INTRODUCTION:
Will the Olympic Torch pass through or near your
community on its way to Salt Lake City? If so, incorporate it into
your teaching through the CyberTorch Project! This project lets you
and your students contribute your own "on-the-scene" Torch Relay
reports, interviews, and memories for reading by other students,
teachers, and Olympic fans around the world.
More than 11,500 Torchbearers are carrying the
Olympic Flame through 250 U.S. cities and 46 states. The Torch Relay
ends in Salt Lake City on February 8, where the final honored
torchbearer will light the Olympic Cauldron during the opening
ceremonies of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.
The CyberTorch Project was conceived and proposed
by Tom Lough, former Olympic athlete and 1996 and 2002 Torchbearer.
Tom is an education professor at Murray State University in Murray,
Kentucky. He'll carry the Torch in Jackson, Tennessee, on December
15. Read Tom's memories about bearing the 1996 Torch.
Then tune in to the CyberTorch
Reports to read about Tom's 2002 experiences as well as
those of other teachers and students.
OBJECTIVES:
CyberTorch channels the excitement
of the Olympic Torch Relay into an educational project to stimulate
interest in personal sharing through both writing and reading. It is
designed to motivate your students to want to become better writers
and readers.
Because of the highly personal
nature of the experience, many additional instructional themes can
be addressed by the project.
English/Language Arts Skills:
|
Writing:
Your students could contribute personal narratives, observations,
recollections, descriptions, friendly letters, expository essays,
and interviews related to the Torch Relay.
|
|
Reading/Literacy: Your students will be eager readers of
this peer-generated content. This will be especially valuable for
basic literacy development.
|
|
Additional
Learning Opportunities:
Geography: Follow the route of the Torch Relay and examine
physical, political, and economic maps of those regions of the US.
Science and Technology: Observe and record the weather
encountered along the route. Calculate the speed of the relay. Graph
the distance covered each day. Send digital photographs to
cybertorch@yahoogroups.com.
Social Studies: Learn about community involvement and
volunteerism through interviews of the Torchbearers. Most of them
are local heroes, chosen because of their community service and
accomplishments.
Physical Education: Organize and run your own local torch
relay.
Global interdependence: Discuss with your students how the
Olympic movement is a force for peace.
|
|
|
TASKS AND TIMELINES:
What can you and your students do to participate in
the CyberTorch Project? Here are a few suggestions for project
activities. You can certainly improvise beyond these ideas..
-
Examine the
Torch Relay Route make plans to view its trip through or
near your community. On the big day, become the world's eyes and
ears "on the street." Have your students write a detailed
description of the sights, sounds, people and events that you
observe. If you have a digital camera, take several photographs.
Refer to the Relay Route map to follow its daily progress.
-
Look up the names of the
Torchbearers in your area. These Torchbearers were selected
because of distinguished service contributions and other
accomplishments. Contact a Torchbearer to conduct and record an
interview that tells the world about those singular accomplishments.
These interviews could be the most valuable contribution of the
CyberTorch project.
-
Compose your report as an email message (please...
no word processing attachments) and send it to
cybertorch@yahoogroups.com Please include your school
name and address in your report.
-
Read
CyberTorch
Reports on the Web, or
subscribe your
email address to have them delivered directly via email.
This project is like the Little Red Hen:
EVERYBODY will want to read the reports, but if
nobody submits any, there won't be anything to read.
That is why it is so important that you and
your students send in your contributions. What a thrill it will be
for them to read their own reports online! They will certainly have
a wonderful learning experience as well.
By the way, because of the intense interest in this
subject, we will post any credible first-hand report, interview,
or memoir about the Olympic Torch Relay or Olympic Games that
you want to contribute.
TORCH RELAY RESOURCES:
Official Olympics Web Site
Torch Route Map
Torch
Bearers
CyberTorch Report
Archives
Post Your CyberTorch Report to:
cybertorch@yahoogroups.com
Question:
projhelp@globalschoolnet.org
|