Nominated by Marsha Goren
Teacher Elementary/Primary (ages 5-12) at Ein Ganim Elementary School
Petach Tikva, Israel, Israel

To the GSN committee, On behalf of the studentsfrom Ein Ganim, Israel and myself, I am writing this testimonial to nominate Janet Barnstable for the division category: Educator in the U.S.A. I met Janet through "Friends and flags." She is defintitely the most experienced teacher in telecolaboration without a doubt!Her work in the Oak Park Elementary district is amazing to say the least and she is the most dedicated educator I have ever met. Her work in the beautiful Cyberteen magazine (http://www.op97.org/cyberteen/INDEX.HTML) which includes work from students in Russia, Japan, Israel and the USA helped my students fall in love with her and her class. This international collaborative magazine is an example for others to learn from, but please do not be mistaken this is only one of the many projects that Janet is implementing with her classes.Janet's classes have excelled in a number of projects and been rewarded for their hard work. Janet's class has won internationally in Thinkquest Japan,been active participants and won in the Multimedia Mania competition,2004, 1st,2nd and 3rd places! They have also received awards in the virtual classroom competition.Janet's class is also involved in the Fairy Tale / Folk Tale CyberDictionary, another international collaborative project for children worldwide.They received a merit of creativity from the Donivark site for their work.Janet is never afraid to take on extra work and her class has been emailing and corresponding with my class from Ein Ganim,Israel and taken part in many of the educational subjects from our dream project this year and we have even exchanged a friendship package. Janet's outstanding work has influenced me in a way that I can hardly describe in words.She is willing to spend her free time in assisting me and teaching me whenever I need her.Her belief in educating teachers about the Internet and telecollaboration is something she firmly believes in and she has written me about the importance of helping other colleagues in the field. Although we have never met, I feel like I know her,admire her and respect her. Looking at her website and her work is convincing enough to know that she is the most worthy candidate for your prestigous award. She is a veteran in the field of computer education,not only because of her knowledge but because of the wonderful loving person she is. For all these reasons and more I am honored to nominate Janet Barnstable for the GSN award. Sincerely, Marsha Goren Ein Ganim Elementary School Israel Dream a dream with Ein Ganim Israel http://www.globaldreamers.org

The section below lists the testimonials that have been reviewed and approved by the candidate.

1. Testimonial from Nanci Hamilton-Hoffman (1)
Educational Consultant at Leon County Schools
United States

What an honor it is to write this testimonial about one of my dearest virtual friends, Janet Barnstable, for the division category: Educator in the U.S.A. I was first introduced (virtually) to Janet back in 1998 when I became involved with the ATT Virtual Classroom Project. I'd done NOTHING collaboratively using a computer since I'd only just two years earlier learned how to make my own web page. Immediately, this wonderful teacher from the Chicago area began offering suggestions. She never even hinted at the stupidity of my questions but patiently explained how to accomplish certain tasks. The following year, 1999, we finally met in Hong Kong when her students won the high school division of the contest and my class won the elementary division.

She is without a doubt the most amazing teacher of tele-collaboration I've ever met. Her successes while employed at the Oak Park Elementary District are primarily due to her extreme dedication as an educator. Not only has she brought notoriety to her district through numerous awards, but she has written grants which have brought money into the district. One such grant was a tobacco settlement money grant through the State of Illinois. She organized 12 middle schools into 4 "pods" and each pod worked collaboratively on tobacco prevention culminating in a web site and in two cases, a physical gathering celebrating the pledge to stay tobacco free. Unfortunately, this web page is no longer available for viewing on the state server.

Pushing the envelope even further to incorporate web design with cultural understanding, Janet designed a project, called FairyTale/FolkTale Cyber Dictionary (http://www.op97.org/instruct/ftcyber/index.html), that would include all types and ages of children. This project demanded that her students learn the principles of animation by taking younger student's drawings and animating them. This cyberdictionary project incorporates the work of younger children with many students helping create the site design. For two years they even physically brought a group of deaf first graders to Julian and video taped the children signing their sentences for each letter of the alphabet.

Currently, one of my favorite on-going projects that offers collaborative opportunities for students around the world is Cyberteen Mag (http://www.op97.org/cyberteen/index.html). Now in it's sixth year this collaborative webzine is made by students from Julian-Oak Park, Inami Art Club - Kobe, Japan, Lyceum NSTU - Novosibirsk, Russia, and San Benedito School - Rome, Italy. Occasionally other schools from around the world send articles and/or pictures for inclusion.

Janet continually provides opportunities for her students to overcome language and cultural differences. The experiences she offers over the internet has helped all these students from around the world become good global communicators, an essential skill especially in today's climate. Not only have they learned to work and succeed as a team, but they have acquired a basic understanding of technology which is necessary for today's students and tomorrow's leaders.

There are too many projects to give an accurate picture of her dedication, but I'd like to offer this list and brief summation of the following projects promoted and/or designed by Janet:

1. 2004 Global Virtual Classroom (http://gvctemp17.virtualclassroom.org/) - The 2004 Global Virtual Classroom Contest entry is in collaboration with England and Mexico. This project is currently being constructed and judged.

2. Donivark (http://gvc03c16.virtualclassroom.org/) - Global Virtual Classroom Contest entry in collaboration with Donington, England and Kyiv, Ukraine, which won a special merit award in 2003.

3. Money (http://www.op97.org/lab/money/index.html) - Multimedia Mania 1st place - Middle School Division.

4. Shakespeare (http://www.op97.org/lab/shakespeare/index.html) - Multimedia Mania 2nd place - Middle School Division.

5. Our Country Book (http://www.op97.org/lab/f&f/)- Created by Julian's Virtual Classroom in order to tell students in Israel and Brazil all about their school and country. This site won the International Student Media Festival award for best informational website.

6. Oak Park's Environmental Problems (http://www.op97.org/opep/) - First place winner of Multimedia Mania contest middle school division and silver award in Global School Net's CyberFair. This site looks at Oak Park's problems and offers some solutions.

7. The Career Game (http://www.op97.org/)- Winner of the Regional Multimedia Award and the Junior Golden Web Award, this site helps middle school students start to think about career choices.

8. Fantastic Beasts (http://www.op97.org/cyberteen/2001/fanbeasts/index.html) - Pictures and stories of the beasts that appear in Harry Potter's textbook. Site design and maintenance by Allison S., a Virtual Classroom student. Contributions are from all over the world.

9. Postcards from Paul (http://www.op97.org/bunyankids/)-Paul Bunyan's legend traverses time and space with the help of Janet's Kids.

10. Holidays (http://www.op97.org/LAB/hol/HOMEPAGE/index.html)- A collaboration with Taiwan.

It is my hope that this year I will discover Janet Barnstable's name as GSH's Educator in the U.S.A. I can think of no greater reward for the numerous years of global dedication provided by Mrs. Barnstable.

2. Testimonial from Joan Goble (2)
Teacher Elementary/Primary (ages 5-12) at Cannelton Elementary
United States

I am very happy to write a testimonial for Janet Barnstable. Janet is a veteran teacher in collaboration and is an inspiration to us all! Janet's creative use of the Internet to promote collaboration among her students with the rest of the world is phenomenal! I first became aware of Janet when my class was involved in AT & T's Virtual Classroom several years ago. The projects her students created collaboratively with other students from other countries are fantastic and award-winning! One recent example of this is "Donivark" (http://gvc03c16.virtualclassroom.org/ )Immediately upon viewing this project you can see the immense work and collaboration that this project involved between Janet's students and the students of the UK and Ukraine. My students participated in Janet's "Fantastic Beasts" project. This project allowed my students and the many other students involved the chance to share with each other what they learned about the many beasts featured in the Harry Potter book series. It was fun to compare their ideas and drawings of the beasts! Another great use of the web for collaboration that Janet's students have done is Cyberteen Magazine: http://www.op97.org/cyberteen/index.html This project promotes collaboration among teens all over the world. It was started, I believe, in 1998 as a Virtual Classroom project and is ongoing, giving students a great place to share with each other about their schools, countries, celebrations, etc. It is really quite a leading example of the power of the web for communicating and collaborating! The fact that it continues to be published online to this day is a testimonial in itself to the importance it has to the students involved as well as others who read it. I have never had the pleasure to meet Janet in person, however, she is quick to help me any time I ask for help or advice. She is, to me and I know to countless students and teachers around the world who know her and have worked with her, a leader in online shared learning. Therefore, I highly recommend you choose Janet Barnstable as this year's United States representative for Online Shared Learning Teacher of the Year.

3. Testimonial from Lina Donata Rechichi (3)
Teacher Middle School (ages 11-14) at Scuola media San Benedetto- Rome
Italy

I had fortune on my side when I began using the internet! I was looking for some collaboration with teachers of other countries. The fortune was that I met Janet Barnstable at the beginning.

AT & T's Virtual Classroom was the project in which I collaborated with Janet since 1998. When AT & T project ended, we continued with Cyberteen Magazine until last year, when I retired.

For years I can see her very good skills in collaborative use of the internet for education. She's very able in interpersonal communication with students and teachers of foreign schools: her English is easy when she writes to them, she tells his students how they should be clear in communicating with people of other countries. She has still new good ideas, she takes care of the difficulties people could run into, she still has something encouraging to say. Janet is very clever in tech and still improving her knowledge. She's very quick in doing things, for example pages of web sites or replies to some questions. Students' motivations and skills grow. She' still carrying on a lot of activities. This way there is a lot of collaborative sites by Janet in the internet. So many goods qualities and activities give her a lot of deserved prizes. And teachers of the whole word to hold Janet in high esteem.

4. Testimonial from Karen Eini (4)
Teacher at Friends and Flags
Israel

I am honored to write a testimonial for Janet Barnstable, an outstanding educator who has dedicated her life to empowering students and colleagues alike.

I met Janet with the launch of the GSN award in 2002 and although we have never met in person, we have developed a special friendship and collaborative relationship which as enriched both my personal and professional life.

Janet's portfolio of online projects is impressive to say the least and despite the numerous activities that she is responsible for, she does not fail to offer ongoing support and guidance in technology to all her participants.

As a result of Janet's mentoring I learned how to set up advertising free forums for extensive collaboration between staff and students alike.

Despite the fact that Janet is busy coordinating her own Cyberdictionairies and Fairytale projects, she doesn't hesitate to join in other projects and to encourage her students to excell in all that they do. It is not at all surpising that Janet's students were recognized for their creativity in their country presentation as Friends and Flags members in the International Student Media Festival in Anaheim, California on October 26,2003.

Friends and Flags members world wide, recognize Janet's outstanding techological and graphic skills as she has voluntarily helped us to design the annual Friends and Flags Calendar.

Janet is a metaphor of what online shared learning is all about. She promotes worthy projects and helps teachers find their way as they engage in new and exciting ways of creating and sharing information. Janet is currently guiding international teachers, such as telecollabortor Marsha Goren, create a GSN Cyberfair Project.

Janet is a pioneer in telecollaborations and has made exemplary contributions to the field. There is no doubt in my mind, that the time has come for Janet Barnstable to be recognized as this year's winner of the GSN award for USA based educators.

Karen Eini Friends and Flags Project Director

5. Testimonial from Kathryn Hutchinson (5)
College Student at Vassar College
United States

I met Ms. Barnstable during my seventh grade year at Julian Junior High in "Exploratory," a class meant to give students an idea of the opportunities afforded by electives. Not only was the technology portion of the class, led by Ms. Barnstable, the most interesting section but also it inspired me to continue as her student the next year in Virtual Classroom. Throughout all of high school and my first year of college, I have not experienced a class as meaningful or useful as that class. That class truly sparked my interest in other cultures and taught me about the differences between the holidays celebrated in other cultures. For that class, we designed a website with the help of an all-boys high school in Sydney, Australia and an all-girls high school in Tokyo, Japan. We focused on celebrations, something we all could associate with and found interesting. We worked hard on that project and our efforts were rewarded; our team won the AT&T Asia Pacific Group Virtual Classroom Competition of 2000. Ms. Barnstable did everything she could to interest everyone in the cultures of the rest of the world. As if working on the time consuming Virtual Classroom project was not enough, she also found time for a small group of us to come in before school so that we could talk to a group of middle school kids from Ireland. Although working with students from other countries made a lasting impression, attempting to claim our award for the Virtual Classroom project was just as valuable. The grand prize for the competition was a trip for two students and one teacher to Hong Kong to attend the award ceremony. Given the size of our class, sending only two students would have not been representative. Instead, we tried to raise the money so that six of us could go. Although we only achieved minimal success with our fundraising efforts, we learned an important lesson about how to fundraise: be persistent and try all of your options. Although I have had the benefit of many wonderful teachers, only Ms. Barnstable has sparked such a lasting interest in the cultures of the rest of the world.

6. Testimonial from Margaret Cox (7)
Teacher Middle School (ages 11-14) at Percy Julian Middle School
United States

There is so much that we have learned about different countries and cultures it hard to find a place to start. Are Russian partners have told us that it is more likely for a Russian teen and kids to start smoking and the price is really expensive. It just shows that in the United States there are a lot of programs that try to restrain from smoking. From Israel there are a lot of different holidays they take off school so Ms. Barnstable has to explain to the class why they aren't talking to us on nicenet. We've learned a bunch of different programs such as Garage Band, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Photoshop Elements, mPower, and Flash. And if that wasn't enough we've been taught how to do special affects with all of them. mPower comes in handy when we have different projects due for class and instead of writing a boring papers we present a mPower with video clips and are voices. It also gets us extra points. All the different discussion boards and projects we do with the other countries lets us learn things from a different point of view on topics we where weak minded on. And we wouldn't be able to learn any of this or talk to anyone from a different country if Ms. Barnstable didn't connect us to them.

7. Testimonial from Harla Hutchinson (8)
Parent at Parent
United States

I'm sure this isn't the most eloquent letter I've ever written, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity to write on behalf of Janet Barnstable, who deserves tremendous recognition for the way she uses technology to empower and engage her students. My daughter, Katy -- now a college freshman -- was one of Janet's students when she was in middle school and still talks about all she did and learned in those classes. I can't say the same about any other class or teacher. Although technology was the medium and Katy certainly learned some wonderful tech skills, I think the other aspects of her experience were even more valuable. Janet's teaching methods and choice of projects allowed Katy to use technology to discover and develop an appreciation for human variety, to improve her communication skills, to take direction and responsibility for her own learning, and to learn to work cooperatively with others in a very adult manner.

As part of the projects, Katy became acquainted with students in Ireland, Japan, and Australia. She learned about what makes kids around the world the same and at the same time she developed an appreciation for what sets them apart. She maintained contact with many of the students she met online for the next few years. Janet allowed the students to determine the direction of the project. Through discussions in class with fellow students here in Oak Park and online discussions with the project partners, the students shared ideas, debated their merits, and settled on project plans. I doubt many of the students had the technical skills to bring their ideas to life at the beginning. They'd get an idea about how they wanted something to look or how it should work. Janet would help them develop the basic knowledge they'd need to get started, but from that point on, they took over the responsibility themselves. It was a truly cooperative environment, in which one student would discover a new way to do something or the solution to a problem and share it with the others. Students with a particular expertise became leaders, developing their own skills further while helping other students along. Cooperation was a true hallmark of the experience. Katy had to learn to work well with other students in her class, but even more importantly, to work with her distant partners. Communication skills developed as a matter of course. She learned to express and defend her own opinions as well as how to provide explanations and offer constructive criticism. This experience was made even more valuable because of the language barrier involved. Although all the participants communicated in English, the Japanese girls were not totally fluent and the Australian boys were -- well, Australian!

Obviously, I can't speak of the experience of all students who have ever been in one of Janet Barnstable's classes, but I imagine their experience was very much like Katy's. She learned some tremendously useful life skills in a real world context that helped her develop an appreciation for other people. Middle school students are not easy to engage and spark, but Janet, through her online, collaborative projects, manages to do it year after year.

I would love to see her awarded recognition for all she's done!

Harla Hutchinson parent