Friday, October 14, 2011

Investigating Village Recycling program

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Another great recycling resource: e-mail: SPA - PEP RecycleRally Website: http://www.dreammachinerecyclerally.com/  . I received the following e-mail as part of my follow-up for Salman’s interest in recycling.


The Dream Machine Recycle Rally is scheduled to continue past the end of the 2011 school year and straight into 2012. With this in mind, you are invited to apply and recycle to your heart's content. In fact, we have schools with summer programs and community support that plan to keep up their recycling well into the summer months and into the next school year.

This is a multi-year program and we are excited to have you in the program now and next school year as well, and we are working on program details for the 2011-2012 school year which should be announced in the near future. . At that point, all information will be on our website and we encourage you to check back there for updates or email us again at that time for more details. What we can suggest is that once you have full school administration authorization to apply for the Recycle Rally, that you apply so that we can begin the review process as soon as possible. This can at times be a lengthy process if you are not already service by our project partner, Waste Management. In addition, although all details are not publicly available, you might keep in mind that our next major contest has a requirement that a school apply by August 1st in order to participate.

The great thing about this program is that the purpose of this initiative is to increase recycling overall and with that in mind, all #1 PET and aluminum cans should scan for points. We have about 175,000 UPC codes of these types in our system. Products of different companies are included in the program. While participating in the program, if something of these material types does not earn points, sometimes that is due to new and promotional products with unique UPC codes or perhaps something we have not yet included in our system. We have a support team that can elaborate on this for participants as well as add UPCs into the system.

We look forward to your participation in the upcoming 2011/2012 school year, we’re expanding our rewards and contests platforms so that more schools have even more rewards opportunities and chances to win contest prizes as well as a modified method of processing the recyclables which promises to be more convenient for Recycle Rally participants.

Again, we thank you for your interest and look forward to working with Casady School in the future.


Regards,  The Dream Machine Recycle Rally Team

Sunday, October 2, 2011

NAIS challenge 20/20 partnership 2011-2012

What is Challenge 20/20:  See video at: http://www.nais.org/global/movie.cfm?ItemNumber=149859

Dear Challenge 20/20 Team,

The NAIS Global Initiatives team would like to thank you for participating in the 2011-2012 Challenge 20/20 program. This is a program that is being received with great interest and commitment by schools from many countries. We have received hundreds of applications from schools from many different countries and many states in the US, and we have been able to partner many schools. Our hope is that the Challenge 20/20 partnerships among schools across the globe will provide an excellent foundation for meaningful problem-solving and cross continent relationships that lead to a more promising global future for our students and our schools.

Here is some information about your team.
Number of schools in team: 2
Global problem assigned: Global warming-carbon footprint, energy audits
Grade level of team: 9-12 (upper school)
Term: 2011-2012: Term Two - Jan-May - Report due May 4

Your team's primary contact is:
Carmen Clay, Casady School, clayc@casady.org
(NAIS selects the team's primary contact when the partnerships are first created.)
Below, please find the contact information for all of the schools on your team:

School: Casady School, 9500 North Pennsylvania, Oklahoma City, OK, USA, http://www.casady.org/, School type: Independent/Private, School size: large (701+), Participating students' grade level: 9-12 (upper school), Teacher Leaders: Mr. Mark Delgrosso, Biology Teacher, delgrossom@casady.org; Carmen Clay, Rainbolt Family Service Learning Chair, clayc@casady.org, Phone: 405-749-3103, Fax: 405-749-3214, School Contact: Carmen Clay, Rainbolt Family Service Learning Chair, clayc@casady.org, Phone: 405-749-3103, Fax: 405-749-3214

School: METU Developmental Foundation High School, ODTU Yerleskesi Inonu Bulvari, Ankara, Ankara, Turkey, http://www.odtugvo.k12.tr/, School type: Independent/Private, School size: medium (201-700), Participating students' grade level: 9-12 (upper school), Teacher Leader: Secil Nazlier, Biology teacher, snazlier@odtugvo.k12.tr, Phone: 00903122101182, School Contact: Secil Nazlier, Biology teacher, snazlier@odtugvo.k12.tr, Phone: 00903122101182

Please proceed by contacting your partner school/s and making all the necessary arrangements to begin your collaborative work on Challenge 20/20. The program is very flexible and we allow you as a team to create your own curriculum, design the program and schedule time for students and teachers to communicate.

Many schools selected up to five global problems of interest and we worked hard to identify partners for schools with similar interests and grade levels of students. Our preference is that you work on your assigned global problem. However, if your team wishes to work on a global problem that is different than the one you have been assigned, please communicate with your assigned partner school/s and decide on the final global problem within the partnership. If all schools agree, please send me a message at wheeler@nais.org and I will change the topic in our database. Your final global problem must be highlighted in each school's Agreement Form that is due by September 26, 2011 for Term One participants and January 23, 2012 for Term Two participants and/or after making initial contact with your partner school/s. However, if your team needs more time to decide on the final global problem, you may have an extension to complete the Agreement Forms.

Challenge 20/20 is an annual NAIS initiative, and schools are encouraged to participate every year to continue their work on solving global problems. More information on next year's program will be available online. Also, we will provide you with updates throughout the year at http://www.nais.org/go/challenge2020 so please check this website regularly. If you have any questions, you can download the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) at http://www.nais.org/global/index.cfm?ItemNumber=150365 or contact me directly at wheeler@nais.org.

NEXT STEPS:
1. Proceed by contacting your partner school/s and if you wish to work on a different global problem than the one assigned by NAIS, work that out within your partnership. You may communicate with each other by: email, phone, regular mail, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, listserves, and blogging. You will find more information on listserves and blogging below.

2. You have been assigned the Term for your partnership's participation based on your selection in the application form. Check with your partner school/s to make sure you're all still interested in working during that Term.

3. Fill out the Agreement Form signed by the Head of School (to be mailed or faxed back to NAIS by September 26, 2011, for Term One participants and January 23, 2012, for Term Two participants and/or after making initial contact with your partner school/s). You may download a copy of the form at: http://www.nais.org/go/challenge2020. Send the form by e-mail: wheeler@nais.org
By mail: Ioana Simona Suciu Wheeler, Associate Director of Global Initiatives,
National Association of Independent Schools, 1620 L Street, NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20036-5695, USA, By fax: (202) 247-9694 or (202) 973-9790

Each signed agreement should also include the name of the global problem your partnership will be addressing. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at (202) 973-9755 or by e-mail at wheeler@nais.org.

4. Read the details and guidelines for the Challenge 20/20 program online at http://www.nais.org/go/challenge2020.

5. Read and advise your students to also read the book: High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them. This book is available at your local library or for purchase for $16.95 US dollars at your local bookstore or on our website at http://www.nais.org under Our Publications and NAIS Bookstore, or directly at http://www.nais.org/transact/ProductDetail.cfm?product_code=B91.

6. Begin your work on identifying local solutions to global problems as a team.

7. Term One participants submit any photographs and supplemental materials you would like us to have from November to January and Term Two participants make their submissions from April to May. You may send them by email to wheeler@nais.org or by mail at the address listed above. We will use some of these for promotional purposes, display and marketing only.

8. Term One participants submit the team's online report on your progress in January 2012 (reports due by February 3, 2012) while Term Two participants submit the report in April/May 2012 (reports due by May 4, 2012). This report will be available at http://www.nais.org/go/challenge2020 as we get closer to that date and we will also send you reminders in advance. Once you submit your report, you can continue your work together for the remainder of the school year and we encourage you to do so.

PROGRAM CHANGES AND UPDATES:
1. Challenge 20/20 Listserve: The Teacher Leader and Contact Person at each participating school will be automatically added to the Challenge 20/20 listserve, which NAIS will use as a distribution list to send out updates and important information about Challenge 20/20. If you do not wish to be included in this listserve, simply send a message to wheeler@nais.org with the Subject Line: Unsubscribe from the Challenge 20/20 Listserve.

3. Blogs and Team Websites: We encourage you to use blogging as a way of communicating with your team and to create a Challenge 20/20 website for your team. You may use your own school's blogging system if you have one, or one that you create for the Challenge 20/20 partnership through the Challenge 20/20 Portal. To assist you with the process, NAIS has recently partnered with TakingITGlobal, an organization that offers a collaborative learning community which provides youth with access to global opportunities, cross-cultural connections and meaningful participation in decision-making. Through this partnership, we are thrilled to offer you the Challenge 20/20 Portal where you can register your schools individually and create classrooms, submit assignments, photographs, blogs and discussions, reports, journals, PowerPoint presentations, videos, etc. You can also create collaborations and invite your partner schools to join your collaboration so that your students and teachers can communicate with each other and share their research and findings to their assigned global problem. The Primary School of the team should create the collaboration and invite each partner school to join it. Please remember that all materials posted through this platform may be used by NAIS for marketing and display purposes, including video and pictures, and may be posted on the NAIS web site to serve as examples. We encourage you to create your classrooms and collaborations with a "private" setting but make certain things "public" so that others can use them as examples and view the type of work that can be accomplished through Challenge 20/20. Things that you can make public are photographs, reports, testimonials, journals, videos, etc. NAIS assumes that teachers are the copyright holders of their materials or they have individually secured permission for information posted on the Challenge 20/20 Portal. We have created a Users' Guide (Training Manual) on how to sign up for this website, so before you get started, please view the manual at http://www.nais.org/global/index.cfm?ItemNumber=154544. The landing page for the Challenge 20/20 Portal is http://challenge2020.tiged.org/. We also encourage using teleconferencing and videoconferencing as a way to connect with your partner schools.

The Challenge 20/20 homepage is a great resource that you can use throughout the program. We will post periodic updates and we encourage you to visit the website regularly at http://www.nais.org/go/challenge2020.

Profile Your Challenge 20/20 Work on the NAIS Websites: For the first time this year, schools will have the opportunity to be profiled on the NAIS Challenge 20/20 website as well as the NAIS on iTunes U website. If you're interested, please contact Ioana Simona Suciu Wheeler at wheeler@nais.org for details. We will need a summary of your projects, photographs (with a statement that you have permissions from parents for NAIS to post them online), testimonials, any journals, PowerPoint presentations, videos, resources and other information you would like to share with us. Videos are also encouraged and if they are of good quality and conform to the format needed for NAIS on iTunes U, we can include them there as well. This will give your school lots of visibility and your work on Challenge 20/20 can be can serve as a model to other schools. Please make sure to collect photographs and supplemental materials throughout the year. To view a couple of examples of NAIS profiles visit http://www.nais.org/go/challenge20/20, under Past Projects.

IMPORTANT: If for any reason, a school on your team can no longer participate in Challenge 20/20 this year and wishes to withdraw from the program, please inform us as soon as possible so we can re-match your partner school/s. Contact me by sending an email to wheeler@nais.org.

Once again, congratulations! We wish for you a fruitful and productive experience through Challenge 20/20 that leads to the development of informed and capable global leaders and global citizens.

Best regards,Ioana Simona Suciu Wheeler, Associate Director of Global Initiatives,
wheeler@nais.org