Learning: Tips for the Wired Classroom
Kids Put Themselves Online

Budding student writers and artists are free to add their own material, using directions from www.geocities.com/adventurerbill.

Where Have You Gone, Billy Boy?
Writing is fun when it gets published in cyberspace! Students in our school got to see their own writing published in a project called Adventurer Billy B. Here's how it works.

Each class was given a school mascot and a digital camera. The children included the mascot in their everyday and "not so everyday" activities and then wrote short stories and language experience stories about the mascot's adventures with the class.

Students were encouraged either to write or draw pictures of their adventures with Billy the mascot. Stories were then sent via E-mail to the project coordinator, who published them along with pictures on the school's intranet.

The students were proud to see their work on the computer and will repeat the activity again this year. The project has sparked a greater interest in writing among the students. Check www.geocities.com/adventurerbill.

Grace Morina
gracemorina@home.com
Paulsboro, New Jersey

A Site for Times Tables
I have been running a Web site for the last three years to help teachers teach the times tables.

Since last January I've had over 1.5 million hits, and the site has received numerous awards. The URL is www.multiplication.com.

About.com wrote my site up as its "teacher tool of the week." The reviewer wrote: "This site offers tons of useful goodies to help reinforce the times tables. Don't miss the 'Games' section, as well as the 'Teachers' area. This is the kind of stuff you will print out and use right away!"

Alan Walker
awalker@prosserschools.org
Prosser, Washington

Going in Circles
Www.ecircles.com can become an off campus/online extension of the classroom and is recommended for secondary foreign language classes.

The membership of the class and the teacher are visible on screen in self-chosen caricatures.

While teaching Japanese Language classes, I could dialogue with individual students or communicate with the entire class at once.

We shared news articles, photos, and virtual gifts, kept journals, and dealt with individual homework questions and event notification on the calendar in Japanese.

Ecircles, and the many functions it offers, provided one more opportunity for students to participate and communicate in Japanese. This venue is an asset both for increasing proficiency and for providing the more introverted student a less threatening place to practice usage.

When students miss a class, they can catch up with assignments by accessing the site. Best of all, the site is free and fun to use.

Marilee Hayashi
Boise, Idaho

Trekking On
Go to www.ustrek.org to follow the journey of an eight-member team as they trek through U.S. history and bring back dispatches, with photos and video, to the classroom.

The itinerary is aligned with a typical U.S. history year-long curriculum. The team visits sites that are off the beaten path and bring the often overlooked people in history--women, minorities, the poor--to life.

The dispatches are well written and interesting for high school students. Plus, the group's "Making A Difference" dispatches help to excite students about making a difference in the world today. I love this site!

Sarah Jaeger
sarahjaeger@hotmail.com
Ross, California

TALK TO US

Have a nifty classroom tip or lesson plan that uses technology? E-mail a description (under 200 words, please!) to wiredclassroom@list.nea.org.

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!

Bytes for Beginners

I'm a middle school librarian who also manages several computers in my reading center. I overheard a group of students talking about downloading and using "shareware" software. They came to the conclusion that it was "wrong to use shareware software without paying for it." Is this true?

Give your students an A+! They are absolutely correct in assuming that it is unethical to download, keep, and use shareware software without paying for it.

When software is marketed through normal retail channels, consumers are forced to pay for it before determining if it meets their needs. Shareware is a distribution and marketing method used by some software authors, an outlet for computer software based on the "try-before-you-buy" principle.

If you like a program, then you make a registration payment to the author. If you don't want the program after trying it out, then you delete it.

Shareware programs are the same as software you find anyplace else--except that you get the opportunity to use shareware on your own computer before paying for it.

You can learn more about shareware and where to find it by visiting the following sites:

The Association of Shareware Professionals is an organization of shareware authors and distributors: www.asp-shareware.org.

The Educational Software Cooperative is a professional association of shareware authors and distributors who produce educational software. Check: www.edu-soft.org.

The Shareware Trade Association and Resources is a professional association of American and European shareware authors and distributors. See www.shareware.org.

My favorite Web site

Homeroom.com is an innovative tool that helps students improve scores on state-mandated tests and maximizes academic performance. Teachers can quickly assess student skills against state standards and re-teach as needed.

Ginny Jimenez
Special Education teacher
Marriottsville, Maryland