November Entry
This past month at our school has been hectic, to say the least, with all the construction and renovation.  Through our only window, my class has a bird’s eye view of the new construction.  I learned from the Building Project Coordinator that a portion of the new construction didn’t meet the building code specifications and that portion of the walls would have to come down. 

The day the demolition of the walls started, I had the students to go to the window and look out.  They were eager to be out of their seats, not knowing that there would be math involved in the long run.  I asked,  “What is taking place outside?” 

With confusion and a bewildered look, they were responding,  “They are tearing the inner walls down.”  Of course, they were wanting to know why this was happening.  We are meeting for class in the PE storage room, small cramped, stacked on top of each other, no heat and no air.  Needless to say, they want a regular room NOW! 

I explained that in the real world, accuracy counts in some things.  I explained that the problem came from work not being “Quality work”.  I explained that the site supervisor was being relieved that day, and that the construction company will be having to eat the cost of tearing down and reconstructing.  This led into a multitude of real life word problems that are in existence in the students NOW world. 

December Entry
Presently, I am not connected to the web at my school.  My students that have computers at home are searching the web for math related topics to print and bring to class.  One student found a site that went along with divisibility rules.  This site correlated with our textbook, plus it also had other divisibility rules other than what I have taught.  Another student printed off some interesting materials to be used as handout with fractions. 

We have done nothing with the internet project or the classroom web page.  We are dealing with no heat in the closet classroom, and being bumped back several months getting into a “normal” sized classroom.  Alternative school and students have higher priority over classrooms than the 625 students and teachers that can comply with rules and behavior standards.  Sorry to sound so negative. 

January  Entry
My school is still under construction, and we still aren’t online.  I’ve had limited use of the laptop computer still yet.  I moved out of the PE storage room January 4th to my permanent classroom.  The room is the largest classroom that I’ve had the opportunity to be in during my 15 years of teaching.  There is still no security for my room.   The door doesn’t lock, therefore I can’t leave anything of value in my room.  My connection to the Internet has been primarily at home with my sons who are in the US Marines.  One is in Japan with a laptop on Mt. Fuji, and the other one is just outside Seattle, Washington, on a nuclear submarine base.  E-mail is cheaper than Maw-Bell.  I haven’t done Power-Point yet since I can’t use it at this time. 

February Entry
I have been working on the Internet at home looking at education sites for lesson plans to enhance supplemental material for my instructional process for class.  I have just completed a unit in fractions (adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing).  I found tons of supporting information that was very useful. 
I also found a site that offers a daily e-mail of various subjects and grade levels.  For math it has a problem of the day, word problems, current events, trivia, etc…  The site is http://www.EdGate.com  I’ve found this site most interesting because it enlightens me more than just my subject area. 
My schools building project is progressing.  We are now having hot lunches in the cafeteria as of yesterday.  The staff and students are most appreciative of this wonderful new treat.  The office complex is the next area to come on line by the end of the month or the beginning of March. 

March Entry
My school is still heavily under construction.  We are not on line so all internet activity has to be done at home. 

I have just completed a unit on INTEGERS.  Within integers there is a unit on the coordinate system.  Once we learned how to read and plot coordinates, we did verbal and written directions from Jefferson Middle School to the student’s home or from the student’s home to JMS.  Some students chose to pretend to be a businessperson coming in from the airport and needing directions to get to JMS. 

Some students gave very good directions.  Some students lacked a lot of pertinent detail.  We went to the computer and got printed directions from a reference point to an end point.  We then compared the student’s version to the printed version from the computer.  The students also drew a hand-sketched version of the directions.  We also printed a map off the computer. 

The students enjoyed this activity very much. 

I had one student to tell me that his father had instructed him to not give any directions orally or written to his home.  I told him that was fine.  We used this as a learning opportunity to show students that information could be retrieved about you whether you wanted it to be or not. 

I looked up the students address from the office and entered the information needed and was able to retrieve the information.  I showed it privately to the student and held it up for viewing for the rest of the class.  We entered into a great discussion as to how someone could retrieve information about you.  Examples:  phone bill, electric bill, cable bill, credit card, etc…  They were totally amazed. 

April Entry

May Entry
My school has been under major construction this past school year and has had no internet services available.  My students that have home computers have done projects at home, printed them off and brought them to school for classroom presentations.

School year 1998-1999, I used technology everyday.  The students that were low in skills used it for reinforcement and review.  The students that were on grade level or above used it for enrichment.  I had and after school tutoring program once a week for students that were really struggling.  I had their parents come in to view what we were doing.  I backed them up to their level of mastery, whatever it was, and brought them forward.  I did this because some students were embarrassed for their classmates to know that they were working on lower level work. 

 Because of not being online at our school, I have utilized my home computer and the county web page.  It links me to tons of information that makes planning and resources much better.
  
I have found online lesson plans to be a valuable supplement to my curriculum.  I have been able to find lessons presented in a slightly different way that made it   clearer even to myself.  I have been able to present these new ideas in the classroom.  The students have so many learning styles and learning abilities, hopefully one of these ways will click.  I have found lesson plans that have been very useful that I have shared with other math teachers.

I have used email much more through the usage of this class both at school and in my personal life.  My sons are in the US Marines.  One is in Japan, and the other is in Seattle, Washington.  We email much more frequently than we would be able to afford to talk on the phone.  I have learned to forward messages, scan and send pictures.  My son in Japan emailed with a laptop from the top of Mt Fuji.

PowerPoint has been a lifesaver when students are absent.  It is the students’ responsibility to get the PowerPoint presentations that they have missed to catch up on the missed assignments.  I only have to assist instead of re-teach.  I am more versatile with my classroom presentation.  I do not use just the textbook for lessons.  I feel that I can reach a larger group of students with a wider range of abilities.

Staff development has been the best aspect of this class for me.  It gives me opportunity to get out of the classroom and just concentrate on technology.  Knowing that the whole school and every teacher will be on line next school year is exciting.  I will be able to mentor someone who hasn’t been through this program yet.  There are times in class that you have a question that you would like to ask a fellow colleague, ICQ provides us with that opportunity.  The time to sit down if front of a computer for a day to look for ideas to make my classroom better and not have to deal with students at the same time has been very rewarding.
 

I think every teacher should have a laptop available to him or her.  Most teachers’ workday does not end when the last bell rings.  Most do grades or preparations for  classroom activities.  It would be nice to have something that you could carry back and forth from school to home.
 

 My suggestion for improving this project would be to have someone to come to your school to monitor how you are doing, what you are doing, and if you are experiencing any problems.