Give Something Back International - Haiti program

Message from GSBI president and founder, Andrew Ezzell:

I wanted to let you know about a program we are sponsoring for the benefit of the children of Haiti that were devastated by the earthquake one year ago this month. The Give Something Back International Foundations, the sponsor of the GVC program, has decided to sponsor the education of 100 poor K-12 grade children from Haiti as well as build a 6 classroom school in a poor rural area during 2011.

If you are looking for a community service project or if you know of anyone that would be interested in volunteering to assist us in the building of this school, please direct them to the following link on our website: www.gsbi.org/haiti-project.html. If you or any of your colleagues are looking for an opportunity to assist by making a donation or helping with the fund raising events, we and the children of Haiti would be most grateful and appreciative. We guarantee that 100% of the funds raised will go to benefit the children of Haiti.

Needless to say, this effort on our part is unrelated to the Global Virtual Classroom program and is not a requirement of participation in the GVC program.

Global Education Conference Presentation Nov. 15-19, 2010

The 2010 Global Education Conference is being held November 15 - 19, 2010, online and free. Sessions will take place in multiple time zones and multiple languages over the five days. The conference is a collaborative and world-wide community effort to significantly increase opportunities for globally-connecting education activities.

Andrew Ezzell, Janet Barnstable, and Ronda Zelezny-Green's Global Virtual Classroom program presentation is on Thursday at 3pm EST.

There is no formal registration required for the conference, as all the sessions will be open and public, broadcast live using the Elluminate platform, and available in recorded formats afterwards. There is a limit of 500 live attendees for any given session. Links to watch the sessions will be posted the weekend before the conference begins, in the "Sessions" and "Schedule" pages, and recording links will be listed soon after each days sessions. To verify that your computer system is configured correctly to access Elluminate, please run the self-test

AT&T Supports 2010/11 Global Virtual Classroom Program

Press release: AT&T Supports 2010/11 Global Virtual Classroom Program

The GVC contest registration ends September 30, with team announcements coming out October 1-3. Applications after that will be on a waiting list until able to form an addition team.

Contest Registration Ends Soon

Where in the world will you collaborate this year? It's time! Applications for the Global Virtual Classroom contest end September 24th, that's only 3 weeks left. Teams will be formed by October First.

The Clubhouse PEP (people exchanging perspectives) program will also be up and running by October 1.

Read additional information and Apply now!

If you've already participated before and just now remembered that time is close, go directly to the contest application here: http://tinyurl.com/GVC2010-2011

GVC Program Manager

I am pleased to announce that Janet Barnstable has been named as the new Director of the Global Virtual Classroom Program. Janet has participated in the GVC programs since its inception in 1996. She recently retired from teaching after 48 years. For the past 18 years she was with Percy Julian Middle School in the Oak Park Illinois School District 97.

We look forward to working with Janet and know that the teachers and students from around the world will benefit from her knowledge and experience gained over the past 14 years participating in the GVC program. Join me in welcoming Janet and please call upon her for any questions, suggestions or comments you might have.

Her new GVC email address is: jbarnstable@gsbi.org

We also wish to thank Charlie Elsey for his successful management of the GVC program for the 2009/10 school year. He was able to provide leadership of the program along with his other duties as a fulltime middle school teacher in Sarasota, FL.

As a reminder, if you have not signed up for the GVC for the next school year, please be sure to complete the online registration form found at the following link:

http://tinyurl.com/GVC2010-2011

I look forward to your participation in the GVC once again this year. It is only through your dedication and effort that the program continues to be a success and a real global leader in online learning experiences for students from around the world.

Regards,
Andrew Ezzell
Give Something Back Intl. Foundation