True+Stories

= Testimonies of Success = **I asked some of the teachers I know about lessons they've used and about their general view of technology in the classroom. This is what they had to say...**

"I have found great success using a program called Museum Box. It is an internet based webtool that helps students organize projects. I used this program with my 10th graders when it was time to form the outline for the research paper. The program allows students to place audio and visual (i.e. video clips) that explain the layout of their paper. The program also permitted me (as the admin) to provide comments to the students, both in audio and text format. This helped students who were visual/audio learners, as well as helped those "hands on" learners. Overall, it worked well - the students could access it from home or could work on it in school. I LOVED it because I could grade it anywhere there was a computer. I got more positive than negative feedback from students. The students who loved the program shared that it helped them visualize their paper better and gave them more confidence in starting to write it. Students also liked listening to my voice regarding feedback instead of written comments. This year, I am going to use it with my low level students primarily. This will be a major chunk of their overall grade. As a teacher, it is a LOT of work grading the Museum Box. It is for this reason that I will only have my LOW LEVEL class complete the project, because it it very time consuming. However, I feel it is an effective tool for students who struggle with organization." **Hannah Frye Broich** Language Arts Teacher Manheim Township High School

"Since I am a music teacher and my district teaches music in an active way so that the kids are always dancing, singing, playing etc I don't do a TON of technology- partly because I don't have all the resources. I have a unit on the recorder for third grade that I use PowerPoint for. I like using technology; however, it's very stressful when all of a sudden your laptop does not work and you have 20 little "cherubs" waiting not so patiently for you. Some of the perks of the PowerPoint were that I was able to show iconic representation of the music (i.e. a big star is a long sound and a little star is a short sound, a star up high is a high sound and one low is a low sound) and then transfer the iconic learning to the music notation in the next slide. I also had the kids working on showing where the bar lines were in the songs. They had to point on the screen and then we'd click and watch to see if the line came down where the kid was pointing. I also had animation set up so that I could "click" along as the kids played their recorders making the notes they were playing spin as they did them. I would love an overhead projector and wireless internet in my room because I could use so many things from YouTube easily. I think technology heightened the student interest and it helped me to create a good visual for class." **Rachel Madoushek Russell** Music Teacher Lititz Elementary School

"I do believe that it is important for students to learn the concepts of mechanical/architectural drawing on paper before they learn it on the computer. The brain needs to understand how to work through it before they grab the mouse. Technology is awesome as far as drafting. It's clean and easier to make changes and make a nice drawing. But people need to know how to think too." **Kim Martin** Drafting Teacher Christian School of York