Eracism Project 2012 Forming Now
Press Release February 1, 2012.Announcing, the Eracism Project 2012 - a global student debate that joins diverse cultures and includes authentic debate for global competence and international mindedness.
Fact based debate is a very essential skill with students who often equate the term "debate" with argument. The Eracism project: A Flat Classroom ProjectTM was envisioned by the winning student team from the 2009 Flat Classroom Conference held in Doha, Qatar and their concept was to hold debates using Web 2.0 tools to improve cultural understanding.
Schools selected for the Eracism Project 2012 will be asked to enter a 4 person debate team, with the remaining students in the class being researchers around the topic,
"Government regulation requiring immigrants to adopt the beliefs, habits, and language of the dominant culture does more harm than good."
The initial debates will be held asynchronously but in what organizers are calling a "simulated synchronous" environment with the final winning teams debating live in a virtual world. This project was carried out in 2009 and is being run again starting in March 2012. A limited number of applications will be taken.
We welcome applications NOW from teachers and their classrooms around the world. We also need judges and volunteers to help with debate coaching. To apply for this project as a class or judge or volunteer or request to be involved in the teacher information meeting, please complete this form.
Classrooms in Upper Primary, Middle and High School are encouraged to apply (students of age 11 and above). Organisers will create two strands in this project based on demand.
Application deadline is February 29, with announcement of project classrooms by Friday March 2, 2012.
The first teacher online meeting will take place near March 5, 2012. Actual date and time to be advised.
Tentative Timeline
This project has a planned start date of March 5, 2012 with debates beginning March 25 and concluding with the final debate held in a virtual world (and to be streamed live) in May 2012. Schools applying must specify their school holiday dates so that they can be best placed in the project on the debate grid.Phase 1 - Research & Coaching
This will happen at the school level as classrooms research the topic and practice debate at their local level.Phase 2 - Asynchronous Debate Round
Students will use VoiceThread to debate with each round taking approximately one week.Phase 3 - Synchronous Debate
The top two teams will debate live in a virtual world with the debate streamed live on the web for students and educators around the world to watch.Phase 4 - Reflection
Students and teachers will reflect on ways to improve the methods for global debates.Process
Due to the asynchronous components used, Eracism will use a hybrid debating style that is based on Conflict or Initiative Debating.
The teams prepare their cases; they present their arguments and evidence; and, they rebut the other team's arguments and evidence. The debate cycle will generally align with the Middle School Public Debate Program found at http://www.middleschooldebate.com
Each debate will be adjudicated by 3 judges and the winning team advances to the next round.
Most of the debates will be carried out on VoiceThread with the final debate being streamed live in a virtual world.
Thank you to the sponsors of this project: Voicethread, Wikispaces, Blackboard Collaborate. (Virtual world platform to be announced soon.)
Co-founders of Flat ClassroomTM Projects, Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis, have been planning for two years to once again run this ground breaking and inspirational global collaborative project. The project opens eyes and hearts as students debate on an issue that will bring together diverse ideas, develop transferable skills and create lasting friendships.
More information about Eracism: http://www.eracismproject.org
Application Form for Eracism 2012: http://tinyurl.com/eracism2012
Flat Classroom Projects: http://flatclassroomprojec.net
Contact us: fcp@flatclassroom.org
Directors, Vick Davis and Julie Lindsay
For more about the pedagogy and benefits of adding global collaboration to your curriculum, buy Julie and Vicki's book Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds from Pearson Publishing. www.flatclassroombook.com
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