 Bridges. We are thrilled to share with you all about our journey connecting students and teachers to the world through innovative technology presentation. We will be using the interactive near pod platform to connect you to all the topics of discussion to access the presentation. Simply log on with any device to www.nearpod.com or to the near pod app. Once you're logged on, click sign in and enter the homework code K-N-W-I-M. So up here, you will enter K-N-W-I-M. And that will get you to our presentation. You should now be logged on to this presentation on this screen. However, if you do not have access right now, we'll be showing the presentation here as well. Throughout this presentation, we will model all the tech tools for you. As you can see here, near pod is a wonderful program that allows you to connect with students regardless of time or place. We have found that near pod is our go to tool not only for instruction with students, but also it allows us to connect globally with classrooms and teachers during our professional development sessions. Over the years, as educators, Fran and I have found that students today acquire information and socialize in new and innovative ways. These immeasurable advances in technology have exposed our students to experiences with diverse cultures and have afforded complex opportunities of collaboration. In efforts to prepare our students for the future in their global society, we have found that creating opportunities for this network collaboration really allows our classrooms to build bridges and meaningful relationships. So our goals today will be to discuss ways to use global projects, digital tools and collaborative projects to connect classrooms to the world. As we begin, let me introduce myself. My name is Jennifer Williams and I'm a Literacy Specialist and Global Program Developer for Kaliope Global. Through my experience coordinating programs for students of the world, my research and writing interests include digital literacy, collaborative learning space design and innovative instructional practices that empower the voice of the student. I am so honored to be sharing with you all today. Hola, my name is Fran Syracusa, I'm here with Jennifer. I am an Educational Technologist for Kaliope Global and have taught Spanish for over 20 years. My passion is connecting classrooms of the world and I advocate for students by facilitating and inspiring student learning and creativity in the classroom. Implementing tech tools, I coordinate actual and digital global projects with partnering classrooms across the globe. While working with classrooms, we always pause and take a moment to consider. Are we building docks or are we truly investing in building bridges? Now consider this. What does it actually mean to connect globally? Today's classrooms global connections allow students to together create and problem solve within learning teams. These skills of thinking critically and creativity, those are the skills that our students will need to be prepared as global citizens of the future. First, we should look at international standards of best practice. The ISTI standards, Asia Society, Act Fold, and the partnership for 21st century learning all offer frameworks and guidelines for using global collaboration in the classroom. With Nearpod, you can click to explore the ISTI website. If you go on the ISTI.org website, you will see here that there is all sorts of resources available for you as a teacher. If you look under standards, you will find that there's standards for students, standards for teachers, administrators, coaches, and computer science educators. Let's take a look at the standards for students. If you look, ISTI offers these great resources. So really looking at creativity and innovation, communication, collaboration, research and information fluency, critical thinking, problem solving and decision making, digital citizenship and technology operations and concepts. So you can use the ISTI website to really explore as you're looking to collaborate globally. Our journey that started with an interest in global collaborations and studies of world languages and cultures quickly extended to a comprehensive world program that include teacher exchange and long-term global projects that culminate with international student travel. One of the most memorable experiences for us has been a program called Conquistadors Connect, in which we connected two groups of students over a two-year period. Through the use of innovative tech tools and the dedication of a couple classroom teachers, we have been able to connect students in collaborative and transformative learning and travel. Here is our journey with Conquistadors Connect. We're going to show you a video. We have ideas for projects. What about some of our favorite tech tools to collaborate and connect? Through the use of digital technologies, we found that the learning with our global networks of educators has inspired the most meaningful and impactful professional growth of our careers. Tools like Twitter, Voxer and Periscope have allowed for these engagements and for us to elevate the conversation of education and global learning. For students, the possibilities for learning are truly endless. We always look to first identify our goals, which we call the verbs, and find the best tools or the nouns to match our students' needs. Interactive tools like Padlet that allow students to connect and share virtually create new bridges of connection for classrooms of the world. What we've found is that digital tools allow for transformation of learning experience and they can expand the scope of knowledge and education. These new technologies allow students to engage in all forms of communication, so reading, writing, speaking and listening. And alone, they have power to encourage inquiry. But together, when they're combined, the possibilities for learning can be exponential. Here are some ways that we like to combine digital literacy tools in the classroom. So you have Periscope paired with Nearpod, Skype partnered with Padlet and YouTube together with Ed Puzzle. So now you have ideas on the standards of practice, ideas for global projects and examples for tools to connect. But what's next? We have listed some ideas for you for where to go from here on our website at www.colibeglobal.com. Please check our site for more ideas on tools and projects for your classrooms. You can also connect with us on Twitter at la underscore profe underscore s and at genwilliamsedu. Thank you for joining us for this session on connecting students and teachers of the world. We would like to thank K-12 online for inviting us to join you. Offer some project and tools personalized just for you and your students. Please share with us here and we look forward to connecting soon. Thank you! Adios! Hasta pronto!