Project Madog Goes Forward!
The Continuation of the Project
The original Project
Madog: Investigating Science, Mathematics and Technology in Wisconsin and
Beyond was a science, mathematics and technology project linking
several elementary school classes in east-central Wisconsin and several primary-school
classes in North Wales to share the results of their investigations as well
as their cultures and make friends. The school-to-school links and learning
were supported by involvement of teacher education students at Ripon College.
Teachers and students met regularly, attended workshops, and shared their
successes. The project was supported in part by an Eisenhower Professional
Development grant and wasRecipient of a Promising
Practice Award for 2003 from the Wisconsin
PK-16 Leadership Council. To read more about the design of the original project,
click here. We produced some interesting materials
including a project cookbook, a collection
of acrostic poems about the moon/y lleuad.
We even chaired our own bard in true Welsh fashion
at one of our workshops about Wales.
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Project Madog involved
the cooperation of theschool districts of Ripon, Berlin, Green Lake, and Oakfield
in Wisconsin, Ripon College, and the School
of Education of the University of Wales
Bangor. The project director was Dr.
Mary Williams-Norton, Professor of Physics at Ripon College. Assistant
director was Ms. Keri Simacek, teacher
at Murray Park Elementary School in Ripon. Mary, Keri, and many of their colleagues
are excited about continuing the project as
Project Madog... Forward!!
A network of class-to-class links
between Wisconsin and Wales
It is our intention to continue the project by
pairing classes in Wisconsin with classes in Wales and encouraging these partners
to communicate with each other about anything that interests them. As friendships
grow our goals are to
- Encourage and sustain international class-to-class friendships
by e-mail and "snail mail",
- Enhance children's skills of communication, including associated
language and interactive technology skills,
- Increase children's knowledge of their own and other cultures,
and
- Help teachers, teacher-education students, and others meet
face to face with educators from other countries,
To reach these goals, we shall
- Support teachers with links on this web site
- Seek funds to subsidize Maymester in Wales for Ripon College
students and faculty
- Seek funds to bring teachers to Wisconsin from Wales and
send Wisconsin teachers to visit Wales
- Maintain a sharing page linked to this web site to display
photos and school news from participating classes
- Maintain a collection of print resources at Ripon College
- Provide personal support to schools and individual classes
through school visits, Welsh language lessons, presentations about Wales,
workshops on subjects of common interest, etc.
- Help Wisconsin teachers apply for grants to support their
travel to Wales
- Provide local hospitality for teachers and others visiting
from Wales
- Lead Maymester courses in Wales that visit Welsh schools
which are in contact with Wisconsin schools
- Identify and encourage qualifies students to participate
in the semester study-abroad program at the School of Education at the University
of Wales Bangor
- Help interested Ripon College teacher-education students
arrange to work with Wisconsin classes involved in Wisconsin-to-Wales communication
as part of clinical experiences, student teaching, etc.
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Wisconsin Teachers: Join Project Madog...Forward!
to Learn
and Gain International Friendships for You and Your Class
Wisconsin teachers: If you would like to join Project Madog...Forward,
contact Mary or Keri.
Please understand that if we match you with a partner class, you must try to
communicate with that class often. Send them messages
by e-mail, notes and other items by air mail--surface mail takes 3 to 8 weeks--whenever
you get a chance. Mary and Keri can also help you with advice, presentations
about Wales in your class or in your school in general, etc. Mary will be visiting
schools in the Ripon area. You can "sign" up for the Project at one
of those meetings or by sending her before October 1 your name, school,
grade you teach, e-mail address to be used for the Project, phone number, and
any other pertinent information (such as Welsh ancestry (useful when applying
for grants), interest in workshops, etc.).
Once you have begun corresponding with your partner class, please
send quotation from letters, pictures, and captions for our sharing
page.
If your class would like to have a Welsh lesson and/or see a
presentation about Wales, contact Mary
to make arrangements for her and/or one of the Ripon College Maymester in Wales
students to visit your class.
If there is sufficient interest, Mary, Keri, and/or other teachers
in Project Madog are willing to conduct workshops for teachers upon request.
Since Project Madog...Forward! is not funded by any outside source at present,
workshop participants will be asked to share (modest) costs and the host school
to donate use of facilities. If you have a workshop topic in mind, please contact
Mary.
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Athrawon yng Nghymru / Teachers
in Wales
Ymwelodd Keri â Chymru yn yr Haf
2004 ac ymwelodd Mary hefyd ym mis Hydref a Thachwedd 2004. 'Dyn ni'n ceisio
siarad ag athrawon sydd eisiau cysylltu Prosiect Madog...Ymlaen. Os ydych
chi neu eich ysgol eisiau cysylltu neu ddal i fod yn y Prosiect,
- Ysgrifennwch at Mary
am y Prosiect.
- Anfonwch eich enw, eich cyfeiriad e-bost i ddefnyddio
yn ystod y Prosiect, a gwybodaeth defnyddiol arall at
Mary. Bydd hi'n ceisio cyfateb eich dosbarth efo dosbarth yn Wisconsin
a'ch adio i tudalen e-ffrindiau Prosiect yn fuan.
- Hoffech chi ymweld ag Wisconsin neu dderbyn ymweliadwyr
neu fyfyrwyr addysg o Wisconsin? Anfonwch y wybodaeth 'na at
Mary hefyd.
Mae nifer o ddosbarthiadau yn ysgolion yng Nghymru wedi
mwynhau Prosiect Madog yn barod. 'Dyn ni'n gobeithio ein bod ni'n medru trefnu
mwy o cysylltiadau, ymweliadau, ac hwyl. Hoffai bobl yn Wisconsin i ysgrifennu
atoch chi a'ch croeso i Wisconsin. Byddwn ni'n cael hwyl fawr iawn iawn!
Keri visited Wales in early summer 2004 and Mary
visited in October and November with the intention of talking to teachers
about joining the Project. If you would like to join or if your school would
like to participate,
- Contact Mary by e-mail.
- Send Mary your name, the e-mail address to use in the Project
as well as the ages of your pupils, and information about your school (size,
Welsh- or English-medium or bilingual, location, etc.). She will try to match
you with a class in Wisconsin and post the information on the e-pals
page as quickly as possible.
- If your school would enjoy at some time in the future a visit
from a Project teacher, a Ripon College teacher-training student who has worked
with the Project, please let Mary know this also.
Those classes that have already participated have enjoyed the
experience and learned a lot about their Wisconsin partners. We are currently
seeking grant funds to help arrange more face-to-face visits with teachers and
teacher-education students. Mary and Keri have both secured grants (with the
help of colleagues in Wales and Wisconsin) and are eagere to help others find
support for travel from Wales to Wisconsin or from Wisconsin to Wales. People
in Wisconsin are eager to host visiting teachers, so a visit can be quite economical.
Wisconsin hospitality attempts to be as good as Welsh hospitality, so visitors
can expect a very good time both in and out of school.
Ripon College Teacher-Education Students
There are a number of ways that Ripon College
students--particularly those seeking Early Childhood and/or Middle Childhood
certification--can benefit from Project Madog...Forward.
1. Collaboration with a class during clinical
placement or student teaching: If you are working with a teacher whose
class has e-pals in a Welsh school, you can work along with the children and
help them--and yourself--gain international educational experience.
2. Maymester in Wales: In 2003 and again in 2005, a
group of 6 students went to North Wales to visit educational sites and spend
time in primary schools. Click here to see
a summary of the experiences of each group. To do a Maymester in Wales, however,
it will be necessary for a student to
-
work often and effectively with a Project
Madog...Forward class in Wisconsin during the semester before Maymester,
-
participate in a preparatory course during
the spring semester before Maymester,
- help plan their travel itinerary, including choosing and
planning to lead at least one tour of an educational site--castle, park, historic
home, etc.--during the trip
-
prepare lessons to present in Welsh schools,
- learn some basic Welsh,
-
correspond effectively with teachers in the
school(s) they will visit in Wales.
Because financial aid is not applied to Maymester courses,
there is a significant cost associated with travel to Wales. We are seeking
grant funds to subsidize travel for students.
3. Independent study associated with the project: Students
who plan and carry out a significant amount of work in educational studies
associated with working with a Project Madog...Forward class that is not part
of a clinical placement may receive one or more credits for a course in Educational
Studies entitle something like "Independent study: International Issues
in Elementary Education". For further information, contact Professor
Williams-Norton and Professor Katz .
4. Study Abroad at the School of Education at the University
of Wales Bangor: Participation in Project Madog...Forward is encouraged
for anyone interested in studying at Bangor. Study abroad at Bangor is designed
specifically for outstanding Ripon College students who are seeking Early
Childhood (EC) and/or Middle Childhood (MC) certification and recognize the
value of international study and in-school experience. Study-abroad in Bangor
is a first semester program and is best done during the junior year. For further
information, contact Professor
Williams-Norton and Professor Katz. The selection process will include
an interview as well as written application. Click here
for further information.
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Return to Mary's main page.
Last updated 10-Aug-2005