October Entry
Being Miss Optimism Plus, I went into the lesson on compound words (1-2) with the knowledge that this lesson was going to be the best ever!  I went through the plans just as they were presented in the lesson plan with the exception of the students making their own Concentration Game cards.  I had those already made so that a substitute teacher could have the kids play the game right off. 
 The children LOVED all the different activities that were done.  After taking the test on compound words, we discussed the activities that we had done and which ones were their favorite.  Just about everything we did (with the exception of the test) received votes as being a favorite.  We worked in groups of two for all the activities so kids were able to talk about the answers before calling them out or writing them down.  This was less intimidating for the slower students.  Several loved the riddles because they got to use the marking board or small chalkboards.  Others loved getting to write on the TV screen but the first child up was very nervous about doing that.  She asked twice, "you want to use the marker on the TV?"  After the first on did that, hands went up everywhere to be the next one to do it.  I just hat that not every child had the opportunity to "write" on the TV.  As I said, the substitute teacher conducted the lesson using the Compound Word Concentration Game so I am not sure as to how that went.  The kids told me the next day that they had played it and that they did enjoy it.  The substitute reported only good things about my class that day and I am sure that this activity helped make it so. 
 One child asked me just the other day when we were going to write on the TV again!  I was very pleased with the lesson, which covered two days instead of the 45 minutes stated on the plan.  It lasted three half-hour lessons in English.  Of course, we discussed several things instead of going from one activity to another without reflection time. 

November Entry
Joanne Whitley
November 4,1998
Grade 2A's Internet project is the Class Pet Exchange.  Fuzzy Raccoon is the little fella that the class chose as its pet.  They had a choice of about 6 different stuffed animals and they chose the smallest of their options.  I asked several why this was and their response was that he was small, cute, and cuddly just like they are!  My Pet Exchange pal and I decided to vary from the suggested schedule.  We had our own students take the pet home and write about its adventures in a journal BEFORE we exchanged the pets.  This way the other class can read about the adventures that the pet had before they got him.   Fuzzy has now made the rounds, has had a bath, and will soon be on his way to Calgary, Canada.  We will receive Rocky M. (Mountain) Goat.  Dianne and I decided that we would mail the pets on the same day to see which one arrives first.

We did our newspaper on October 21, 1998.  The kids enjoyed it and picked out the news to include.  We had a weatherman to visit the day before and they insisted that that be one of our stories.  We had used the digital camera to take a few pictures so we downloaded one off of that.  I told them that the next article had to come off the Internet.  We went to CNN and voted on which article to go with.  They chose one on the World Series.  The students enjoyed doing it but it seemed to take quite a bit of time and I noticed them losing interest.  However, when we were ready to print and they saw the finished copy, they loved it.  We  will try this again and perhaps it won't take as long as we get familiar with the process.

I was able to use the Cyber Ambassador only one time.  Sarah came in for 30 minutes to work with several students on the Word program.  After typing a few sentences, she showed them how to change the font, the size and the color of the print.  Then she showed them how to save it to a disk.  Sarah was not hesitant to ask why something would not save.  I, of course, did not have the answer because she was doing things the right way.  We just went to Plan B which was not a problem for Sarah.  As she left, she asked me what time I wanted her back the next day so she must have enjoyed the teaching.

December Entry
Joanne Whitley 
My wonderful class put up with me as I groped my way through a lesson on idioms.  Really, this is the first time I presented a formal lesson on this figure of speech.  I used the lesson plans I found at http://www.ccsch.k12.nj.us/ITCurr/idioms2.html  and http://tqjunior.advanced.org/4382/idiom.html .   I first presented a biographical sketch on Peggy Parish (http://www.rpl.org/19970629.html) and then introduced the class to Ms. Parish's most famous character, Amelia Bedelia. We began a discussion of what an idiom is and then as we read the Amelia book, we paused to look at the idioms presented.  The Amelia books are full of idiomatic expressions!  I found that I had to explain some expressions as we went because the students did not know some of the words used.  An example was "to sow the seeds."  They did not know what "sow" meant so the figurative expression was hard to compare to the literal meaning.  I tried to focus on achievement here so I read another Amelia book to the class and let them stop me when they heard an idiom.  They then had to explain what most people would do when they heard this and then had to tell what Amelia did.    I then read the little idiom story from the Internet site on "feet" and the kids took an oral quiz on the expressions.  The quiz was provided at the site.  As an evaluation, I had the children work in groups with even another Amelia book.  They had to find idioms on their own and draw pictures of what the expression meant and then how Amelia interpreted it.  They then had the opportunity to share what they had found with the class.   I was not surprised that many got the giggles as they found these expressions in their books.  A few even giggled as they explained the idioms they had found to the class.  Based on the pictures, every child showed an understanding of this figure of speech.
     Our newspaper was put together in a hurry and the stories the kids chose from CNN did not include any pictures but that didn't bother them at all.  I read the stories they chose aloud and then they had to retell them as I typed.  We had a very brief lesson on the importance of sequencing in our alligator story.  It was important that the lady did not call 911 before the man fell in the pond!  We tried to put a clip art picture from Print Shop into our paper but had some trouble with that.  I had to figure that one out at home that evening.  We had a review lesson on the 5 W's to see if all the important information was covered.  I thought it was cute that when I asked a little Resource girl where the "Alligator" story took place she answered, "In a pond."  I was looking for "Florida" as the correct answer.  She was correct though and, after asking her a few questions, I found that she knew it happened in Florida.  I need to dig more before I tell a child the answer is not correct.  That was a learning experience for me.

January Entry
January Entry         Joanne Whitley

I had used an address book on the computer some but it was a hit and miss task for me and I really couldn't remember what I did from one time to the next.  Was it coincidence that my hard drive had to be replaced which wiped out the few addresses I had?   I have now started entering addresses again but this time I feel confident in what I am doing.   I have an address book made now for both of my email addresses.  I have shown my students at school how much easier it is to use an address from the book as opposed to typing it in over and over.  We also stressed the fact that everything within the address had to be exactly right or the email would not be sent. 

I have been lax on my use of the Cyber Ambassador(s) and used Sarah only one time in December.  She came in to show a few students how to change fonts, size, and color of their print.  She was able to work with three students in the 30 minutes she was in the room.  Our other two Cyber Exchange students have had problems in the classroom and I have not been able to schedule them.  They were asked about yesterday and things are looking better and they both may be available.  That was exciting news.  I would like them to work with a few students on developing a personal PowerPoint presentation of just 3-4 frames.  I am hoping to start on this within the next week or two. 

I am having a wonderful experience with my Internet project with the group I was assigned in Calgary, Canada.  We exchanged our pets right before Christmas.  I have really enjoyed how these stuffed animals have become real.  When we sent Fuzzy to Canada, we had a big BonVoyage party and sent him with mittens, a scarf, and a toboggan so that he would not get cold.  We wore party hats and parents sent cupcakes and Kool-Aid.  When Rocky arrived, the group was so excited!  Rocky has been more of a handful in the classroom than Fuzzy was.  He will have to learn our rules.  I caught him misbehaving in the cafeteria yesterday.  Actually, the little girl who had him was doing something inappropriate but she was told to teach Rocky better manners.  That stopped HER behavior.

I used the laptop to develop two brief PowerPoint presentations while I was at my mother's during holiday break.  She does not have a computer so the laptop provided me an opportunity to develop these presentations away from home.
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February Entry

I have made use of the ICQ program several times this month, both to communicate with other teachers and to integrate it into my language lessons.  One afternoon my class called Miss Tilley's second grade class to review antonyms.  We would give them a word and they would let us know the antonym for that word.  Then it was their turn to give us an antonym.  We stayed on for about 15 minutes and all eyes were glued to the set as we waited for responses.  Another thing I noticed was the chance to choose two antonyms for one word (open-close, open-shut).   We also responded to an ICQ chat with Mrs. Knight's first graders.  We chose to do rhyming words.  We had a contest.  Mrs. Knight's class gave us a word and we came up with a rhyming word, then her class gave another rhyming word.  We went back and forth like this until one class could not come up with a word.  I noticed that my students had a lot of trouble distinguishing between short "e" and short "i" during this activity.  We also had to use the dictionary a time or two to check out the pronunciation.  Our class really had to think to keep up with the first graders.  We plan to do this again.
     I have had trouble using the Cyber Ambassador because of grades in their regular classroom.  However, things have been looking better for them.  I have been using one little girl, Felicia, to help my kids develop a PowerPoint presentation on themselves.  All the students have already made a plan on a sheet of paper and Felicia has been a wonder working with them.  I just turn her loose.  To make things go a little faster I let them use only the clipart and sounds on the disk instead of going to the Internet to download them.  We have approximately 5 presentations done in a class of 18 students.  Felicia comes in for about 30 minutes a day.  What a blessing to me she has been.  When we show the slides, the kids have the biggest smiles on their faces.  Everyone is watching the screens at this time.
     I have not made use of the laptop much this past month.  I was finally able to work out a time to provide training on it for two of the other Cyber Teachers in the school.   I still have one more training session to go.  I really like the fact that the clipart and sounds are on the laptop.  That saves time hunting them on the Internet. 
     Out Class Pet Exchange is going very well.  We are almost finished sending Rocky home with the children.  I took Rocky home to give him a bath (in the washer) and then I gently placed him in a pillowcase in the dryer.  His beautiful long hair (he's a mountain goat) matted and he looks so different.  (I actually think the fibers melted.)  A good cat brush didn't even help.  I thought that perhaps the kids would not notice.  It only took a glance before something was said.  I told the kids that I had taken him for a new hairdo.  They seemed OK with that.  I have already written the other teacher and offered to purchase another goat if she could find one.  He is constantly having a bad hair day!   He spent four days in Chattanooga last week and everyone is anxiously waiting to hear about his adventures.  It will soon be time to send him back to Calgary Canada, and Mrs. Webber's class.
     One thing I have noticed when working on the computer with the kids is that they will correct me when I ask a question but end with a period instead.  That has never happened before as much as we stress this skill early.  They also catch spelling mistakes when I hit a wrong key.  We are trying to stress the importance of sticking to one subject in a paragraph.   One child was sharing a story he had written about President Clinton, a government worker.  Then he added that Martin Luther King had been killed.  Another child pointed out that MLK did not fit into the story about our President.  PowerPoint presentations are always enjoyed when reviewing previously taught skills.  They love to write on the TV and then to see if the answer was correct.  They get most answers right now.  Maybe they are more focused while it is on the screen.
     We really have trouble getting our newspaper in.  I think that this month we will try to do a classroom paper focusing on what our class is doing as opposed to world news reports.  They seem to like that though so I am not quite sure what February will bring.  I like the fact that we vote on what kind of story to look at, we vote on what type things to include, we vote on many decisions and I feel that is important when working together.   Stay tuned to see what February brings in the way of our newspaper! 
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March Entry
February was a short month but my class and I have stayed busy using PowerPoint.  A school goal is to develop more multicultural opportunities for the students so I developed a presentation to use for Black History month.  It focused on famous Black Americans, both current and historical figures.  I had the picture come in first without any text so that the students would have an opportunity to guess who they thought the person was.  I was able to add some words spoken by the actual persons. 

I have been using one Cyber Ambassador almost every day for 30 minutes and she has been a blessing.  Felicia continues to work with the students on presentations about themselves.  She has taken her job seriously and has asked me for a list of students so that she can keep up with all the students that she has worked with.  She is doing a wonderful job and lets me know if she is not available that day.  We are approximately half way through the class.  Just yesterday she told me about two students in the class that seemed to have a good grasp of PowerPoint and said that I might be able to use them to help others when she cannot be there. 

I have checked the laptop computer out only once this month to work on a PowerPoint presentation while other family members were on my home computer.  The only thing that I had problems with is that I was not connected to the Internet to look for images or sounds.  Before going to bed I took my disk to my other computer and added a few things.  I already had the major part of the presentation done before doing that. 

My Pet Exchange partner and I are ready to exchange our pets any day now.  I have bowed down to her and apologized for Rocky's new hairdo.  She has assured me that it was OK and that next time she would choose a pet that would stand up to student wear.  What about teacher wear?  Dianne has been a lovely person to deal with.  Rocky's place in our room now is on top of our reading tent!  We have up pictures up in the room of the Bon Voyage party we had for Fuzzy.

In reading, I have noticed that comprehension on stories seems to have improved.  I have noticed this on the little stories that I pass out that have 5 questions after them to answer.  I attribute this to the many, many questions I ask as we go online or do a PowerPoint lesson.  I do not have any specific data to support this.  It is just an observation that I have made. 

For the month of February, I chose to do our newspaper on what we had done in the classroom during the month.  The kids started to talk about math activities so we made sure our whole paragraph was on that.  They then helped me choose some clip art.  I then asked them to think about reading skills for the second part on the paper and they again helped me choose clip art that would go with that.  I was pleased with the way they stayed on the topic and didn't talk about things done in science.

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April Entry
My Cyber Ambassador is now quite busy with things going on in her classroom and I have not seen her as much as I have in the past.  When she comes, she works with the children on original PowerPoint presentations on themselves.  She came to me and mentioned that one of the kids was doing quite well on her presentation and she thought that this child could help others.  She has worked with Dasha as her mentor as Dasha now tries to guide students through the presentation.  Felicia, my Ambassador, pops in every now and then and we put her right to work.

The laptop has been the most use to me as I travel.  I can work on PowerPoint presentations while away from home.  There are enough clip arts and sounds on the hard drive that I do not have to use it on the Internet.  That is the only problem I have with the laptop is that  I cannot connect to the Internet at home or while away.  No big deal though.

I was on the ball with my classroom web page.  My kids were real excited as they got on by themselves and typed their stories.  One afternoon I typed my story.  As I uploaded it to the web site…..I lost all the stories.  I have no idea of what I did.  I was told later that I could have hit reload and it perhaps would have reappeared.  Of course it is too late now.  My kids have not been back on since.  Due to time, I will probably type their stories in myself as they dictate them.

I have been quite negligent on this aspect but with Terror (I mean, Terra)Novas over, perhaps we can relax and get back to this.  The kids enjoyed choosing what to write about.  We have done news from around the country, but I think we will now focus on things happening within our school and classroom.

I have been involved with the Classroom Pet Exchange.  I love it.  The kids love it!  The attachment to the stuffed animal is remarkable.  It becomes real to both the kids and me.  We are in the process of making our exchange back.  I have developed two PowerPoint presentations to send back with it.  One is about our area of East Tennessee and places nearby that Rocky M. Goat has visited. The other is on Rocky's Day in Grade 2A.  This is one that uses pictures taken with the digital camera as we staged Rocky doing different things that the kids do during the day.  I started doing this as the kids were working.  Mistake, maybe.  The kids started paying more attention to me.  The great thing turned out to be that the kids started feeding me ideas and the presentation turned out much better than any I would have done on my own.  I also made these pictures into a booklet that I will send back.  With Rocky we will be sending back pencils for each child that have facts about Tennessee on it. (Our exchange group is from Calgary, Canada.)  Dianne, the other teacher, and I have not exchanged much over the computer because she does not have access to the Internet in her classroom.  She corresponds mostly while on her computer at home.  I have had two great experiences with wonderful people.

Whenever the TV screen goes on showing computer things, I have the children's attention.  I have been impressed by the student's use of Word, the Internet and PowerPoint.  They have no fear of trying things on their own.  They enjoy watching other student presentations and the presenting student just beams.  I think writing skills have improved especially the use of capital letters and punctuation.  I'm curious to see their TerraNova test results.  I have been using  Drop in the Buckets using the computer and the marking pen to show proofreading marks as we correct a paragraph with mistakes.  The students have their own papers and must use the same marks and then they must rewrite the paragraph correctly.  We have done four together and they are finding almost every mistake without me having to point anything out.  Sometimes I will give a clue though.  The next Drop in the Bucket will be done on their own.  I am curious to see the results.  Perhaps I will let them work with a partner first before they try it individually.  That will be good.

My students enjoy when I give them free time to explore the Student's Corner on the Jefferson County home page.  They usually find a picture they want to download (usually and animal) and they write a story about it.  They always have to print it out.  We have started a unit on states and the kids will get into a project using the Internet to find basic information about their state. 

My kids think the Internet is the greatest thing.  When I say that I don't know about something, I hear, "Look it up on the computer."  I enjoy the changes I have seen from when computers first started being used on the computer.  They were afraid to be on them and afraid of making mistakes.  Today so many have computers at home that they are not afraid to try anything at school.  Sometimes I have to slow them down.  I think self-esteem is boosted by progress they make on the computer. "Mrs. Whitley, come see what I have done."

I try to incorporate the computer in all subject areas.  I have used it in math, science, social studies and all language arts.  My kids did a computer game on spelling where they had to pick out the incorrect word.  They then had to spell the word correctly.  They were a little frustrated until they found out that their teacher missed 22 out of 50 on another spelling test.  The aide only missed 17!  The kids see how we can learn from the computer in many ways.  It is an essential part of our day.  I use the computer as I would use a resource book.
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Final Evaluation
I now have the world open to me, because I am able to use the Internet in any subject area.  My class has participated in the Classroom Pet Exchange project that was found on the Internet.  Our sister school was in Calgary, Canada.  Through the use of emails, my class was able to note the similarities and differences between our classes, our schools, and our areas of the country.  Many of the language and reading curriculum objectives have been met through the use of this project.  We did a lot of writing; and thus, reading.  Teaching how to write an informal letter is more interesting when you know that someone else will be reading it and responding back.    We have also responded to other schools' web sites whenever we came across something they did that we needed to know more about.  One class did a presentation on penguins.  This was a primary class.  My class wanted to know if they had ever seen a live penguin where they lived (Alaska).  We emailed them and got a response back from them.  Not only have I used the Internet more, I can navigate around it better.  My students are able to do simple searches also and have my permission to do so when they are caught up on their class work.  My kids like to go to animal pictures (a zoo site), print the picture, and then write a small story about it.  Many use the Spell Check also.  These little stories are posted around the room after they have had their time in the hall!

The online lesson plans that we developed in our class have been used when the subject areas were presented in either English or Reading class.  My class liked the games that we were able to play based on these plans.  It took some preparation before hand so one just couldn't pull it up and say, "Let's do it now."  The lessons need to be reviewed first and even adapted to one's own situation.  My kids especially liked a Contraction Bingo game that was used.  What a fun way to learn this skill.  We usually work with partners so that one child does not feel overwhelmed by anything.  Another lesson plan was on compound words.  In this lesson, it was suggested that the students go to the TV screen to circle their answers.  That was an experience that everyone loved and wanted to participate in.  Since I was at the computer and could not see the screen, the students were responsible for telling me if the participating child was correct or not.  If not, they had to tell me specifically what had been done wrong.  That was another good skill, learning to communicate with someone not able to see the screen.  Now, we are correcting paragraphs using PowerPoint and this skill comes in handy as they tell me what I must change.  I have clicked into the site on the lesson plans quite a few times when looking for something out of the ordinary or a different way to cover the material I have been covering for years.  I also like that the objectives covered are listed and I do not have to go back to do this step.   

We email as a class for different reasons.  Of course, when emailing, one must be aware of writing skills so that the other end can understand what you are saying.  We have had several experiences.  We have email pals, another second grade class in the county.  Teachers paired the classes up according to ability.  We wrote to each other on an average of once every two weeks.  First I printed off the letters and had my students write their response.  They would then sit with an aide and read their stories.  The aide would type as the students read.  A point was made to proofread everything so that the children would know the importance of that.  Now students can pick out mistakes as the adult is typing and they love doing that!  Due to time constraints, students now read and dictate their letter right on the computer.  They do not write their response first.  My class also had email going with a 6th grade boy from Canada under the guidance and supervision of the boy's mother.  He had to correspond with someone from a different country as an assignment.  He decided to take on our whole class.  (His mom and I were communicating before this time.)  That went well.  We learned many things.  The class was surprised that they had a Remembrance Day as we have Veterans Day.  They were also surprised to learn that guns were illegal there.  We emailed our Class Pet Exchange pals but had to wait for responses there since the teacher was not hooked up to the Internet at her school.  She had to do the communicating for her class from her home computer but that was OK.  We always looked forward to hearing about our pet that we sent them.  Within our school we can email and sometimes we can share ideas that we have just thought of.   
     This carries over to our use of ICQ.  Within our school we have contacted another Second Grade class and had a competition using Antonyms.  One class would list a word and the other had to come up with its antonym.  We took turns doing this.  We found it interesting that one class might come up with a different antonym that was not the one we thought of. (Ex:  open-close or shut).  Another time we ICQ'd a first grade class and had a competition involving Rhyming Words.  We started with a word, "say," then we would go back and forth until one class could not come up with another word.  We, as teachers, sometimes provided clues as to another word.   As it turned out the other teacher and I now have a permanent disagreement on whether to allow "pen" to rhyme with "win."  In our area of the country, "pen" is said "pin."  I however would not budge on that.  Talk about children being tuned in to a lesson!
     We have just now received our cameras that will provide us with the opportunity to videoconference.  I showed the kids how the camera worked and, if time allows, we will hook up to our email pals in the county.    I have to figure out how to work with some settings on the computer before this can be done.  

PowerPoint has become the software that I use the most.  I use it for introductions to new lessons, as review, as an interactive tool for student practice, and for stories.  Students have developed a PowerPoint on themselves using up to 5 frames.  They have had to learn how to insert pictures and sound as well as animation.  This has taken a long time and a 5th grader has come in to help with this.  They love seeing their work on the TV screen.  My latest project is to use one frame to type up a paragraph that has several mistakes.  These cover the use of capital letters, punctuation, use of I and me, verb tense, unnecessary words, omissions, and anything else a second grader might need to know!   Students receive this paragraph on paper and must use proofreader marks to show where corrections need to be.  I then bring it up on PowerPoint and ask for mistakes to be pointed out as well as how they need to be corrected (what mark should I use).  I use the Pen Option to mark the mistakes just as the children would at their seats.  They are allowed to make corrections as we go over the paper.  They then must rewrite the paragraph correctly and it is checked.  It has amazed me at how this works.  I even asked the other two second grade teachers in the school to come to the room to see how I handled this.  Each paragraph is only one slide.  I have saved the slides with the errors so that they can be used over and over.  
     I use Word as my word processor for several things.  I have made a school brochure using a Template I found and this is now given to new parents in the community.  All correspondence to parents and other teachers in the school is done on Word.  My students write their stories in Word.   When they choose a story to publish in a booklet, we use Word along with a graphic to go with it.  Our classroom newspaper is also done on Word.  Students are learning how to bring in graphics off the Internet.  At times we used the Internet to get national news but have focused on classroom news for the last two or three months. The students have also learned that we could print it in color if we used the library computer.  They were fascinated that we could tell it to print in our room and then get it on the library printer.  "How can it do that?"

We are still in the process of developing our web site.  I had about 1/3 of the stories typed and then, as I was uploading my story later, everything was gone.  Whatever I did erased the stories already there as well as my own.  I still have no idea of how I did that.  We have since written our stories again and lack only a few of completing this.  I saw a parent in the store the day her son had written his story.  I told her I would soon send the site address home and she told me that she already knew about his story. As soon as he got in his car that afternoon, he had shared the fact that he had written a story that would be on the Internet.  When all stories are online, we will make a handout that will advertise this, not only for parents, but also for others in the school.  Perhaps even in the community.  We will let everyone know how proud we are of our accomplishments.   I am not sure of how many go to our county web site although I have sent the address out.  I think that I could do a better job with this.  We enjoy reading other class newspapers.  When doing the newspaper we have learned the importance of sticking to the Main Idea.   My kids also loved visiting our key pal's web site stories.  Each child got to read their pal's story aloud to the class.

I think my students enjoy when I am gone for the day!  Not only do they get a different face for the day but when I return, they get to experience what I learned the day before.  They think I am a computer genius now.  We use the computer daily for various tasks and include the students as I talk through new experiences.  I have learned so much this past year that I feel my classroom is a more dynamic place for my students.  Many times I have heard, "Let's see if we can find it on the Internet."  "Can we do that on the computer?"  Sometimes, during free time, students will go to the county's web site to explore instead of playing games.  They do not feel any pressure about making mistakes because they have seen me experience that over and over.  Just yesterday in Paint, I erased the picture I was drawing for our newspaper about 5 times by hitting the wrong key.  I lovingly heard after the 3rd time, "Mrs. Whitley!!"
 I feel much more confident in my abilities in using the computer as a tool in the classroom than I have in the past.  Many times teachers are given things for the computer but are never taught how to use them.  This class has shown how to do that.  
 The relationships developed in these meetings between the teachers and the instructor has been so valuable.  Ideas shared cover all aspects of what we run into every day.  I take back much more than I give, not just in computers!  My students have benefited form this as well.

I have used the laptop computer when traveling more than at any other time.  Several of my PowerPoint presentations have been developed at this time.  I have set up the CAM in the classroom using the laptop and will soon try to hook it up to the Internet to videoconference with another school since my classroom computer is not hooked up to do this.  Knowing that it is available has helped when my daughter has had to be on the computer at home with projects.  

Our school had three Cyber Ambassadors that were trained the previous summer.  One came in early in the school year and taught many of the students how to change fonts, size of type, and background colors as they wrote a very small story.  She then got tied up in other classrooms and was not able to come.  The other two had academic difficulties and were not allowed to come to help.   As the year progressed one improved and was allowed to come.  She worked with the students in creating their PowerPoints on themselves.  They had to develop a plan before they went to her.  Because of time, they had to use only the graphics provided on Office 97.  They are quite proud of these projects.  

Technology has provided another tool to use in student achievement, one that the children find fascinating.  They don't mind writing a story on the computer.  They have been so creative.  Whenever the computer is used to produce something, the student work is shared with either the whole class or in small groups.  I seldom, actually never, have students who do not want to share.  Skills taught on the computer are more interesting than those taught using a workbook page.  Learning about authors on the Internet and even hearing them talking about their book has been inspiring for the kids.  I use the computer for Word Analysis, Structural Analysis and Comprehension skills.  If I don't develop it myself, it is there for the looking!

The most beneficial aspect of participating in this project has been the knowledge gained about computers, software, and other tools (CAM), as well as their potential use in the classroom has been most beneficial to me.  I come back to the classroom energized and ready to try new approaches.   I also have benefited from getting to know the other participants as they share their experiences and ideas.

Many teachers now come to me if they have a computer question and, although I can't always help, I am finding that I know more than I ever thought I did.  I like sharing my little bit of knowledge with others.  As stated previously, I called the other grade level teachers in the room to share what I was doing on PowerPoint.  I have talked up the Class Pet Exchange and my school has gone from one teacher participating last year to five participating this year.  In the fall four of us will do an inservice for our school on the projects that we have participated including a Take A Hike project, a Bird Watching Internet project, a quilting project and the Classroom Pet Exchange.  Hopefully we can share some ideas then that will encourage other teachers to use the computers more in their teaching.  

Since technology changes so quickly this should be an on-going project so that the lead teachers (first participants) can stay on top of the new changes.  I think it would also be good for this project to be repeated for a new group of teachers.  The classes could be run in cycles BUT should never end.  Perhaps our excellent technology trainer could train others to help out when things become overwhelming for her. 
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