PenPal News: September 2019

There are a lot of exciting opportunities to learn with PenPals this September. Just this week, over 1,000 students enrolled in PenPal topics!  The September 2019 issue of PenPal News includes information about project-based learning, featured PenPal topics, professional development opportunities, PenPal Stars, and more!

Project-Based Learning with PenPals
Schools around the world are shifting to project-based learning (PBL). Project-based learning challenges students to create something original while collaborating and building knowledge through authentic learning tasks. Check out these great resources to get started with PBL in your classroom:

1. 4 Steps To Get Started with PBL
2. How to Introduce PBL to Your Students
3. Essential  Questions Stems for PBL
4. Common Myths about PBL

What’s New at PenPal Schools
Since we introduced the new project workspace, students have created and shared amazing projects with the PenPal Schools community! 
Students from Brazil created resources to help their community identify Fake News. Students from Canada designed budgets to help their families track how they spend money. And students from Denmark created detailed journals to help others learn about daily life and school in Denmark!

With the new project workspace, students can identify a question to explore, design their impact, and even consider the purpose and audience for their project. 
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Featured Topic: September 2019
The Personal Essay Contest is off to a great start with over 500 students from more than a dozen different countries already enrolled! Join classrooms from Thailand, Montenegro and Singapore in this featured topic and invite your students to submit their personal essays before October 4th!

Professional Development Opportunities
Did you know that students aren’t the only ones learning together through PenPal Schools? Catch the recap of our most recent webinars for some free professional development.

1. Supporting International Mindedness in Every Classroom
2. Authentic Social & Emotional Learning through Global Exchanges
3. Personal Essay Contest Kickoff Webinar

Want to learn about more about PenPal Schools? Use this link to schedule a personalized PenPal Schools training for you and your colleagues!

PenPal Stars
This month, help us celebrate Ms. Ogden’s class from the Dominican Republic! For their PenPal project, Ms. Ogden’s students lead an environmental cleanup effort in their community. Ms. Ogden’s class explained that they “decided to become a part of the solution and fight back against the problem (of pollution). It comes down to responsibility, citizenship, and effort to take care of our environment.” See their PenPal project here.
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When Ms. Ogden joined PenPal Schools, she explained that “I am excited about allowing my students the opportunity to collaborate with student globally, while simultaneously working together to solve world issues. These projects allow students to engage in creative project-based learning opportunities that are invaluable!”

Is there a PenPal Star in your classroom? Click here to nominate a PenPal Star!

Thanks for reading the September 2019 issue of PenPal News! Is there something specific that you would like to see in the October issue? Let our team know in the comments below!