| Beth Christensen Many teachers feel threatened by technology. They don't think they will ever be able to master computers. I know how they feel. I was there. When I first got my computer from the school district, my elementary-aged daughter had to hook it up for me. She accompanied me to the six-week training class the district offered, and then helped me at home. My daughter not only taught me how to use a computer, she changed my life. She also changed the lives of my students. She is my favorite teacher and I am living proof that having a good teacher can change a life, and the lives of students. Dakota Meadows Middle School was built as the technology flagship for our district in 1993. During that year, I taught Turbo Gopher to my students in October and Mosaic in November. When Netscape became available in my school's student computer lab in 1995, I began to see real uses for the Internet in my classroom. For years my students had written short mysteries, stories to be read in two minutes. Readers had to find the hidden clues and solve the puzzle. The local newspaper was kind enough to print several student stories each year, but all students wanted to see their work in print. Internet technology, though, looked promising and I challenged myself to find out how it might help my students and solve my distribution problem. I knew I had to upgrade my technology skills to help my students. I needed help. Luckily, there were two people willing to take my bare-bone concepts and help make them happen. Those two people were the district's technology specialist, and my building's media specialist. The three of us worked together in 1996 to teach my 135 eighth grade students HTML computer programming. I have continued to teach all my students, over 800 of them, how to build a web page and have posted their mysteries every year since on "Mini-mysteries Main Page." http://www.isd77.k12.mn.us/schools/dakota/mystery/contents.html I learned HTML, and then didn't need it any more when web page design programs dropped enough in price to become affordable. There were always new programs in technology. I needed to learn Power Point to help students with their electronic demonstrations and Quick Time movies to help students integrate movies in their work. My big learning projects lately have been Dreamweaver, Front Page, Final Cut Pro, and iMac movies. When evaluating my teaching, I ask
myself: Are my students learning what they will need to know in order to
succeed in society, and can they apply what is being taught to their
lives? If what I have been teaching doesn't meet those criteria, I modify
or discard. If my lessons don't integrate technology, my students know I'm
not performing the service I should. Below are several ways in which I have presented my best practices to teachers: E-mail Sharing Presentations:
Awards
In 1997, instead of reading from a
textbook, I asked volunteers from the community to come in and be
interviewed by my eighth grade students about what impact the World War II
had on their lives. My 135 students used all the information on the war
years to create web pages. By creating web pages, students were able to
share what they learned about their neighbors, and the WWII years in
"Mankato Memories." When I started this initial idea, I really didn't think
it would turn into such a huge undertaking, nor did I think it would change
the way I structured my school year. I had no idea it would become an
on-going community project. In fact, we are currently expanding and updating
these pages as this year's community project. The following year 28 students made
"Dakota Conflict of 1862", a period of conflict between the Dakota and
white settlers in our community. It is another part in our school's support
of community history, reconciliation, and racial and ethnic diversity. The
Dakota Conflict generates more questions than any other topic for our
historical society and my students' web site serves as the internet
reference in our the community. Thirty-one students followed up with
project with "A Bend in the River: The Story of the Mankato Community and
the Minnesota River." The student's river web site explored the relationship
of our community to the river, from the benefits of wildlife and recreation,
to the disaster of our major flooding in 1951 and 1965, and current flood
prevention measures. Last year, 2001, thirty of my
students tackled a regional specialty, "Minnesnowta: The Winter Wonderland."
Students interviewed survivors of some of our most severe storms. They also
took a lighter tone with some of our regional winter activities, such as ice
fishing and frozen turkey bowling in "Minnesnowta: The Winter Wonderland." I believe my community-based project is one of the most important units I do during the year. It has big rewards for my students. Many oral histories have been preserved electronically on web sites as a result of our community projects. They are now available to family members who otherwise may never have had them preserved. One of my surprises during the World War II project was the number of times I heard veterans tell me, "I never talked to my children about this, but I am getting old, and if I don't start talking now, it will just disappear." My students have gone beyond the school walls and become involved in their community. For some students, these projects provided their first experiences visiting with senior citizens and recording their stories. For other students, the river project was their first experience with experts on the river, ranging from river pollution to water engineering. As one student confessed to me, "I used to cross that river and never think about it. Now I think of all the people who lost their homes because of it. I don't think those flood walls are ugly anymore." These projects are relevant to my students' lives. By having my students interview local residents, WWII and parts of their environment came alive. History has a face, and it is the face of their neighbors. Ordinary people become experts, a living textbook. The number of "hits" we have recorded on our web sites tell my students and I over one hundred thousand people have visited and read my students' work. In the case of the mysteries, we have forced the reader to use higher thinking level skills. Our other websites have sought to provide a user-friendly and informed overview of our community's physical features and the lives of our citizens. --
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