Davis Team Wildwood Interactions (9/16/98 - 9/22/98)

Responses from Wildwood - Jay Andrew (Math)

Good to hear from you. We welcome your work to evaluate our efforts to improve education here at Wildwood Junior High School. You have asked several questions. Let me address them one at a time:

How are the school's math teachers currently using technology in their classrooms?

The answer to this is somewhat complex, as each teacher is doing something somewhat different. Many of us have been using Geometer's Sketchpad and other computer-based math software for the past couple years. For the NEF grant, our efforts are focused on having our students create a High School Math web site, with exemplary resources gathered by our students and faculty relating to High School Math.

Has the NEF-funded grant impacted any of the things that you are doing with your students or the activities of others in the your department? If so, how has the funding impacted those activities?

Yes. Of course t has given us more resources than we would have normally had. But more importantly, it has caused us to all re-examine our goals and our methods, to see which need to be changed and which are still useful. I imagine that this process of close reexamination will continue throughout the grant period.

1. How are the school's physical education teachers currently using technology in their classrooms? Has the NEF-funded grant impacted any of the things that you are doing with your students or the activities of others in the your department? If so, how has the funding impacted those activities?

Wildwood physical education teachers currently use computers to keep track of heart rates of our students, track team sport scores, and browse the WWW to find other physical education web sites.

The NEF funding has allowed the department to purchase necessary heart rate monitors and software to track this data. It has also provided teachers and students access to computers and the WWW to research topics related to sports activities, exercise, and general physical education topics including Federal government recommendations on good health through exercise.

Sunny Beach

Nice to have you come by. I've spoken to some of the other NEF folks too. Can you give me more of a sense of what you're personally evaluating? Some of you evaluators are asking the same questions. Are you coordinating your efforts with each other? Just wondering. The beginning of the school year is quite a stresser, and it would be nice if I didn't have to tell all you folks the same information

1. Who was involved in the development of the NEF proposal? What are each of their positions? Briefly, what role did each of those involved in proposal development play?

As district superintendent, Jan really headed up that group effort. But then we also had Mark Thompkins, who has gone onto work at the Illinois State Board since. And, I was in on it, as well as the tech. people at our school (Wildabette, and I think Warner helped out too). We worked as a group.

2. Why was Wildwood selected as the core project school? Are any other district schools involved in projects similar to those of Wildwood?

Wildwood has been recognized by the district, both informally and formally, as a tech. leader for some time now. We had the first computers ever in the district, and we just have more people who are more engaged in technology. Additionally, we got the ISBE seed grant, and that just gave us some more inertia to keep going. Somehow, it made sense to us at the district level to put a lead school in the district as a training site. I guess this goes along with the lead teacher model, too, eh? Anyway, I've also had a long term interest in technology, unlike some other administrators, so there was a good match all around.

3. Off the top of your head, how would you assess progress in achieving proposed goals at this point? Which aspects are well under way? Which aspects are still in the early stages of development?

I'm happy with where we're at right now. We're not all the way there, but we've got a start in every area of the grant. I think the student training is really taking off in some classes. We've been buying equipment and should get those purchases wrapped up this year. And, we have got some teacher training rolling, as well as other training being planned within departments. I'd say we're in pretty good shape now, and we'll see a lot of change as the year goes along.

4. What do you see as the major initiatives be undertaken at this point? Who do you suggest I speak with regarding each individual initiative outlined in the proposal?

Well, we want to keep making progress in every part of the funded grant, but do this in a way that preserves our beliefs in distributing decisions across the school. Actually, you're going to have to speak to quite a few people. For instance, I can say that Sunny, Gloria, and Jack have all worked on teacher training in the past and are currently developing stuff with technology that will eventually make it out to other teachers.

5. May I get a list of teachers and their teaching responsibilities? Which teachers do you believe to be most knowledgeable regarding history of technology usage at the school and current technology-based activities at the school, both inside and outside the classroom.

Yes--I'll try and get that up on the website before long. You should have the core there right now--at least those who are more engaged with the grant than others. I think everyone has a good sense of what's being done and what could be done. We've got a real creative, thoughtful bunch here.

6. I would appreciate the e-mail addresses of Jan Swenson.

I've been trying to get Jan on e-mail. He's been so wrapped up in a new school construction that we haven't had time to get this set up. And,right now he's in Scottsdale, AZ, at a higher admit conference. But, we'll keep working on that one!

7. Who should I speak with regarding the proposal to raise funds to purchase computers for the area's less fortunate families (http://www.outreach.uiuc.edu/cter/wjhs/pta/septmtg_minutes.html )?

Did you try the PTA president or VP?

As a member of the NEF formative evaluation team, I would like to initiate interaction electronically at this time. Thank you, in advance, for your responses.

So initiated.

1. How are the school's science teachers currently using technology in their classrooms? Has the NEF-funded grant impacted any of the things that you are doing with your students or the activities of others in the your department? If so, how has the funding impacted those activities?

I don't understand -- is this part of a questionnaire that got somehow cut off? Do you want me to respond now? What are you looking for?

As a member of the NEF formative evaluation team, I would like to initiate interaction electronically at this time. Thank you, in advance, for your responses. I am beginning to get a bit confused -- how many teams are involved with evaluating this grant? Are you with the other two teams that just sent me email?

Sally Laughon

Hello,

I was a bit surprised to receive your email! First of all, hardly anyone ever emails the PTA. Secondly, I don't think that I can ever recall a time where an evaluation team of any sort has contacted us about something happening at Wildwood! I hope everything is alright!

As a member of the NEF formative evaluation team, I would like to initiate interaction electronically at >this time. Thank you, in advance, for your responses.

I am afraid that I am not familiar with NEF -- can you tell me what the organization is that you are representing?

1. What is your familiarity with the NEF-funded >technology grant? If you are familiar with the grant, what impact has it had on teachersand students? Which students and teachers should I contact to discuss the past, present and anticipated future of technology at Wildwood School?

Again, I'm sorry -- I feel so out of touch sometimes when it comes to the various grants that the school gets. The PTA doesn't really get awhole lot of information from Lee Daniels about different evaluations and projects. Most of what we hear is from the teachers and even then sometimes they seem in the dark as well. Lee plays the political game well, along with the superintendent, and is often hard to get a commitment out of. However, I doubt that he ever misses a chance for a golf outing! It's frustrating though since we all try so hard just to make sure that our children have a safe environment to grow up in and learn in.

As for technology in the school, I know that my daughter seems to have an awful lot of computer assignments to do -- too many if you ask me. Don't know where any of this has come from either! It seems that everyone is having to scramble to buy computers for their kids -- and they are just in junior high school! I honestly think that most of her time is spent chatting with her friends on the computer during their phone "off limits" time. I can't tell you how many times that I have caught her online claiming that she is searching the web for one of her classes! Do you have children? Perhaps you know what I mean. Anyways, she usually switches off the monitor when I come into the room so I know that she is hiding something. I know that she had an assignment for her drama class once where she showed up an internet page that had all of the various Shakespeare plays on it. For a little while we all took turns reading the different lines in Romeo and Juliet (my daughter has quite a crush on Leonardo DiCaprio and watches the Romeo and Juliet movie that came out a few years ago almost every week) but it was just so hard to read the lines on that screen. Not very useful for play rehersal, I suppose. I suppose that it saves money on actual books. I would still rather see more books than I have been seeing my daughter bringing home. She says that almost everything is on the web but I have seen the web site and find that hard to believe. But apparently I am pretty "un-hip" or whatever the slang word of the minute is because my daughter tells me that it's not at the school, it's on the web. I am not as computer saavy as I would like -- my husband made the internet pages for the PTA and myself. Perhaps this is what our parents thought of when we brought home our schoolwork that they didn't understand as well?

2. Who should I speak with regarding the proposal to raise funds to purchase computers for the area's less fortunate families?

I am the main contact person for that project. It's really less of a proposal really. A few of us in the PTA meet pretty regularly on social occasions and over the summer we heard about how the school was almost forcing everyone to buy computers for their children -- and in Junior High! One of my neighbors told me about how she had heard about some of the families in some of the assisted housing areas were upset because their children could not afford to live in the district if the school kept assigning so many computer assignments without opening the lab at the school for more extended hours. Well, we since we are both in the junior league, we both immediately thought that this would be a great community outreach project. But at the last league meeting we found that the league had some many projects lined up for the fall, especially with Christmas around the corner that we decided that there needed to be another option. So at the PTA meeting I said that I would check with the Delta Zeta chapter that I am the chapter advisor for to see if they would be interesting in doing some fund raising as part of their local philanthropy! They were so excited! These girls were more than thrilled to be able to help out in this manner. They are going to make a Web page and send it to my husband to post on the Web site that he created for me (he's Sigma Chi -- what a sweetheart!). Well, the DZ's are going to join up with the Sigma Chi chapter at Wynne and hold a Halloween haunted house and donate the proceeds to the effort to purchase computers for the less fortunate in the area. How exciting!!

I see that you live in Urbana! I had a cousin go to the university there. Quite some time ago, mind you, but she still talks about it like it was yesterday!

1. How are the school's English teachers currently using technology in their classrooms?

I am using word processing and occasionally email

Has the NEF-funded grant impacted any of the things that you are doing with your students or the activities of others in the your department?

I cannot speak for others, but it is nice to be able to read what the students are writing using a word processor instead of illegible hurried scrawls. I tried using email for class assignments but it took too much time that I felt was better used in preparing for class and analyzing the students' work. The use of the Internet allows the students to find more related material but it does not seem to drastically alter their overall outcomes when self expression and creativity are looked at. Quantity not Quality. It is easier to focus on a few topics well than to deal with the chaos of the hundred points of view that they are exposed to and can paste into their assignments. I guess I am trying to express the frustration involved with creating focused analysis when they are awash with seemingly relevant information at their finger tips. It is almost as if the technology interefes rather than contributes..

If so, how has the funding impacted those activities?

It gave computer access to all of my students

2. How are the school's gifted education teachers currently using technology in their classrooms? Has the NEF-funded grant impacted any of the things that you or teachers of gifted students are doing with your students? If so, how has the funding impacted those activities?

see above

Below are my responses to your inquiries--as best as I could answer them. If you need additional information, let me know.

Jack Warner, Technology & Business, Wildwood Junior High School

1. Which of your current department activities tie in with the NEF proposal?

As the Technology & Business instructor, I serve frequently serve as a primary resource on technology acquisition and training issues. Therefore,my strongest tie to the proposal falls in these two areas; however, I'm sure my opinion will be sought out on the issues of student training and curriculum development--although probably just in an informal manner.

2. What do you see as your department's current emphasis and future direction. Do NEF-funded activities play a role? How do you anticipate continuation of those activities to occur after the period of the grant is complete?

My program has always been one of the more technologically aggressive programs in the district. Its current emphasis and future direction is--and will continue to be: ...the delivery of a entertaining and thought provoking program of exploration. The Technology & Business program doesn't seek to place boundaries on students by putting them in one track or another. It serves to allow students to explore their potential as it relates to technology and to general business practices. As for continuing these practices after the grant is completed, the general feel and structure of the program doesn't require any grant support. Grant support is purely used for the upgrading of existing technology to reflect those used in business. To that end, my program is always in search of grants/gifts to fulfill this purpose--before, during, and after the NEF grant.

Created by Dave Stone, September 22, 1998.