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Jan/Feb 2005: Features |
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The NCLB Act mandates technology literacy by the time students reach the eighth grade. To prepare for meeting this mandate, our district worked to equip the school community with all the tools it would need to help the students achieve computer proficiency by the end of their eighth grade year. But initially, we found that not enough of the district's eighth graders had met the standards we set. We soon realized that despite adequate facilities, equipment, and funding, we would not succeed in achieving computer proficiency without a technology literacy teaching tool. The missing piece was curriculum—a program to teach kids technology skills in a real-world context.
As the Web continues to develop and faster Internet access becomes available to more individuals, the likelihood of Web-based programs replacing CD-ROMs is becoming more and more real. The advantages provided by subscription Web-based services will lead them to be used for direct instructional purposes in the classroom.
There is a method to locate and textually or graphically display links to sites that amplify the content of a useful Web site. The method can also be employed to assist in verifying the credibility of a Web resource and as a very effective search technique.
To start the new calendar year with a trends and expectations story from a school librarian's point of view, we turned to library media activist, writer, conference presenter, and school library "presence" Pam Nutt. We asked Pam to query her colleagues and herself to find out, well, what's on their minds! What's affecting them and their profession, particularly--but not exclusively--in the area of technology. Read this feature to see what she told us.
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Jan/Feb 2005: Product Reviews |
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BrainPOP is a subscription-based Web site that provides standards-based animated educational videos on a variety of topics in Math, English, Science, Health, Technology, and Social Studies.
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has teamed up with Pearson/Scott Foresman to create two grade-specific primary source CD-ROMs, Colonial Williamsburg Primary Sources for grades 1-3 and for grades 4-6. The materials allow students to explore historical research using documents, pictures, stories, and artifacts through multimedia activities.
The Neo is a portable, lightweight, and inexpensive computer "companion" that looks like a keyboard with a small screen attached.
Pinpoint is a Web-based research utility tool for K-12 schools and libraries. The product allows users to simultaneously research school library resources, subscriptions, and Internet sites and harvest age-appropriate annotated resource lists.
The Science CSI kit is a collection of digital science tools accompanied by a science curriculum.
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Jan/Feb 2005: Columns |
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African American experiences during slavery are identified in the National History Standards under United States History, Era 2: Standard 3C, which states, "the student understands African life under slavery." The best way to learn about daily life, culture, and history is to draw upon the firsthand accounts of people who lived during that time period. CyberBee presents a collection of primary sources in this article that are tailor-made for studying this topic.
We now have some pretty good track records on some new technologies that make access to information—both physical and intellectual access—simpler and, therefore, we hope, better. Hurdles to that access exist in both the physical and virtual worlds. Requiring a PC or specific browser to access information sets a hurdle in place in the virtual environment. Requiring information to be used within a library during specific hours is a hurdle of sorts too. Here are five key technologies that improve access in one way or another, or both.
How you lead depends on what you read! Knowledge of best practices, current research, and useful ideas will help you do the following:
* Plan and develop an effective school media/technology program.
* Be an effective, efficient, and credible communicator.
* Support your own professional writing and presentations.
* Be a leader in your school and district.
Among my reading favorites are the books, journals, and Web sites I turn to frequently for reference or inspiration.
Staff technology training sessions can get bogged down if too much time is spent in direct instruction and not enough time is spent actually working on projects and discussing ideas of how to use the technology in classes. There are ways to avoid such pitfalls, however, and this month’s Learning Unleashed! column discusses some techniques … learned from experience.
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Jan/Feb 2005: In the Spotlight |
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The IntelliTools Classroom Suite includes three integrated software programs--IntelliPics Studio 3, IntelliMathics 3, and IntelliTalk 3.
The software, designed for grades pre-K8, provides a network-ready cross-curricular platform for classroom activities, creativity tools, and student performance tracking and assessment.
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