 david: the fish havent been tested for the most part
21:36:16 david: only isolated tests
21:36:25 david: most fish going to market havent been tested for radiation
21:36:30 ericfromtokyo: Don't forget that most of the fish is imported.
21:36:46 PeggyG: emotionally there must be a definite limit to how much you can take in about all of the details!!
21:37:59 PeggyG: is that correct that most of the fish is imported? how do you learn about those things?
21:39:01 PeggyG: I've been hearing that there is a lot of fish contamination from the Gulf Oil spill and people seem to have thought that things were ok now. How do we really know??
21:40:32 PeggyG: Susan-what was said about the ajazeera.net site? Not sure what to look for there
21:40:52 PeggyG: it seems to be all sponsored listings
21:41:17 SusanEttenheim: it was a link from kim
21:41:29 PeggyG: is there a letter missing in the link?
21:41:43 SusanEttenheim: let me try again
21:41:51 SusanEttenheim: how do you copy into the chat?
21:41:51 PeggyG: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/04/201142317359479927.html
21:42:00 PeggyG: yes it was missing an l in aljazeera
21:42:08 SusanEttenheim: I'm having trouble doing that so I typed it in
21:42:11 SusanEttenheim: ah thanks
21:42:17 PeggyG: you have to float the chat log and then drag the url into the text box in chat
21:42:33 SusanEttenheim: humm I've tried that..
21:42:36 SusanEttenheim: I'll try again
21:42:55 SusanEttenheim: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/04/201142317359479927.html
21:43:04 PeggyG: yes that's the way :-)
21:43:13 SusanEttenheim: ahh works well from skype chat but not from the chat to a text doc
21:43:20 SusanEttenheim: can you copy from the chat?
21:43:42 PeggyG: you can highlight the entire chat and then drag it into another document as a block
21:44:07 PeggyG: I usually drag it into an open email until after the show but I could also drag it into an open Evernote
21:44:28 PeggyG: however the entire chat doesn't show--the beginning disappears as the new chat comes in
21:44:31 SusanEttenheim: hum I'm not able to drag into text edit
21:44:42 david: sorry about getting sidetracked about the fish
21:46:01 PeggyG: I'm not either tonight Susan but that's how I used to do it. Maybe something has changed in the chat tool.
21:46:40 PeggyG: oh no!!
21:46:43 PeggyG: come back Mary
21:47:03 lcastiglione: :-) 6th graders blurt whatever is on their minds.....interesting
21:47:30 PeggyG: yes @lcastiglione :-)
21:48:02 PeggyG: audio is great now for the recording
21:50:02 PeggyG: important observation about the fish
21:50:42 PeggyG: thank you Mary!!
21:51:05 PeggyG: yes put a link to YouthVoices from the wikispace!!! great way to connect
21:51:59 PeggyG: http://youthvoices.net/discussion/disaster-japan
21:52:19 Paul Allison: http://youthvoices.net/search/node/quakestories
21:52:52 PeggyG: much better link Paul! thanks!
21:55:14 PeggyG: how is communication between Japan and families around the world? what are they using to communicate?
21:55:21 SusanEttenheim: hi cgermano24 welcome
21:55:28 cgermano24: hello
21:55:52 SusanEttenheim: welcome where and what do you teach?
21:56:31 cgermano24: I teach in Albany, New York and I teach grades 3 & 5
21:56:40 ericfromtokyo: Are you keeping a record of the chats?
21:56:41 SusanEttenheim: welcome!
21:56:46 PeggyG: very interesting point!! farmers not in the immediate area are also experiencing devastation!!
21:56:53 SusanEttenheim: We're talking about quakestories.wikispaces.com
21:57:28 PeggyG: that's a good way to organize the wiki for student contributions--add them to the discussion tabs
21:58:12 cgermano24: yikes I have to leave I wish I could stay
21:58:28 SusanEttenheim: you can find this as a podcast
21:58:41 SusanEttenheim: ishinomaki
21:58:49 SusanEttenheim: minato
21:58:50 PeggyG: do you consider YouthVoices a blog? I thought it was a drupal website.
21:58:56 SusanEttenheim: watanoha
21:59:03 SusanEttenheim: it is a drupal
21:59:09 SusanEttenheim: but it does have feeds
22:00:03 PeggyG: that's the quakestories book that will be published by the students right? not the one already on Amazon
22:00:35 PeggyG: you would need to subscribe to the feed just for the quakestories then, right?
22:00:41 Chris Sloan: I had a question about that too.  #quakestories isn't by students, or is it?
22:00:49 PeggyG: I subscribe to several YouthVoices feeds
22:00:59 PeggyG: the upcoming book will be by students Chris
22:01:16 PeggyG: if I understood that correctly from the earlier conversations
22:01:22 Chris Sloan: I'd like to read that. What's that called and when will it be published?
22:01:43 PeggyG: that was my question about the language :-) very curious about that
22:01:57 PeggyG: we can use Google Translate on the web page
22:02:08 PeggyG: unless it's audio
22:02:45 PeggyG: http://quakestories.wikispaces.com/About+Our+Project
22:02:56 lcastiglione: Thanks everyone- I'll try to make time to have my students check out the quakestories - we are in school for about three more weeks.
22:03:08 PeggyG: that page explains about the project and it looks like that is where all of the publishing will occur.
22:04:06 david: heading off...
22:04:08 PeggyG: great idea Lynn
22:04:09 david: good night to all
22:04:13 david: thanks for havng me
22:04:26 david: thanks Susan and Paul, especially
22:04:31 PeggyG: excellent conversations! thank you to all of the special guests!
22:04:35 SusanEttenheim: thank you!
22:04:52 PeggyG: hearing fine
22:04:58 lcastiglione: thnks for posting links so quickly/clearly
22:05:34 PeggyG: so glad to get that clarification on the quakestories book--possibly in August
22:05:53 SusanEttenheim: goodnight all!
22:05:56 Chris Sloan: It's got a lot of potential. I know me and my students would buy it
22:06:02 PeggyG: Susan you'll post the chat on EdTechTalk, right?
22:06:10 Chris Sloan: goodnight
22:06:12 PeggyG: good night everyone!