November Entry
 Students were reintroduced to the steps of the Scientific Method by bring attention to a poster displayed in the classroom.  They also had a question from the textbook, Prentice Hall:  Cells, under Critical Thinking and Problem Solving.  Students were to design an experiment using Jell-O and other edibles to make an animal or plant cell using the steps in the scientific method. 

 Students began studying the skeletal system on November 1st for the test to be given on December 21.  I informed the students that the class would have their final review on December 20th using the Pasta Skeleton Activity.  Mrs. Karen Cragwall, the librarian, would be coming to our classroom to conduct the review. 

December Entry
Maury Middle School is not presently connected to the Internet due to our construction; therefore the students are unable to access the Internet at school.  I have informed my students of my web site, in case there want to log in at home. 
 I was able to use a program with my students called Cell Search by Digital Playground.  This is the only program that I have found that has related to the concepts that are cover for the middle school level dealing with Cells:  The Building Blocks of Life.  I have also done a hands-on project with cell division relating to Cell Search Program. 

January  Entry
After having a very short Christmas break, I have developed a PowerPoint presentation to introduce the ten systems of the human body.  I have had a difficult time downloading appropriate images to illustrate each system.  Maury still is not connected to the web; therefore I am continuing to work at home on the Internet. I think that the next power point that I make, I am going to try to not make it so long. 
I was able to download some images from The Heart Preview Gallery http://www.fi.edu/biosci/preview/heartdo.html and The Inner Bodyhttp://www.innerbody.com/htm/body.html.  I also put several sounds in each one of my slides.  Doing this was much harder that I thought. 

February Entry
 As in months pass, Maury Middle School is still under construction and is still not on line, therefore my entire Internet work is being done at home.  My students begin working on their projects with TLG 2000 by writing their own individual codes and coded messages.  As part of their Journal Activity for the unit on genetics, students made up their own codes for the letters of the alphabet.  In turn, students provided their code and wrote messages in code for other students to decode.  This is in preparation for students to starts writing their DNA grams over the Internet. As part of my TLG 2000 projects, students who have access to the Internet at home will be sending DNA grams to other students in the county who are on line, and for those who are not on line I will provide DNA gram run off from the Internet. 

 Students with Internet access at home love the County Web Site.  They say that the lesson and games are not as easy as what they thought they would be, but are grateful for the opportunity to have a site to go to without their parents worrying about where and what they are doing 

March Entry
I ran off individual pre-surveys with my student’s names on them for my Science 1 class since Maury is still off line. With Maury still under construction, our students still do not have access to the Internet unless they are home.  It took me several days to get the results of the survey keyed back in due to the fact that sometimes it would take ten to fifteen minutes for the submitting process for each student. 

I have also had several problems getting on the server due to maximum number of people linked to the TLG site.  When I do get on the site, the site has been very slow, even after the split. 

I have encouraged my students daily to go to the county web site and choose something to do since we are still not on line.  In surveying my students, there are five to six students from each class that does not have access to the Internet.  I have also given my students web sites, which they need to bookmark for future reference. 

I have not been able to use my Power Point Presentations because of my teacher’s model was messed up.  Now that my computer is up and running again, I have been able to use some of them. 

April Entry
If “Tennessee Sounds Good To Me” and the Tennessee Department of Education want teachers to write Technology Grants, then I suggest that the Internet resources should be there to start with. The so called purpose of this grant was so the classroom teacher would have more funds available for technology in their classroom and make teachers more aware of what was available for them on the Internet to use in their classrooms.   Then Tennessee should make sure first that there are unit lesson plans and daily lesson plans available on the Internet for them to research and find.  I spend numerous hours on the Internet researching for those lesson plans that do not EXIST.  Very few, if any lesson plans existed for the Middle School Science Curriculum or for any state in the United States.  I contacted several other states and their school districts and asked for help, but they did not have an answer for me.  They too said that they were having the same problem and that this is one of the many subject areas in which more work was desperately needed. 
 The lesson plans that I was able to come up with were usually primary and I had to adapt them.  However, if I had been a first year teacher and was not confident enough to adapt these lessons to my student’s needs, I would have just quit while doing the first grant. Having put 50 to 60 hours of Internet time a week in on these grants since I started, I could have made a least $2500 or more working for minimum wage at night at a grocery store, flipping hamburgers, working in a factory, or a Wal-Mart Store. However, I will be receiving up to only $1400 for all this time I have spend writing these grants.  Yes, I have learned quite a bit more about the Internet, almost to the point of hating it because I was unable to find the resources that I needed.  I have worked on the Internet extensively before working on these grants and have never encountered as many sites being down and pages no longer available due to restrictions.  I hope that other teachers can be as honest as I have been about working on these grants.  In my county alone, more than half of the teachers who started a grant was unable to finish it. Some of the reasons were that it was too time consuming on the Internet, the fact that many of our teachers do not have computers at home, (it is very difficult to stay at school until 2 or 3 a.m. and feel safe).  I feel, as many teachers do, that we could have written our own Internet lesson plans and that our lessons would have been geared more toward the learning gaps of our students, and that we would have had a better quality lesson plans in less time.  Thank you for the effort of giving us a chance of earning technology monies for our classroom. However next time, please allow those teachers who want to make up QUALITY unit lesson plans do so and pay them to place them on the Internet on the “Tennessee Sound Good to Me” site. 

When researching for the TLG 2000, I did find numerous web sites for other curriculum areas.  I also found several other state’s curriculum standards and tracks for those standards.  I will e-mail those sites from home (since we are presently not online at Maury) to Connie Campbell, our Technology Instructor. 

I feel that I am more knowledgeable and comfortable when using and integrating the Internet in my classroom, even though I am not presently on line.  I have made available to my student a list of lessons and web sites for them to visit at home.  Parents and students are pleased with the fact that so many teachers and instructors have taken the time to research sites for educational purposes.  Parents have also commented that they know that if it is on the Jefferson County Web Site, that they don’t have to worry about their child while they are on the Internet. 
 
 

May Entry
Due to the fact that Maury Middle School was under reconstruction, students were unable to log on the Internet at the school.  However, the students in my classroom did participated in the research portion of the TLG.  I was able to print off the necessary surveys and bringing those to class, in turn I keyed in their responses at home.  My students also were a given a list of web sites in which they were suppose to visit and participate in the activities posted on the web sites. We discussed these web sites and how they would be useful in obtaining our objectives for 7th grade Science. Out of four classes that participated, I had twenty-two out of seventy-nine students who did not have home access to the Internet. During the 1997-1998 school year my students did use the Internet as I anticipate that they will continue to do so for the 2000-2001 school year.  My students will be using the Internet to research papers, projects and do lab activities for the coming year.

With one of the online lesson plans that I created, students were able to make a Pasta Skeleton.  We also used the lessons plans that I created for the Skeletal, Muscular, and Digestive Systems.   Since we were not on line this year at school, the students did have access to both my personal and school email sites in which to communicate with me.  I did not do any video conferencing this year, but hope to do so next year with other schools at may subject and grade level.

I have introduced my students to Word and PowerPoint programs in my classroom to my students and have encouraged them to use these programs when designing their own research papers and presentations.  
In years past, I have always taught my students how to use Works.  But since the rest of the world is leaning toward Word, I have encouraged my students to write and publish using Word instead.  I have had a few students to do some small PowerPoint presentations this year, but not many.  To encourage students to make and present more PowerPoint presentations next year, I am going intrigue them to do so I am giving them extra credit for their work.  

I have had students to comment on how and why they liked some of the sites that were made available to them through the Jefferson County Web Page.  I have also had several parents to comment that they like the fact that they knew that they did not have to worry about their child exploring the web as long as they were on the JC site.  Many thanks go to the numerous hours that Mrs. Connie Campbell,  teachers and support tech people have given for their continuing dedication in supplying the faculty, parents, and students with clean, informative web sites necessary in enhancing the knowledge of our community.   Students became aware of the fact that they were able to use the computer encyclopedia program to look up answers faster than using a book. More students were also able to use the software, whereas old book encyclopedias were not as assessable. My students also used Bodyworks and Body 3 as tutorial, factual information and quizzes to prepare them for weekly quizzes and test.  I also have programs where students were able to design their own menus, diet plans, and look up nutritional information for their present diet habits.

I feel that the knowledge that I have gained in these monthly session have become a valuable resource and challenging experience for the average teacher.  For those of us who thought we knew how to use the computer and Internet, we soon realized that there is a wealth of information that we have only scratched the surface of.  I now feel more confident in instructing and guiding students toward better and more resourceful programs and sites to meet their needs, not only in my curriculum, but other areas of study.

I attended a medical conference in Nashville with my husband, and was able to make more use of  my dead time there by taking along the laptop and making a PowerPoint presentation. I also type several tests and worksheets using Word.  I also used the laptop as my teacher model freeing up another computer for my students in the classroom.

The most beneficial aspect of this project has been able to share ideals, presentations, and find web sites that would benefits not only my needs for the classroom, but also the needs of my students.  I have shared with other teachers the knowledge of how much I have learned from the various types of programs that we have been introduced to how they have benefited myself and to my curriculum and how much the programs have enhanced my teaching ability.  I have also encouraged the teachers in my building to take some of the in-services offered during the summer or after school hours.  I feel that it has come to a point in education that it is now necessary that all teachers, no matter what curriculum level or area; they should be required to become computer and Internet literate.  

All teachers should be required to be involved in some type of Cyber Exchange or staff development class.  It is important for all teachers to enhance and update their teaching ability in order to stay ahead of the students and the rest of the Cyber World.  Just as we have been introduced to inclusion and many other now mandated programs in the schools.  I feel that this is a necessary for teachers of the 21st Century must continue this quest for knowledge.  
I also feel that teacher who already have the 21st classrooms should be required to take the Cyber Exchange workshops and update yearly information that is necessary to maintain a well working 21st Century Classroom. 
Since the wave of the future is computers, all teacher need to take continuous classes that will enhance the objectives set forth by the state and county.

Classes should include the following:
Word, PowerPoint, Excel, ICQ, Netscape, Typing programs that they can use to teach keyboarding, and how to integrate using a computer when there is only one computer in the classroom.