Re: Introduction
Don Livermore (dlivermo@monterey.k12.ca.us)
Mon, 31 Mar 1997 20:29:47 -0700
Hi Sue,
Los Arboles Middle School, with its 700+ students, serves a multiculturally
diverse community near the recently converted Fort Ord Army Base. The
community is made up primarily of low to middle income families. Every
kind/type of student can be found on our campus, spanning Special Education
to Gifted, Asian to Hispanic and every one in between. It is truly a
unique and challenging setting. I find it an exciting place work. After
teaching essentially every grade K-College, I find middle schoolers an
incredibly untapped resource, plus they get my jokes. They are much like
my first graders, eager and quick to learn, given interesting and exciting
curriculum. They have much of the ability of high school students without
the elaborate social life (until Feb. of 8th grade that is). The school
has not been impacted with any major funding other than distict budgets.
There has been a relatively low level of technology use in the school or
community. The few that had computers used them for grades, games, or word
processing. We have a tech lab filled mostly with Apple IIe's. Computer
access is through an elective class that cannot accommodate the whole
student body.
I switched from the classroom to the library seven years ago and became
library Media Teacher. A special credential is required for this position.
You are considered support staff and wear many hats throughout the day.
My first assignment was at an elementary school with a majority of At Risk
students. It was a technology school with a non-tech library. I started
writing grants, adding the technological component to the library. At the
K-5 level all classes are scheduled in once a week. I would integrate the
literature with the tecnology encouraging the "tool use" aspect of the
computer. I introduced the students and teachers to laser discs, CD Roms,
and a variety of courseware. The idea of virtual fieldtrips under the
surface of Monterey Bay was partially developed at that site in
collaboration with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. The site
development team included the Library Media Teacher, the principal and a
second and fifth grade teacher. Upon leaving the school, the library had
become the school center, called "The Coonnection" with networked online
computers, in-house broadcasting system, video editing suite, ISDN/Frame
Relay capacity and more. It recevied 500+ visitors yearly.
I came to middle school almost two years ago to a relatively low tech
situation (four low end computers). At the secondary level English classes
are scheduled in every two weeks to renew or check out books. All classes
can make arrangements for special instruction on research skills or time to
do research as need be. Students flow in and out of the library all day
long doing mostly make-up work or tests. The library manages the textbooks
and courseware orders as well. Since I had been involved in the Virtual
Canyon project before NIE, my library was added to the other VC sites. To
get started I found teachers that would let me take some of their students
twice a week to help develop a student project for the prototype. I have
eight cultually diverse design team members, two boys and six girls, from
grades 7 and 8. Some have been participating for two years now. Once
their project is up and running, they will in turn train others to take
part as well. The gist of their project is to create the "Virtual Bay
Information Center for Monterey Marine Sanctuary. At this web site a
vistor can learn about the events and activities of the area. They will
also learn about the variety of wildlife and plantlife above and below the
bay. We can tell you the hiking, surfing, and fishing conditions and sites
and, at the same time, throw in the history and/or science that makes it
possible. If your would like to know more about this project I will share
it with you in Pittsburgh. It has some exciting components.
Through community grants, scoping the district storerooms, and sheer gall I
was able to amass eighteen relatively powerful computers. I cleaned out
the back storage room and developed the Application Center. Unlike a
computer lab is not a classroom. Students, teachers, and parents can use
it at any time before, during, and after school (as long as I'm there,
which I usually am) to work on projects, assignments, research, letters to
grandmother, etc. Games are not an option unless I have some kind of
rally/contest usually linked with geography or interesting
facts/information searches. I have been encouraging teachers to take one
of their yearly assignments and team up students to do offline and online
research culminating in a multimedia presentation instead of a written
report. Presently two sixth grade classes are doing a project based
product on the effects of farming and industry on the rainforests around
the world. I have never seen students more excited. Seventh grade classes
are doing personal and business letters in the App Center. Eighth grade
just finished their research and written reports on careers and will be
starting a multimedia production on poetry. Bilingual classes are applying
technology skills to create an electronic, multimedia personal biograhies.
The list goes on, but an exciting prospect is, technology poor students
have more tech access and are beginning to use view computers as more than
gameboys. Another is a predominately techno-phobic staff is starting to
buy into integrating technology tools within their present curriculum, at
the same time learning along with the students, making for a better comfort
level with regards to emerging new digital frontiers yet to be developed.
I'm sure this is much more than you wanted to to know, but perhaps you did
that jump scan newspaper trick to get the info you needed.
Don