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Winter 2001

 

 

If you’re number 1,  what does that make me?

By David Cochran
 

In a championship match, the defending powerhouse baseball team pulverized their opponents 12-1 to win the State Championship. They were clearly Number One. They had better hitters, better fielders, and incredibly supportive cheering section.

After the game, it was “high fives” all around. The victors hugged each other and a bottle of champagne, provided by an overly enthusiastic parent, was poured over the head of the coach. Jubilation reigned.

The losing team gave feint-hearted congratulations to the victors, then promptly headed to the dugout. The pitcher who hurled the low ball that was belted out of the park for a grand slam sat with his head down. He felt like a complete failure.

Being Number One is almost an obsession in our competitive, sports-driven society. Everyone wants to be Number One, but only one person or one team can be. As a NASCAR racer recently said on television, “Coming in second means that you are the best loser.” There in lies the problem. If those who aren’t Number One feel like they are inadequate or inferior, then there is a huge morale problem that diminishes performance.
 
Number One Syndrome, as I have dubbed it, takes place in other arenas besides sports. Take test scores as an example. Schools are ranked from top to bottom by their performance on tests, state tests, SATs, ACTs, and national and international tests.
 
Even though tests are largely measures of how well students will negotiate the system rather than how successful they will be when they find their niche in life, parents, teachers, and administrators put great value in them. Parents who are able, move into districts who have demonstrated high rankings and try to escape from those which rank lower. As has been clearly demonstrated in the Abbott vs. Burke decision, the high achieving districts have a higher socioeconomic level than lower ranking districts. Administrators and school boards get into the ranking game, too. They often fret over drops in performance between years even though different sets of students are being measured.
 
Number One Syndrome even permeates the academic extracurricular programs. Programs that promote creative problem solving even want to choose the “best and brightest” students. Content teams in math, biology, and debating all want to know who the best is.
The reality of the public school educational experience is that we are charged to educate the masses, to take all students from wherever they may be and help them discover their gifts and use them to become constructive members of society.
 
So how do we reconcile this need to be the best, while lifting everyone up from where they are? When you look at “the best” of anything, it is represented by individuals or small groups. The best team, might only be 15 students from a high school with a population of 2000. The “best” programmer on the computer team might be one person who just happened to move into the community last year.

While it is fun and exciting to be the best, we sometimes lose sight of our more comprehensive mission in schools. We need to refocus our attention on those who aren’t the best, but who could surely be better. There will be more average people than championship team members taking care of us in our old age.
 
Competition is part of our culture, so this treatise is not to say that we should disband all competitive ventures. Rather, we should look at how we view competition and make sure it is a wholesome view that is in the proper perspective. It shouldn’t be those competitive experiences that are shared by a few that drive our programs; rather, it should be what is best for all students.

When it comes to the use of educational technology, we surely need to look at what the masses need. We need to build standards that assure levels of competency for all students, no matter what their educational ranking might be, because we need everyone to be able to think and act using technology in the future.

Contrary to Number One Syndrome, we need everyone to be team players who can work together to identify and solve problems. Business and industry have made it quite clear in the SCANS report and other studies that they want people who can get along and bring different perspectives to the solutions. They surely want those outstanding few who can bring extraordinary talents, but they also want people whose talents may not emerge in a competition.

How do we do this? How do we bring out the best in all students as we engage them in learning using educational technology? There are no easy answers to this, but reflecting on how students learn can give us come clues. Here are three (of many) ideas to consider as we try to help our students develop to the fullest.

1. Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence (Project Zero, Harvard University) tells us that we all have strengths in different intelligences. Some of us are mathematical/logical, others are musical, and still others have interpersonal abilities. He suggests that there are ten areas that have been identified so far. (For more information about Gardner’s theory: (http://edweb.gsn.org/edref.mi.th.html.)

We all have many ways of understanding and expressing what we know, but it is important for us to give students choices in how they demonstrate their understanding. By doing this, we will find that the student who might not be great at creating a spreadsheet, might knock our socks off by expressing his understanding through a multimedia program. The end result may demonstrate equal understanding of the concept, but the method is more akin to the student’s natural ability.

2. We need to be attuned to how the brain develops and which tasks students can do at various stages of development. We do this intuitively now. We don’t give a first grader a complex decision making task, and we expect high school students to make more complex decisions. By being sensitive to the number of variables we are asking students to juggle, we will help all students develop the clear thinking skills so needed for using technology.

3. We all learn when the goals are challenging and attainable. It’s great to say “My goal is to be Number One.” But the chances of attaining that goal are low, because only one person or one team out of all competitors can achieve that. Instead, it is much more realistic to say, “I want to be able to create a multimedia project that includes voice, video, text and graphics.” If we already know how to do this, then the goal is meaningless. If, however, attaining this goal will help us learn new skills, then it will capture our attention and motivate us. We all want to do new things and reach closure on things we don’t know or understand. We don’t have to be Number One to reach our goals. In some respects, we might learn more if we focus less on being the best. If being the best happens along the way, then that’s a bonus. If not, we’ll still have attained a challenging goal

Our country is great because we have adopted a philosophy that all of us can use our talents to fulfill our dreams. In America, we don’t have to be the best to be a success. In schools, all students can be winners without being Number One. It should be our challenging and attainable goal for our students who are learning with technology, to do as the Army suggests… “Be all that you can be,” whatever your station in life. If we reach this goal, we will become Number One in the eyes of the people we serve, our students.

 

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Soaring to New Heights

by Katie Rickert
Warren County Technical School
 

Many citizens are questioning the value of rushing to install technology hardware and software in the American classroom.  Is it worth the price tag?  Will the implementation of educational technology actually enhance student achievement?  According to the November issue of eSchool News, on September 12, 2000, a group of 75 educators, child development experts, health officials, and technology authorities said “The United States should consider halting its push to get computers into elementary classrooms until there is substantial evidence to show that computers can help children learn.” They added that  “Too much computer use can even lead to obesity among children. Computers tend to be a passive activity in the life of a child, and the surgeon general has said that this is the most sedentary generation we’ve ever seen.”

This quotation may ring true in some school districts in the country where computers have been utilized as “electronic pencils” in the back of classrooms on which students take turns typing rather than handwriting their essays.  But, in Warren County, New Jersey, a land of pristine farms and unparalleled natural beauty, computers, the Internet, e-mail, digital cameras, and amazing and diverse web links will serve as the new century’s Pied Pipers luring children from their chairs, where they slump in front of hazy television screens, to the outdoors to observe, compile, study, explore, evaluate, capture, post, e-mail, film and share the wonderful world of nature.

They will experience all of this while accomplishing the academic goals of the New Jersey Core Content Curriculum Standards through a unique WARRENNET project.  WARRENNET is a consortium of twenty-three Warren County school districts and government agencies that receive their Internet services through Warren County Technical School.  Warren County Technical School, a 9-12 technical high school of just 400 students has served as the technology leader in the county, and as a result in 1999, was named one of the top 100 wired schools in the nation by Family PC Magazine. As a result of this leadership, this consortium of 900 teachers and 9000 students, now has an unprecedented sharing of financial and human resources allowing thousands of students to have the opportunity to participate in unique curriculum based learning projects.

During the 2000-2001 school year, the WARRENNET consortium has taken on a new project — the study of migratory birds.  Through partnerships with The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Warren and Hunterdon County Fish and Wildlife Services, The Avery.com, and thirty additional links on the Internet (please check-out www.warrennet.org/countybirds) students in grades K-12 will be participating in a number of exciting hands-on activities throughout the year. Since the December 1 kick-off date, over 2400 students have been registered by their classroom teachers to explore the world of migratory birds in the U.S.

Teachers from a variety of content areas with differing degrees of technology literacy will put their fears aside and join the fun for the benefit of their students.  Simply for registering their class to participate, teachers will receive free of charge:
 


The local planning committee has already planned major activities for the consortium.  According to Project Director, Becky Snyder, the district technology coordinator for Washington Borough School District and a WARRENNET partner, “We worked to plan a variety of activities that could be implemented whether a teacher had access to a complete lab of computers or to just one computer in a traditional classroom.  Through the materials provided by our partners and the on-line resources we have identified, any teacher, regardless of his/her technology literacy can easily participate.  This was important for our committee because the project will be a learning experience for teachers and students together. ”  Projects already planned include:

On-Line Scavenger Hunt
Students go to the web site of a participating school district and click on a link to a photo of a migratory bird.  From the photo, they are taken to a question about that bird.  After they research all the questions and compile answers based on their research, they then  post/submit their answers on a webform.

A Field Bird Identification Project
Armed with digital cameras, field guide handbooks, binoculars, birdcalls, etc. all discovered through the scavenger hunt, students would take to the fields and farms of Warren County to begin counting, graphing, and identifying migratory birds.  They will utilize e-mail, listservs, and experts to exchange information among the many participants.  When they return to their classrooms, they will compare notes, summarize findings, and compile the information into exciting presentations.

Cross-Curriculum Birding Activities
Already students in World Language classes have identified parts of migratory birds in Spanish, French, Russian, Bosnian, Turkish, etc. Meanwhile, Spanish classes will be translating the fact sheets provided in Spanish by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. Biology classes will study the different anatomies of birds carefully.  Math classes will be graphing sightings and results and predicting future sightings based on data.  English classes will be articulating, summarizing, and collaborating on plays, poems, and other expressions of the beauty of the subject.  All across the curriculum, students will be united by this project.

Bird Games and Projects
One participating web link contains the pieces of 25 migratory bird puzzles that students have to click and drag into a complete picture.  Another has students playing hopscotch from leaf to leaf as they disappear to demonstrate the vanishing rain forest.  Still another has students utilizing tweezers and chop sticks as different types of beaks.  When the teacher tosses popcorn into the air, the students have to determine which beak works best.  These are some of the already available activities on the web site, however, when the teachers of Warren County begin posting their own, there will be no limit to their creativity.

Narration by Warren C. Wren
A unique migratory bird cartoon character called Warren C. Wren will travel throughout the county documenting the events of this year’s project in a electronic scrapbook that he will narrate for students when it becomes a traveling show throughout the state of New Jersey.  From a bird’s eye view, he will describe all of the activities he witnesses and summarize what both teachers and students have learned as a result.

Ask An Expert
A team of ornithologists and biologists have volunteered to serve on a panel of experts for the Ask An Expert listserv.  Through this listserv teachers and students will be able to ask questions and receive answers from the “experts”. An example of one of our experts is Jim Corven, Director of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN). He is a senior scientist at the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences in Massachusetts and works with over 165 organizations located at 46 reserves in North and South America for the conservation of migratory shorebirds and their wetland habitats.  Once questions have been asked and answered, they will be added to an FAQ page for participants to review.

International Migratory Bird Day Festival
Currently, WARRENNET is seeking grant funds so that on May 13, 2001, organizers will gather the students at a common site to participate in the International Migratory Bird Day Festival and to meet their Ask An Expert guides in person.  Other portions of the program are currently being partially funded by the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund Coordinated Service Grant.

Still, according Warren County Technical School District Technology Coordinator, Ann Frank,  “It’s important that teachers realize that it is not about the money.  We are thrilled to have funds available to assist with the project, but the project is working because of a sharing of talents and resources—not because of money.  You can do it, too, with just a little help from some partners.”

According to Denise Weston, the Educational Web Technologist for WARRENNET, this unique project is especially exciting because it is providing an opportunity for classroom teachers to fully benefit from a curriculum based project created, designed, and implemented by WARRENNET.  “This project is finally meeting the very goals for the creation of WARRENNET.”  Ms. Weston adds, “We were expecting some participation, but we were shocked when the registrations started pouring in at such an astonishing rate.  We made it easy to participate by providing all of the necessary tools for teachers to make it possible in their classrooms.  Our partners have made it very easy to participate as well.”

Any educator interested in learning more about the WARRENNET Migratory Bird Project can checkout the web site at www.warrennet.org or can contact the following members of the planning committee:

 

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KeyPals: your connection to the world

By Sue LeBeau

More and more now, schools are becoming connected to the Internet and teachers are looking for ways to use computers and the Internet in their classroom in meaningful and worthwhile ways. One such way to do this is to have your students become ‘keypals’, the 21st century’s version of a penpal.

Teaching students how to use e-mail can be an education in itself and one that will have life-long and practical applications. E-mail is quickly becoming the primary means of communication between friends, family and business associates and teaching students to use e-mail properly is a way of truly preparing them for the real world.

Before you and your students can venture into the ‘E-mail World”, however, there are certain requirements. First and foremost, you must have an Internet connection and then have an e-mail account for your students to use. Your district may be able to offer to you an e-mail account from the same service that the faculty uses. However, if that is not possible, there are many other options for you to select from. There are hundreds (thousands?) of free e-mail services available to you on the Internet today. As with all free services, some are much better than others. I’ve compiled a list of websites that offer such services at: http://expage.com/page/lebeauemail.  You might want to visit some of these sites in-order to find the service that best suits your needs.

Often times, teachers fear getting involved in an e-mail project because of the safety concerns and issues that revolve around using e-mail; Gaggle Net (http://www.gaggle.net/index.html), however, is one such service that is reported to have 100% safe, teacher controlled e-mail accounts for students. On their website you can find numerous, positive, reassuring quotes from other educators about Gaggle Net and its services. Having used e-mail with my students for several years, I suggest that, particularly for younger students (up to grade 6), teachers get ONE class e-mail account that all students can use, rather than individual accounts for each student. The management of just one account makes it much easier for the teacher and allows for easier control of the project.

One of the most common e-mail/keypal projects is to communicate with other students via e-mail. In order to do that you must have cyberpals!  E-Pals (http://www.epals.com) has a large database of classrooms from more than 80 countries, speaking over 60 different languages. Here, not only can you find keypals, but also you are able to add your classroom profile to their database. E-Pals provides you with keypal partners, ideas and collaborative projects involving e-mail. But, E-Pals is not the only website that does this. Be sure to visit Linking Kids to Other Kids (http://expage.com/keypallinks), a collection of websites that I’ve put together specifically for teachers to help them find keypals and projects to use with students that involve the use of e-mail.

In order for your keypal project to be a success, however, you must have a clear goal and purpose in mind. Set your goal first, before even communicating with other teachers. Will your students be simply writing ‘social’, getting-to-know-you type e-mails in order to practice writing skills? Will they be communicating about a special curriculum topic? Will the exchange be one that will involve learning about another’s community or country? E-Mail projects often fizzle out and fail because of a lack of purpose or direction. Students also need to be well prepared and made aware of the purpose of their writing, in addition to being taught the basics of how to use their particular e-mail program. Be aware, also, that a successful e-mail exchange will take time and commitment on both sides. Following up on students who are absent and those who are not yet ready to answer their e-mail will involve a type of management system; however, the benefits of such an e-mail project far outweigh management of the logistics.

In addition to having students communicate with other students from around the world, another idea is to have your students communicate with senior citizens. Our senior citizens today are more and more entering cyberspace and they can provide an entirely different viewpoint on topics in the classroom. Senior citizens can add a dimension to a class discussion that even the teacher may not be able to provide. My students communicated with a group of senior citizens last year and it was an experience that they (and I) will never forget. The seniors ranged in age from 65 to 83 and the communication and sharing that occurred between keypals went far beyond my expectations. Seniors added their first hand ‘war stories’ to our discussions of World War II and told of their experiences during The Depression; they provided positive feedback and encouragement to the students and were true ‘grandparents’ to some children who had none. Life-long friendships were established through this project and the benefits were evident not only for my students, but for the seniors, as well.

If you are interested in more ideas of ‘what’ to do with your students during an e-mail exchange, be sure to read the on-line article “You’ve Got Mail!” by James Lerman (http://www.electronic-school.com/0398f5.html). In his article he describes 10 different ways that teachers can use e-mail to enhance and extend student learning. It is a ‘must-read’ for anyone interested in establishing a keypal project.

Through keypal projects, students are given the opportunity to enhance their lives, enrich their learning and to ‘reach out and touch someone.’  As teachers, you can afford your students these opportunities by establishing a keypal project today and taking the necessary steps to allow your students to make that connection with someone else from around the world.

You can visit Sue LeBeau, a fifth grade teacher, West End School, Long Branch, NJ, at her website  http://expage.com/lebeau
 
 

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It's Elementary: Back to Basics

Over the past few years for many of us using and teaching it, technology has become almost second nature. Unfortunately, while we have been engaged in the great rush for new and advanced technology we have neglected to remember those staff members who are not so computer savvy and who are just now being asked to put their new classroom computers into action with their students.  For those teachers who have been given a heap of plastic, metal, and glass I would like to spend some time reviewing some of the basics that may help save them a few gray hairs.

Let’s start with some basic terminology. The list presented here is limited and there are many resources, which I’ll list later, to get you additional information.
 

Basic Terms


Now, when all else fails, usually, somewhere in your building is the information you may need. This might be in the form of the manuals that came with your classroom computer (hopefully), it may be a training video in your professional library, or it is probably be the technology teacher/coordinator for you building/district.

Internet Basics

The Internet has become a major factor in technology education. From vast amounts of research material, to e-mail pen pals, to online services that will provide educational materials and tests that can be taken and graded online for your class such as Funbrain.com. It is always good to have some basic information to help you get started.  First, the Internet in most schools is now accessed by the use of a network server through which a high speed access line comes into the school. This has many forms and variations but it is a very fast and efficient system connecting your school/computer to the ISP (Internet Service Provider). There are still many schools which use dial-up lines (phone lines) to connect to providers through a computer modem. There are even wireless connections such as the Apple Computer Airport system which will enable up to 10 machines to access one Internet hookup.

Once you have access you can now make use of the Internet and  all it has to offer. Almost all that is,  because the recommended access for schools is through a filter or security system such as Cyberpatrol, Foolproof, etc. While filtering systems do a great job at not allowing students access to most of the trash in the etherworld, they sometimes keep you from very worthwhile sites because of a conflict in words listed at the site. If you have a district system operator or technology coordinator they may be able to assist in allowing specific web sites through.

Once you’re online reference some of the terms below to make your web ride enjoyable:
 


If you have mastered accessing the world wide web and are looking for more help there are plenty of places to go and ways of finding them. Your first step is to read the articles in publications such as the NJAET Newsletter, the NJEA Review, NEA Today, Learning and Technology, THE Journal, etc. Most of these are available to NJEA members and provide a wealth of information. Online, your journey starts with a search engine. While they are numerous, there are choices you  you won’t go wrong with Yahoo, Excite, AltaVista, etc.

This is “a quick and dirty” summary but it just might be enough to get another faculty member comfortable with technology. Happy surfing!

Harry Brenan is a technology teacher at Carl Sandburg Middle School in Old Bridge, NJ.  If you want to contact him, he can be reached at  hbrenan@obps.org

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Streamlining Classroom Managment

By Lynn McNally and Cindy Etchison--Reprinted with permission from ISTE. Copyright © 2000, International Society for Technology in Education

Feeling a little overwhelmed?
Welcome to teaching today.

Problem: Your school has the computers (some in the classroom and some in a lab), and they are on a network with access to printers and the Internet. Now, how do you combine 24 students, these machines, and your curriculum? Then, how do you ensure that all students feel excited about school and score well on state-required standardized tests?

Feeling a little overwhelmed? Welcome to teaching today.  But teachers are not the only ones who feel overwhelmed. The world has become a much more hectic place than it was 20 or even 10 years ago, and we all feel we have too much to do. Hard work used to be the standard by which we could all succeed, but hard work alone cannot do it for us anymore. We need to work smart—or for all the grammarians out there, work smartly. One way for educators to work smart is to find and follow some strategies for integrating technology into the classroom in a smooth and effective manner.

Enter “The Strategies of Successful Technology Integrators” developed by two overworked technology resource teachers (TRTs) from Loudoun County, Virginia. Loudoun County, just west of Washington, D.C., is the third fastest growing county in the United States. An explosion of high-tech companies locating here—such as America Online and WorldCom—has brought us technology-savvy residents who are very aware of the advantages of technology use and who want those advantages for their children.

We share the same dream with our colleagues and many of our students’ parents—to help teachers and students effectively integrate digital tools into the classroom in a way that transforms learning.

As a means of achieving that goal, we took a long look at the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS•S), which call for students to responsibly use technology tools for communications, research, problem solving, and productivity in the pursuit of learning. We also looked at our available hardware and software along with our experiences in the classroom. We came up with seven down-to-earth, practical, everyday strategies that fulfill the promise of that dream and can easily be used by all teachers.

The all-powerful database and spreadsheet programs that help businesses can help us, too. We know that the administrative tasks of attendance and school record keeping can be streamlined with administrative software packages. Additionally, as we purchase and use more electronic materials in our schools, the management of inventory and maintenance records becomes an increasingly crucial task.

Moving toward a Web-based solution for maintaining these inventories can save school systems thousands of dollars. The reporting, dispatching of technicians, and tracking of computer and network problems through a Web-based, back-end database (keyed to an inventory database) can streamline the process and, at the same time, provide school systems with the much-needed data to justify budget requests for additional personnel or services.

For example, in Loudoun County, classroom teachers having a problem with a computer or other piece of equipment (printer, digital camera, etc.) go to their intranet. They use a technical support page, on which they enter the serial number of the device and a brief description of the problem . The technology resource teacher in the building intervenes with training (if it is a training issue rather than a technical malfunction) or initiates a series of troubleshooting procedures. The TRT then documents the steps taken to solve the problem and, if the problem still exists, calls (through the same Web-interfaced database) for a technician who reads the history of the problem and proceeds to initiate a fix or replacement. Often, the description of the problem and the troubleshooting procedures taken by the TRT tell the technician exactly what the problem is, and he or she is able to arrive at the school with the needed parts.

Another important management tool used by many teachers is a gradebook program, which can more easily allow the tracking of both qualitative and quantitative assessments of students. A networked database could compile different teachers’ grades for all students and automatically generate an electronic report card.

A networked database would also greatly assist in the creation and deployment of individualized education plans (IEPs). A customized database can allow teachers to more easily build customized IEPs and quickly generate test data, printed plans, permission letters, mailing labels, and status reports. And more important is having that database on a network so that all the key players who touch the life of that child can access this significant information.

Include Students: The network-based solutions described previously are imperative if we are to use technology to work smart, but let’s not forget some of the simpler solutions for classroom management like word processing, spreadsheet, database, and draw and paint programs. Using them also helps a teacher start to look at the computer as a resource to manage everyday activities, and when the teacher uses the computer, it sends a message to students: “Look, I use the computer to get my work done. You can, too.”

In elementary schools, classroom management is an important part of the curriculum. Elementary school teachers have lists of daily chores and routinely rotate students through those job assignments. As every parent of young children knows, some of those assignments could be accomplished faster by an adult, but children learn so much when we ask them to share in some of these duties. So why not use technology to help with those chores?

The teacher can have his or her students enter their lunch preferences in a spreadsheet each morning. The teacher learns to use a spreadsheet, teaches students to use it, models organizational skills, shows students how to use technology as a management tool, does the lunch count for the cafeteria, and streamlines classroom bureaucracy. The teacher has to set up the spreadsheet, but student managers can maintain it and save time each day on this routine chore.

Everyone benefits from the process of identifying a task, choosing the appropriate tool to complete it, working with others to gain the knowledge needed to complete it, completing it, and sharing the solution. Let’s look at some of the other ways that teachers and students can use the computer to create materials that help manage classroom activities.

Word processing and desktop publishing programs can help with many classroom management activities. For example, a classroom newsletter is an easy way for teachers to share their classroom goals and successes with parent. Instead of a weekly newsletter created solely by the teacher, why not have a student-created newsletter? The age level of the students will determine how much prep work the teacher will need to do. A computer connected to a television becomes a white board, allowing the teacher to discuss the newsletter with the whole class, providing guidelines and instruction while students write the text as a group. As the students follow the teacher’s model of creating and connecting sentences and paragraphs and correcting grammar, spelling, and punctuation, they interact with each other and get immediate feedback. Students can continue their work on the newsletter at a later time, maybe in pairs or small groups. The guidance given by the teacher to the entire group allows individual students to take ownership of the newsletter and to create a document that follows writing patterns modeled by the teacher.

As younger students begin to read and write and build vocabularies, they need references to assist them; one used by many teachers is the Word Wall. The Word Wall provides a clear and readily available resource for students. Students create these lists of words as they discover them. They can type them into a word processor and choose different fonts, styles, and colors to make their displays attractive and helpful ).  Colorful word labels written in another language and, again, created by students can be affixed to items in and out of the classroom.

Draw and paint programs are also basic tools that can help with classroom management. Educators are well aware of the connections between visual stimuli and language acquisition, and, consequently, we provide young children with many media for drawing and painting: crayons, pencils, chalks, paints, and so on. Electronic drawing and painting tools are another medium for students, who, even at ages five and six, display differing talents in each.

Each student can draw or paint an individual logo or artwork for his or her storage space in the classroom. Certificates can show students how much their hard work is appreciated. Teachers are discovering that those created by themselves and their students are more valuable than ones they can purchase. Students and teachers can first design a template with the class’s logo, to later retrieve and tailor with the individual’s name, accomplishment, and an illustrative graphic.

Teachers can create coupons for students. They earn these coupons for successful completion of tasks and trade them for rewards such as additional recess time or privileges. Students and teachers can also create stickers to use as rewards and incentives. Teachers can also create multiple classroom seating charts in a word processing or drawing program to reflect different student groupings.

Spreadsheet programs are natural tools for classroom management. The lunch count spreadsheet described previously is a daily activity in most fourth and fifth grade classrooms in Loudoun County.

Math quizzes provide feedback to students as they learn new concepts and facts. Students can take responsibility for their math work by entering their weekly quiz grades into an individual or class spreadsheet. Periodically, teachers and students can select data for each student and create a bar or line graph. This visual representation of the data provides a valuable picture for the student.

A calendar template assists teachers in managing the information to be shared with parents. Parents learn of important dates and assignments through a monthly calendar sent home on paper or published on the school’s Web page. Students have also found that a calendar template assists them in tracking their assignments and due dates. Having a calendar that they maintain in a personal folder on a server gives them a management tool they can access from any computer in the building, and it helps them and their parents take responsibility for submitting their homework and projects on time.

If a teacher has the opportunity to allocate and spend funds for classroom materials (as is the case in many schools), why not bring your students into the process? Give students ownership of their classroom by discussing how much money should be spent on classroom materials for next year: paper, ink cartridges, videotapes, film, transparencies, poster board, software, and so on. The class can create a spreadsheet that lists the needs and the budgeted amount for their “wish list.” Wonderful discussions can develop as students consider each purchase and its effect on their ability to make other purchases.
 Database programs can also help with classroom management. The beginning of the school year involves collecting information about new students and their families. The student information database provides students with the opportunity to electronically submit this information. At the elementary level, the teacher can quickly discover who knows their addresses and phone numbers as well as who has acquired basic technology skills.
Another way for students to become active learners is by completing an interest inventory database. Teachers and students can then look at class trends or form reading or project groups based on common interests.

Students can quickly learn how to collect, sort, and analyze data generated by a school’s election by creating a Voting Booth database. Students can either hand-enter data from a paper-and-pencil election or, taking a page from current U.S. discussion about online voting, they could create a Web page that automatically logs the votes.  Students can problem solve issues of “one person equals one vote” security.

Take the Next Step
Using technology to help manage school and classroom needs is an important way to work smart and, at the same time, begin to integrate technology into your classroom. And having both teachers and students use technology tools for classroom management gives a shared sense of classroom ownership and responsibility, an all-important step toward building a collaborative classroom in which teachers are not only dispensers of information but also learners working alongside their students.

Lynn McNally, a technology resource teacher with Virginia’s Loudoun County Public Schools, has worked in staff development and tech integration support for the last six years. lmcnally@pen.k12.va.us

Cindy Etchison , a technology resource specialist for Loudoun County (Virginia) Public Schools. She works with 40 technology resource teachers (TRTs) to promote the site-based and districtwide instructional technology program. cetchiso@loudoun.k12.va.us
 
 

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Are you in the game?  Gamebrain.com

www.gamebrain.com is the only sit to progress children through a complete primary school education based on national education standards—and it’s fun! The Web site’s technological underpinning is a proprietary, patent-pending technology called Learningtrac. When a child registers on the site, Learningtrac automatically makes an assumption regarding the child’s skill level according to his age. When a child chooses a game, it is dynamically populated with the appropriate curricula for his or her age level. It tracks reaction time and the number of correct and incorrect answers and adjusts game content as the child improves (or falls back). This keeps the game play challenging, but not frustrating, for the child while improving his or her academic skills.  http://gamebrain.com/  Access to each site is free.
 Kids are Immediately Engrossed in a Online Playground Upon first entering each Web site through a full-screen, three-dimensional, Flash interface, kids are immersed in a virtual online playground. They are greeted and escorted through the site by compelling, interactive characters that evolve over time, gaining complex behaviors and interaction capabilities after extended site use. LearningSoft's Web sites combine cutting-edge Internet game technology with world-class children's media to deliver stimulating, fun content including:
 

 
 The Company is expanding its offering and will provide multiplayer games, three-dimensional adventure games, activities for preschool children, and language training tools. LearningSoft has developed close ties with the creators of some of the world's most popular animated television characters. The Company has secured licensing agreements with Nickelodeon Latin America for the world-famous cartoon properties "Rugrats," "Blue's Clues," "Hey Arnold!" and "Rocket Power," The Harvey Entertainment Company for worldwide rights to its classic characters "Casper, the Friendly Ghost" and "Richie Rich," and Brazil's acclaimed children's author Ziraldo for the popular O' Menino Maluquinho character. LearningSoft has also secured a licensing deal with Santillana USA, an affiliate of the world's leading Spanish-language educational publisher.

 

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