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Neither Cynthia nor Imetra would describe themselves as "computer experts," but they enthusiastically embrace technology as one of many tools to be used in providing an excellent education for Claremont students. Their advice to teachers who may be hesitant about using technology in the classroom? Imetra: "I'm not the most computer-literate person, but I'm willing to take a risk and play around with it. It's not that difficult to do and the results are fantastic!" Cynthia: "Sit down and play with the computer - don't be afraid of it!" Great advice for us all. By Lorrie Brown
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Cynthia
Barrett is a third grade teacher of twenty students. She
is relatively new to teaching, having just started her third
year. Cynthia began the year with her students reading
"Ramona Quimby, Age 8," by Beverly Cleary. She wanted to
provide them with an interesting opportunity to use
technology as a culminating activity with the text. She was
also looking for an exciting Back-to-School Night project.
(Cynthia participated in a ClarisWorks workshop and had done
some self-training on her own.) The ClarisWorks book report
template gave her an idea to have her students collectively
write a book report on this Beverly Cleary book. Students
read the book, partnered together and, using the writing
process, prepared drafts of their assigned book report
pages. Cynthia worked with the partners in typing their text
into the template, guiding them through the proofreading,
editing, and publishing stages of the writing process. The
final book report was assembled and previewed by the class
prior to sharing with parents at Back-to-School Night.
Parents were very enthusiastic and students were quite proud
of their professional quality work.
Imetra
Joiner is a fifth/sixth grade teacher of thirty two
students. She is an experienced teacher and is enthusiastic
about the use of technology in the classroom. One of
Imetra's first classroom writing assignments was for
students to write creative homework "excuses." Students
worked through the writing process on their own, drafting,
proofreading, and editing their work. The resulting stories
were so funny and clever that Imetra wanted to showcase the
work for parents at Back-to-School Night. Imetra's class
uses an interactive writing program designed for children
entitled KidWorks Deluxe. This program enables writers to
add art work, voice and sound effects to their stories.
After demonstrating the program for the class, Imetra met
with individual students and helped them type their stories
and add the desired effects. The stories were combined into
a multimedia slideshow that was shown at Back-to-School
Night. The project was a great success for all involved.
