It was so exciting for the TakingITGlobal team to be part of our sixth year at the National Education Computing Conference (NECC) these past few days here in San Antonio, Texas! TakingITGlobal had a great presence across the conference, and I am proud to share the ways in which we were able to reach out and connect with so many educators. To start with, I’ve personally just renewed my commitment to serve on the NECC conference committee for the next two years. I see my role as helping to think about the ways in which we can best engage the next generation of educators.

Before the NECC conference kicks off on opening day (Sunday, June 29th this year), an International Reception is held at the Global Connections Lounge, to welcome attendees from around the world (over 30 countries this year!) and to provide a space to share and discuss opportunities for global connections.

This year, TakingITGlobal was an organizing sponsor of the International Reception, and my co-founder Michael Furdyk along with our US Education Program Manager Emily Kornblut, presented an overview of TakingITGlobal’s recent work and invited the attendees to collaborate with us for greater global awareness. Following the International Reception, the conference’s Opening Reception was held, and provided about a dozen poster sessions for presenters to share their work. TakingITGlobal was one of the organizations provided with this opportunity. We spoke with hundreds of attendees and were able to share our programs with many enthusiastic educators.

On the following afternoon, we had a Spotlight Session, Social Networking for Social Good, held in the Lila Cochrell Auditorium, where we discussed the opportunity for educators to incorporate TakingITGlobal programs into the classroom, and shared many stories of how young people’s use of social web tools have provided them with life-changing opportunities to engage with the issues facing our planet. For the rest of the afternoon, our booth was abuzz with discussions of classroom collaboration and opportunities for partnership with dozens of school districts and organizations.

TakingITGlobal was also featured as an example of positive youth engagement by Education Technology consultant Sara Armstrong in her session Educating Students about Online Safety. The following morning was an exciting one – two educators who have been using our TIGed tools, Mali Bickley and Jim Carleton, were invited by ISTE to give a keynote speech about the collaborations they developed with schools around the world. During their talk, they highlighted TakingITGlobal.org as a social network for social good, and also showed screenshots of the TIG homepage and their TIGed classroom space.

On the final afternoon, Steve Dembo from Discovery Education featured TakingITGlobal as a resource in his session Policies, Safety and Socialm, where he provided our website as an example of well moderated, classroom friendly, safe social networking website. The conference was closed by TakingITGlobal US Advisor Idit Caperton, who provided the conference’s closing keynote, and highlighted TakingITGlobal as a resource for positive student engagement.

We have been so pleased to work with ISTE and engage with the NECC conference on so many fronts! Our partnership with ISTE has also lead to a recent presentation in Dubai and a future event in Singapore, and we were honoured to be mentioned in ISTE’s 2008 Annual Report as one of their key institutional partners!

Special Thanks to our TakingITGlobal staff at NECC !

(below photo: from left to right)

Michael Furdyk
Jennifer Corriero
Emily Kornblut
Kirsten Jordan
Luke Walker

Salut chers membres francophones de TIG !

Je tiens à remercier et à saluer chaleureusement tous ceux qui ont participé au Chat en
ligne sur les changements climatiques qui a eu lieu hier, c'était sans nul doute un succès : plus
d'une dizaine de personnes ont participé au Chat et les participants venaient de plusieurs pays et de différentes origines, ce qui a contribué à la richesse des discussions.

Pour ceux qui n'ont pas pu nous rejoindre malheureusement à cause de problèmes techniques, Sessi, coordinatrice de l'engagement des francophones de TIG, et ilyes, agent de liaison en ligne de Québec, nous ont préparé des rapports intéressants à lire et qui résument très bien nos discussions durant le Chat.

Pour télécharger:
Rapport de Sessi: http://groups.takingitglobal.org/chclim/messages/?view=msg&id=209031
Rapport d'ilyes: http://groups.takingitglobal.org/chclim/messages/?view=msg&id=208751

Bonne lecture !
P.S.: à cause des difficultés techniques qui ont empêché un nombre non négligeable de participants enthousiastes à participer au Débat sur les changements climatiques, nous organiserons nos prochains Chats en ligne grâce au Forum de projet de CLC- Canada: http://projects.takingitglobal.org/clccanada/chat/
Suite à la proposition de plusieurs membres francophones de TIG, je vous promets qu'on (l'équipe francophone) fera tout notre possible pour organiser un autre Débat en ligne sur le développement durable, autre sujet environnemental, sinon, si tout le monde est intéressé, on pourra faire un 2e Débat sur les changements climatiques. Toutes les propositions sont les bienvenues !

Merci de partager vos suggestions avec le groupe: http://groups.takingitglobal.org/chclim

Au plaisir,
Yassir

32) Suivons les pas du Prix Nobel Al Gore,
33) Qui des changements climatiques est devenu le ténor
34) Grâce à son militantisme très fort
35) Pour cette cause qu'il adore !

36) Suivant les pas du Prix Nobel Al Gore,
37) Je m'informe, je découvre et j'explore,
38) J'agis, je change et je corrobore
39) L'opinion de scientifiques qui n'ont pas tort
40) De peur d'avoir de grands remords ...

41) Suivons les pas du Prix Nobel Al Gore,
42) Chaque geste a une valeur d'or
43) Ensemble nous serons plus forts
44) Si nous unissons nos voix et nos efforts
45) Et que nous proclamons haut et fort
46) Nous agirons ensemble d’abord
47) Et continuerons d’agir encore
48) Encore et encore ...

49) Suivant les pas de cet homme impressionnant
50) S’amplifie ma passion pour l’environnement
51) Se solidifient mes actions et mon engagement
52) Dans ma communauté et dans d’autres régions
53) Afin de sensibiliser le maximum de gens
54) À l’urgence d’agir maintenant !

55) Suivons les pas de cet homme inspirant,
56) De l’énergie réduisons notre consommation
57) Dans les villes luttons contre la pollution
58) Partout faisons un travail de sensibilisation
59) C’est vrai qu’on peut se sentir impuissant
60) Devant l’ampleur de ce phénomène alarmant
61) Pourrons-nous réaliser le changement ?
62) Pour sauver nos futures générations ?
63) Mais aussi notre propre environnement ?
64) La RÉPONSE : oui, absolument !

65) Suivons les pas de ce célèbre vice-président,
66) À Montréal, j’ai participé à sa formation
67) Dès lors, je fais des présentations
68) Pour inciter les gens à passer à l’action.

69) Suivons les pas de ce leader en environnement
70) Pour agir, voici quelques actions et propositions :
71) D’abord, réduisons nos transports abondants
72) De quelques kilomètres régulièrement
73) Et nous pourrons ensemble de cette façon
74) Économiser des milliers de tonnes annuellement.
75) Le transport en commun, nous l’utiliserons
76) Le vélo et la marche, nous les favoriserons
77) Vers le covoiturage, nous nous dirigerons
78) Pour le bien de notre précieux environnement !
79) Ensuite, achetons des produits durables et intéressants
80) Encourageons les produits de notre région
81) Recyclons davantage et pratiquons le compostage.
82) De plus, améliorons l’isolation de notre maison
83) Réduisons, réutilisons et recyclons,
84) C’est sans doute payant !

85) Bref, insufflons un vent de changement
86) Ainsi, nous aurons réalisé le plus important
87) Pour notre destin et celui de nos descendants.


© Yassir El Ouarzadi
Créateur du Projet Vivement la poésie !

Pour voir la version complète du Projet Vivement la poésie !, visitez: http://projects.takingitglobal.org/elouarzadi/about/
Il y a maintenant 4 poèmes différents découlant du même projet éducatif et poétique, le poème en anglais Highly poetry ! comporte 168 vers, celui en français compte 87 vers poétiques, le poème ne portugais contient 14 vers, et enfin le poème arabe est parsemé de 8 vers.

Toutes mes sincères salutations à tous les poètes du monde qui veulent prendre part ou qui ont pris part avec ardeur et optimisme à mon initiative lancée officiellement sur le site: http://projects.takingitglobal.org/elouarzadi comme dans d'autres.

J'espère retrouver votre nom parmi les participants pour promouvoir la POÉSIE DANS LE MONDE et promouvoir vos passions ainsi que participer à un mouvement collectif d'éducation à travers la poésie et l'art en général.

À vos claviers, chers poètes des divers coins du monde !

Les jeunes Francophones de TIG s’expriment sur le sujet des Changements Climatiques. Un Débat en Ligne est organisé le lundi 23 juin prochain à 14 heures (horaire EST) par des jeunes expérimentés sur ce sujet. Les modérateurs de ce débat seront les suivants:

- Yassir El Ouarzadi - présentateur bénévole du Projet Climatique Canada (PCC) qui a été formé par le Prix Nobel de la Paix Al Gore.
- Ilyes El Ouarzadi - agent de liaison de la communauté virtuelle du Québec.
- Pascal Bekono - membre de l'équipe francophone de TakingITGlobal.

Pour de plus amples informations, rejoignez le groupe de discussion sur les changements climatiques :

http://groups.takingitglobal.org/chclim

ou

écrivez à : chclim@groups.takingitglobal.org

Pour vérifier l'heure du chat par rapport à votre heure locale
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/usa/eastern-time/

Soyez présents !

I'm speaking tomorrow at PUSH, an interesting conference here in Minneapolis, MN

The first session that just wrapped up was quite interesting - Chandran Nair took us through a look at the world's problems and how many misconceptions there are about what can solve them. What I found striking was the comparison of world problems to spending on trivial/much less meaningful things:

Health & Nutrition ($13B) : Petfood Spending in the USA ($17B)
Water and Sanitation ($9B) : Ice Cream in Europe ($11B)
Education ($6B) : Cosmetics in the USA ($8B)

Jonathan Greenblatt, one of the co-founders of Ethos Water, also gave us a compelling look into the world of Water and how simple and cheap ($25/person) it is to solve. The one thing I don't get - on a $1.79 bottle of water, Starbucks (which acquired Ethos) donates 5 cents (10 cents in Canada oddly). They were founded on the basis of donating 50% of profits... I can't believe profit on that bottle of water is only 10 cents! (considering how much cheaper other bottled water is). Anyway, he now works with a new magazine - GOOD - which has a unique subscription model of giving away the $20 subscription fee to a charity of your choice.

TO ENGAGE MORE children in media and be able to create mini production
units even in poor communities, Plan International partnered with Anak
TV over the summer to train up to 200 youths aged 9 to 17 in photography
and radio and video production.

Plan International advocates for schools free of corporal punishment,
bullying, discrimination, peer pressure and other forms of aggression
through its units throughout Asia, as presented in the United Nations
Study on Violence Against Children.

full article
<http://newsinfo. inquirer. net/inquirerhead lines/nation/ view/20080601- 140032/Kids- learn-media- other-skills- from-anti- violence- group>

Un jeune Léonardois lutte contre les changements climatiques

À 18 ans, Yassir El Ouarzadi est parmi les plus jeunes Canadiens à avoir suivi le programme de formation Le Projet climatique – Canada, dirigé par l’ancien vice-président américain Al Gore. C’est donc dire que le Léonardois dispose maintenant des outils nécessaires pour transmettre à son tour le message de M. Gore qui porte sur les défis de la crise climatique et sur les solutions qui existent pour l’enrayer.
« L'environnement, ça touche tout le monde, dit le jeune homme. Chacun peut faire quelque chose de concret pour changer les choses. C’est simple d’agir et il est urgent de le faire, parce que si on ne fait rien, c’est nous, les jeunes, qui allons en subir les conséquences. »

Des actions simples, que tout le monde peut faire: voilà ce qu’explique Yassir dans ses présentations. « Quarante p. cent des gaz à effet de serre (GES) sont produits par le transport, rappelle celui qui amorcera sous peu ses études en droit à l’Université de Montréal, avec une spécialité en droit de l’environnement. Pour faire une différence, on peut réduire l'utilisation de la voiture au moins deux jours par semaine, prendre plus le vélo et marcher davantage. En plus d'être bon pour l'environnement, c'est bon pour la santé.

« Les gens pensent que si on veut être vert, on va devoir dépenser, poursuit-il. C’est faux. Par exemple, une auto coûte environ 11 000 $ par année à faire rouler. Si on utilise le transport en commun, on peut réduire de moitié les coûts reliés à l'usage de la voiture. »

En matière d'alimentation, le Léonardois encourage les gens à acheter des produits locaux. Une bonne habitude qui, en plus de réduire les coûts de transport, encourage l'économie de la région.

« Il ne faut pas toujours parler de la science. Les gens savent que c'est urgent d'agir, il faut donc leur donner des solutions. »

Dans sa vie de tous les jours, Yassir, qui parle français, anglais, arabe et un peu espagnol, essaie d’appliquer le plus possible les conseils qu’il donne aux autres. « Je n’ai pas de voiture et je n’ai pas non plus l’intention de m’en acheter une prochainement », laisse-t-il savoir.

Il affirme que les jeunes ont un rôle à jouer dans la lutte contre les changements climatiques, puisque c’est leur avenir qui est en jeu. « Et les jeunes de partout à travers le monde, pas seulement au canada, précise-t-il. Il s’agit d’une problématique mondiale qui touche tout le monde. »

Les dirigeants d’entreprises et les politiciens doivent également faire leur effort, croit le garçon. Les gouvernements pourraient par exemple instaurer une taxe sur le carbone et privilégier le transport en commun dans leurs politiques.

« Il faudra cependant une action citoyenne évidente pour que le gouvernement change ses positions », conclut le jeune homme.

*************************************************************************************************************

Les personnes, groupes ou organismes intéressés à recevoir la formation sur les changements climatiques peuvent s’inscrire sur le site Internet suivant: www.projetclimatiquecanada.org
Les présentations durent environ une heure. Yassir El Ouarzadi a également un site Internet sur lequel il parle de ses projets. Celui-ci peut être visité au www.faisonsnotrepart.webou.net.

Source: Journal Progrès Saint-Léonard (la UNE du journal de Juin 2008) http://www.progresstleonard.com/article-220354-Un-jeune-Leonardois-lutte-contre-les-changements-climatiques.html
Texte rédigé par la journaliste Audrey Gagnon

Hello TIG and CLC members,

Today was my last Change That Clicks workshop on Internet Safety in Dawson Community Center. The workshop lasted 1 hour and 15 minutes and focused on Cyber Security.

It went really well since the subject was relevant for all the participants (kids aged from 12 to 14). Rachel Levine-Katz, who works in Dawson Center, facilitated the workshop with me. Kym, an other Dawson Staff member, joined our workshop and joined TIG also !!

As an introduction, I asked the kids to log on the TIG Site, go to the Dawson Community Center group and read my last message relating to Change That Clicks. After that, I asked them to download the Powerpoint presentation (4th Workshop on Change That Clicks in the Documents folded) available on the Dawson page.

Then, I asked some relevant questions to the kids who appreciated this interactive way which makes easier the understanding of the key terms and concepts required to use safely the Internet or cyberspace.

The questions were like:
- Do you know what ICTs mean ?
Answer: Information and Communication Technologies
- Do you have an idea about some sort of crime infecting the Internet or cyber world today ?
Answer: Internet predators, cyber bullying, pornography, piracy, spam and identity theft.
- Do you know the number of hours spent by students online every week ?
Answer: According to i-SAFE America 2004 statistics, students, as many as 30 per cent spend between four and eight-plus hours online every week.
This answer surprised many of the participants who said that they spend two to three hours maximum on the web.

Finally, we took some pictures and I invited the kids and Dawson staff members to discover more the TIG website, ask me any questions they have and play educational games, an activity that they highly appreciated !

Last but not least, I updated the Dawson group.

In a nutshell, the workshop was FUN !

Yassir El Ouarzadi
Montreal Youth Engagement Coordinator
CLC- Canada
TakingITGlobal

Dear TIG members from all over the world,

I hope you are all doing very well during this beautiful spring season and also I think that most students are enjoying the vacation period now. So, congrats !

I am posting this blog in order to encourage you to visit an EDUCATIVE AND ENVIRONMENTAL WEBSITE that I made recently so as to incite all citizens especially youth to become environmentaly-friendly because climate change requires urgent actions and solutions for businesses, individuals and municipalities.

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR ? VISIT: http://faisonsnotrepart.webou.net/ AND DON'T FORGET TO SIGN THE GUESTBOOK !!

Yassir
2nd Most Active Member
Webmaster and WYC 08 Young Activist

Dear CLC and TIG members,

Today was my first meeting with a staff member from Canada World Youth -CWY- (http://www.cwy-jcm.org/), a famous organization which offers international educational programs to young people aged 17 to 24.

I met with Nadia Karina Ponce Morales, the program manager of CWY in the Quebec province, she is open-minded, dynamic, enthusiastic and happy to know about TakingITGlobal and to have me in their offices starting from next september.

So, CWY will be my host organization for year 3 of the CLC program, I am sure the partnership will be successful for TIG and CWY since they focus both on youth and they help them be involved in their communities. If CLC promotes and supports youth participation in Canada, Canada World Youth, created in 1971, has many programs that aim to help the youth develop their professional and interpersonal skills, make new friends, discover an other country and culture and improve their ability to work in a team.

With CWY, 18 young people from different cultures spend a total of six months away from their homes, living together for three months in a Canadian community and three months in a
community in one of CWY’s partner countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe or Latin America. (for more info, visit: http://www.cwy-jcm.org/en/aboutus/download/71971_BrochAN.pdf)

During the program of CWY, the participants live in host families and work as volunteers. Highly volunteering by the way :) (it is the title of a poem that I wrote recently, it was featured in the panorama).
An example of the activities can be preparing activities for World Food Day in Jamaica. Isn't it an exciting and learning experience?

The CWY program equipped thousands of young people with many useful skills for the future, a better understanding of global issues, and the ability and desire to contribute to the well-being
of their own community after the program.

Cheers
Yassir
Montreal Youth Engagement Coordinator
CLC- Canada
http://projects.takingitglobal.org/clccanada

Global Youth Service Day 2008 was celebrated in Umuahia Abia State Nigeria by Development Generation Africa International (DGAi) with the Abia State Children and Youth Forum on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria (ATM) enabling MDGs and the Abuja 15% Declaration with children and youth voices and action.

You Never

You never said I'm leaving
You never said goodbye
You were gone before I knew it,
And only God knew why
A million times I needed you,
A million times I cried
If Love alone could have saved you,
You never would have died
In Life I loved you dearly
In death I love you still
In my heart you hold a place,
That no one could ever fill
It broke my heart to lose you,
But you didn't go alone
For part of me went with you,
The day God took you home

An appropriate poem..
In memory of my father..

SALUT CHERS MEMBRES FRANCOPHONES DE TAKINGITGLOBAL,

Je viens de créer un groupe nommé FAISONS NOTRE PART POUR UNE PLANÈTE EN SANTÉ ! et dont l'objectif est vraiment de trouver ensemble des solutions, en fait, les solutions existent déjà, il faut juste que les jeunes soient sensibilisés sur les causes environnementales et qu'ils sensibilisent aussi leur entourage: leurs parents, voisins et amis.

VOICI LE LIEN POUR LE GROUPE: http://groups.takingitglobal.org/environnement

J'ai créé aussi une pétition (source: la Coalition canadienne des jeunes pour le climat, http://www.petitiononline.com/climat2/), signez-la en se rendant à l'adresse: http://petitions.takingitglobal.org/environnement

Ce n'est qu'un geste parmi tant d'autres qu'on peut faire pour sauver notre destin (comme jeunes) et celui des générations futures.

Yassir El Ouarzadi- Membre du personnel de TakingITGlobal
Présentateur bénévole du Projet Climatique Canada et stagiaire de M. Al Gore
http://profiles.takingitglobal.org/yassirovich

In a scene on a popular Benin TV series, a farmer named Codjo puts his wife out on the streets because she kept asking him for more and more money to buy groceries. But then, when he goes shopping by himself, Codjo discovers that prices have indeed doubled.

He laments having driven away his wife.

This fictional sketch is being played out in reality with the rapid rise in prices of basic foods in the capital Cotonou and other towns in Benin over the last six months.

"Compared to November 2007, prices are between 20 and 50 percent higher," said Claude Allagbe, director of commerce at the ministry of the interior.

IRIN found vendors in Cotonou selling a kilogramme of salt for 450 CFA francs, up from 250 CFA francs in November. Rice was selling at 450 CFA francs per kilo compared to 300 CFA francs and palm oil had leapt to 900 CFA francs from the earlier price of 500 CFA francs.

The psychological impact these price rises have had on families is palpable.

In Attogon, a village near Cotonou, market sellers are saying that it is now common to see men accompany their wives to market to check and compare prices.

At Glodjigbem, another village 35 km from Cotonou, elders said they recently had to calm the local mechanic who had flown into a rage at his wife's requests for more money.

Everyone suffers

The price rises are adding pressures at many levels of society. "The price of some products have increased even beyond the reach of people who work," said Anselme Amoussou, a teacher.

For Etienne Badou, a member of the Consumers Defence League in Benin (LDCB),
"the fissures within families and the society are more apparent in urban than rural areas but in fact they are much worse in rural areas where people are poorer".

The highest rates of nutritional deficiencies in Benin are in the rural north in the districts of Malamville and Karimama. But in total some 33 of the country's 77 districts are "at risk of food insecurity" according to the World Food Programme (WFP).

WFP says that 23 percent of Beninois children under five show signs of moderate stunting and 11 percent of children suffer from severe malnutrition.

Tax solutions

On 30 April Benin's government announced that it would undertake a series of measures to alleviate the price rises.

On 1 May, the tax levied on domestic and imported products to pay for social services called TVA (Taxe sur la Valeur Ajoutée) was suspended for rice, flour and other staples.

However the measure does not appear to have worked. "There were some problems with applying the policy change," Allagbe, the director of commerce, said.

The problem, says Beninois economist Rhetice Dagba, is that there is no way for the government to ensure that traders pass on their tax savings to consumers. "To apply this policy it would be necessary to go to every market and rigorously inspect the price of every good," Dagba said.

Self-sufficiency

Another measure to alleviate high food prices that Benin's government is pushing is food self-sufficiency which agriculture minister Roger Dovonou said would require the more than doubling of current production levels.

As in others African countries, Benin's agricultural policy for the past three decades "was "to encourage cash crops for export to the detriment of food production," according to Dagba, the economist.

The new policy of food self-sufficiency will take time to implement, she added.

Cereal reserves

Another shorter-term solution is dumping food reserves. "Cereals the government keep in reserve have been released onto the market," the director of the food reserve, Irene Bio Aboudou said.

Her hope is that as supplies increase prices will go down.

But the measure is costing the state more than 35 billion CFA francs (US$83 million), according to government statistics. And so far prices have kept rising, one housewife told IRIN spoke while she was shopping in the market.

"My family are finding it harder to live on what we can afford," she said. "They make me feel that I am at fault. That I am doing something wrong."

An elderly woman sits under one of the few scrawny trees in a parched landscape as she and 8,000 other displaced people wait for aid workers to begin handing out some 100 tonnes of flour, salt, sugar, and cooking oil.

The woman's name is Hawa Brahim and the displaced site is Koloma, near the town of Goz Beida in Chad's southwest. Brahim said that she has no idea how the food arrived here. "They bring it; we eat it," she says. "All I know is that back in my hut I have ten hungry mouths that need feeding," she said. More than 50,000 tonnes of international food aid finds its way to this remote region each year to feed hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees and displaced Chadians. But how does it get there?

The process starts by identifying the need then designing a food aid package, requesting donations, purchasing the food, transporting it, assessing its impact, reporting back to donors and doing it all over again.

At each stage there are complications, Moumini Ouedraogo, WFP deputy country director in Chad said. "People don't understand how it works, not even our partners," he said. "(They think it is as if) you walking into a shop and buy a few cans [but] it's not like that at all," he said. "It's a very long process." The time it takes between when a donor decides to donate food and the moment the recipient receives it can take more than one year.