2011 IIME REPORTCountry:USA
School Springside Chestnut Hill Academy (formerly Springside School)
Teacher [ Colleen Joy) (grade: /students number: )7th grade - 49 students
JP School [] Teacher []# Subjects, Activities and Times of the lessons
Subject

Conception of the lesson

Times

Art

Work on finding a common theme and paint a mural

Many times

IT

Use the online forum, video conference and email – VC once, email and Forum

Many times

Social Studies

Study and exchange ideas about Akashi City, Japan and Philadelphia, Pa., USA

Many times# Theme and Message of the mural“Making the World a better Place”
ThemeMessage

Express the theme of the mural by depicting solutions to each of ourecological, conservation and social concerns.

Attach photos of your painting and a competed mural.

# Effects and the Problems
Effects your students have gained
Points for further improvement
Increased global awareness
It would have been great to take part in more VC but
International connections with Japanese students and because of the 13 hour time difference this made itteacherdifficult.
The role of technology (online forum and VC)# Have you made your activity open in your school or in your local area? How was their reaction or reputation?

PR you did inside/out of your school
Reaction/reputation from aroundWe exhibited our mural in our school gallery with There was a very positive response to this global project.
supporting materials, explanations and pictures for twoweeks. Pictures and explanation were posted on oursch.org Facebook page in March.

# Flow of the Activity
ContentMonth

What you did

Introduction

Sept.

Introduced project to students,
other teachers, and administrators.

ResearchOct.

Classes looked at previously posted
murals from the Japan Mural Mile.
Students in both countries madeearly sketches that we exchanged via

Composition

Oct./Nov.

the forum and email. We worked tocombine the ideas into a cohesiveYour students
attitude/reflection
Enthusiastic
about
cross-cultural project.
Helped with the genesis ofideas.
The students were excitedabout having their work
included in a public art
painting.

Subject
Socialnetworking,globalawareness

Tech.
ResearchandCollaboration

mural.
The students in each country votedout of many options for the central

Painting

Jan.-Feb.

image. All of the students thenpainted around it, using the theme of“making the world a better place.”
When we completed our mural, it washung in the main gallery hallway atSCH Academy.

Appreciation

March

Photographs werealso posted on the SCH Facebook

Students enjoyed watching
their mural progress, as it
became more real/concrete
through the process ofpainting.

Art production

The students were proud ofwhat they’d accomplished,and enjoyed the response fromthe school community.

Art Appreciation

page, where faculty, staff, students,
and parents were able to view it andread about our process.

# Aim of the Lessons and Result
Rank (1 to 9 in order you put stress on)Aimunderstanding our own
cultures
understanding otherculturescommunication ability
interactively, in English

IT skills
online forum and VC

Creating friendshipin the class/with partners

Collaborationin the class/with partners

Keeping motivation highpositive attitude in learning

Expression ability
in painting

Appreciation ability
reading the painting

Mark (5:very effective / 4:effective / 3:so so / 2:not so effective / 1:not effective at all)RankMark

How your students have reached it
Students thought about how to describe their culturalinterests to their Japanese partners.

6[5]4 3 2 12[5]

4 3 2 1Students did research about Japanese art and culture,and enjoyed learning from our Japanese partners.

8[5]4 3 2 1

We communicated via the online forum and videochatting.

9[5]4 3 2 135 41[5]4 3 2 17[5]4 3 2 1Students always looked forward to working on themural.

5[5]4 3 2 1Students in both countries were advanced for theirages, in terms of painting skills.

[3]

2 1

Students considered how to use social networking technology, which
they usually use “just for fun” for artistic and cultural collaboration.

It was sometimes difficult because of the 13-hour timedifference.
Students enjoyed the process of combining ideas and sketches
for the mural, and finding ways to include everyone’s idea.

Students spent a lot of time thinking about how to make their45[4] 3 2 1

mural “readable” to other audiences, and enjoyed seeing others
appreciate their final product as it hung in our gallery hall.