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Learning: Bits & Bytes I created BestChildrensMusic.com to help classroom teachers, music specialists, and parents locate the cream-of-the-crop in children's music CDs and tapes. Like many teachers, I look outside our district's adopted texts for enrichment and cross-curricular experiences--especially for music integration. The good news is that there are many wonderful music resources available in CD and cassette tape formats by independent producers and major record labels. But because of the sheer number of recordings available, teachers need help in finding appropriate and meaningful projects. That's where BestChildrensMusic.com comes in. The site offers expert recommendations, music clips, and song lyrics to preview. In the Lil' Cow Bookstall, you'll find storybook suggestions--all revolving around music. Fred Koch I Love Paris in the Springtime My first graders love the Madeline books. After many readings of the books and activities with the Madeline CD-ROMs, I bookmark the weather for our town and for Paris. Every day a different child brings up these sites. Every child picks up a scrap sheet of paper and sets up the subtraction problem to find out the difference in temperature between the two cities. Pattie Meyer My Baby Wrote Me a Letter After reading and discussing the play, students go to our computer lab and log on to www.nando.net/toys/cyrano. html. This is the "Cyrano Server," and, with its help, students can compose love letters, Cyrano style, and practice their parts of speech at the same time! It's easy. Just click on "Love Letter." Under "What style of letter?" click on poetic. Then fill in the blanks with the part of speech requested. Students who do not have a significant other can send you a card. I have a collection of quite amusing letters! This is a great way for students to identify with poor Christian, who has to have Cyrano help him write beautiful poetic letters to the lovely Roxanne. Carol Eanes Charting IEP Progress Without exception, parents always leave my IEP meetings with the comfort level that we as teachers strive for in communicating a student's progress in our classrooms. Carl Treutle Digital Seating Charts With the school's digital camera, I take a picture of each student in each of my 12 classes. I created a seating chart template with photo-editing and page layout software in Microsoft Publisher. The kids' pictures are cropped, reduced, and then inserted into the appropriate spot on the template. Seating charts are then printed. Every time I change the seating arrangement, I simply click and drag the picture to the new spot and print a new copy. It takes some time at first, but once you have the pictures in the computer, rearranging is easy. Substitute teachers love the chart, it helps me learn names and do evaluations--and taking attendance is quick and accurate. Donald Fox Telling Tales of School It's an entertaining way for teachers and students to peek into classrooms that haven't existed for over a century and get a sense of what students, teachers, and their communities were like. Most readers will be surprised at the differences--at the same time that they notice many similarities. Many of the authors are very well known--Washington Irving, Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Bret Harte, and even Walt Whitman. Other authors who are less known today, though quite popular when they wrote, also created valuable works of fiction that make for enjoyable reading. The site includes introductions for each of the stories as well as footnotes that appear when you click on numbers in the text. David Safier IEP Forms Made Easy A few years ago, I became convinced that technology could be a great resource for my IEP administrative and team meeting needs. I decided to look for "off the shelf" software that would allow me to quickly update a revised IEP form, design a user-friendly template for that form, and provide me with the flexibility to build and maintain a simple database for my student IEP templates. I purchased OmniForm 4.0 from The Caere Corporation. I was impressed at how easy it is to scan a complex IEP form, such as the annual goals and objectives page. I had to do some editing to the form itself to ensure that my template was a mirror image of my district's form. Currently, I have access to 10 different IEP templates. Before an IEP meeting, I can efficiently access and update a student's personal data, present levels, goals, and objectives. Most importantly, I can use a laptop computer and printer to fill in and adjust key information during the meeting. I also use a 21-inch monitor connected to my laptop so that everyone on the IEP team can have a bird's-eye view of the form being discussed. At the conclusion of the meeting, I print out the completed forms, sign, and copy them. I have built up a nice template library of my goals and objectives. Other teachers at my school and district are beginning to enjoy the convenience of using IEP form templates, now that I have made them available on our school Web site (www.preschoolfun.com). Carl Treutle TALK TO US: Is there a Web site, CD-ROM, or piece of software you can't live without? E-mail your favorites--and why you love them--to myfavoritetech@list.nea.org. Or send your responses by regular mail to NEA Today, or by Fax to 202/822-7206, or through the Web at www.nea.org/cet. Those published here will receive a sparkling NEA Today mug! Crossing the Digital Divide A West Virginia teacher uses her knack for grant writing to bring world-class technology to her rural school. The result: Significant gains in student achievement. Who: E-mail: Inspiration: "I was hoping to be an example for what kids can do with limited resources at home," she explains. "If the school could provide technology, at least students would be able to compete." With support from her first Internet workshop instructor, Bleigh started applying for small grants and worked her way up--to an incredible $500,000 in grants for her school of 170 students. Now every classroom has its own modern workstation with Internet access. All students have access to a basic skills computer lab established through a statewide initiative, and Bleigh also secured a grant to fund a second, 15-station lab, which is used for thematic units. And thanks to Bleigh's 1998 Christa McAuliffe Fellowship award, there's a DISCOVER Science Center in her Title 1 resource room. The center includes a stereo microscope, SMART board, and projector. Lesson: Bleigh has seen gains of her own. Teaching in a rural area can be isolating, but, with Internet access, she can go and find ideas, lesson plans, and pictures. "Every time I sit down at the computer," she says, "there's something new." With her McAuliffe Fellowship, Bleigh developed Primarily Science, a Web site for elementary teachers, with links to lesson plans--and science recipes for neat stuff like cookie bar coal and edible rocks. Bleigh helps colleagues get up to speed through summer technology workshops, all funded by one of the grants she wrote. Besides spending daily time in the computer lab, Bleigh notes, most teachers are beginning to incorporate technology in their classrooms. "Our thematic units classes integrate technology, but not every day," Bleigh says. "We hope to do more every year. "We're just at the beginning," she adds. "We've got this huge amount of equipment and software, but there has to be slow implementation, and it has to fit within our curriculum." Click: "We can't educate today's students with yesterday's technology," as Bleigh puts it, "and expect tomorrow's successes." Check out the Primarily Science Web site at www.rtol.net/bbleigh/index.htm. Visit Burnsville Elementary School at www.wvonline.com/burnsville. My favorite Web site I've been using www.myschoolhouse.com to supplement my math program. The site has self-paced math lessons where kids can work at their own level, and it keeps track of the lessons that they complete successfully. Chris Sanderfoot My favorite Software I can't live without my ThinkWave Educator gradebook software. Download it for free or ask for free CD-ROMs for each teacher in your school by going to www.ThinkWave.com. Alicia Vilas |
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