The connectivity project grew and added more dimensions once we met as partner teachers face to face. We came up with 9 different folders with topics for students to communicate. One folder will be called ³visiting² so that students can openly visit with each other, much like an online chat, but missing the instant time element. This proves to be a less expensive method and still prepares them for the idea of live chatting when we use it as a culminating activity at the end of each semester. We also believe that by providing a folder where students can be off task, they are more likely to stay on task and topic in the other folders. These decisions werenıt made lightly or by just one or the other of us. My host teacher and I talked out every detail of the future project and constantly looked for ways to compromise, right down to using each of our versions of spelling in different aspects of our project. We also were able to combine our computer literacy, and because of our joint efforts we will be able to make both a web site and a colored brochure that will be available to all students at our schools and beyond, therefore making our connectivity efforts reach even further. We also were able to realize in visiting at length that our students may have ideas for new folders and topics of discussion and that we need to leave our minds open to new ways our project can grow and evolve.

The meeting in Armenia with my partner teacher's colleagues, to discuss our students connectivity, quickly evolved into a series of in-depth questions her school staff had for me involving my school setting, teacher education, and pedagogy. That helped both of us to realize that each of us had colleagues that could benefit from knowledge teachers in the other country would be willing to share. We set up an email system where our colleagues can present a topic of study and request ideas for teaching that topic from their foreign contacts. This is effective for teachers within their country as well as with their newfound foreign contacts. A fantastic byproduct of the Project Harmony involvement has been the close connection the teachers have developed with colleagues within their own country. Quality educators they may not have met otherwise, they are now in contact with and will continue to collaborate with, easily and frequently, to strengthen teaching in general.

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Below are some pictures of this partnership project. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-size image.