October Journal Entry
White Pine School 
4th grade 

I used the lesson plan Contraction Action that Lisbet and I wrote during our first training session.  I must admit that (for the most part) I’m lacking on the side of creativity.  It is to her credit that we composed this lesson. 
When I told the class that we were going to play “ball” they were very excited.  We played a couple of innings and the class was very attentive.  Each child would anxiously watch the big screen to see if the batter was going to place the apostrophe in the correct place.  I must admit that the 45-minute time limit probably wasn’t appropriate.  It took quite a bit longer for everyone to have a turn.  Although our original intent wasn’t to teach typing, I thought this lesson was an excellent way to introduce beginning keyboarding skills. All of my students know where the apostrophe key is now!  I would definitely use this lesson plan again. 
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November Journal Entry

As part of our Cyber Exchange project, we were asked to begin working on an Internet project.  My class chose to participate in the Class Pet Exchange.  We received the name of our exchange class earlier in the month and contacted them through email.  Right away I could anticipate the enthusiasm this project was going to create.  Since I had participated in the project last year, I knew that my students would benefit from creative writing practice.  We chose a small brown dog and named him Tucker.  We mailed him to New York on Friday and we received our exchange pet yesterday.  He is a golden bear wearing a leather jacket.  His name is Raymond.  Hopefully, this project we produce even greater benefits than it did last year.
We also started a new project of producing a classroom newspaper.  When I first mentioned this to my students they seemed to be very excited.  The first couple of newspapers went well.  As we continued the project, my students seemed to become restless.  I believe they were somewhat bored with the format of the CNN site.  If I could find a site that is geared more toward children, I believe it would hold their attention a little longer.
I hope to use the Cyber Ambassadors this month to help with a PowerPoint project my class is working on and to help with Microsoft Word.
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December Journal Entry

This past month my class created a newspaper about the recent tragedy in Nicaragua.  We used the Internet to find information about the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch.  As always, the excitement level in my classroom began to grow when the idea of using the computer was mentioned to complete an assignment.  We approached the assignment in-groups of three. We worked together using the Channel One website to write a cover story for the paper.  Each group gathered all the information they could find about the storm and summarized the information into brief articles to include in our newspaper.  The last section of our paper was a reflection of thoughts about how we felt about what had happened.  I was surprised to see the compassion that was felt for the victims of the storm.  When each group had their rough drafts finished, they used Microsoft Word to create their section of the paper including photographs to complement their stories from the Internet.   As we learned more and more about what had happened, my students (as well as other 4th graders) wanted to try and help the victims of the storm.  My students had learned that the most beneficial way of helping was to collect money for the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.  We finally decided to sell copies of our paper for a donation, which in turn would be donated to the relief efforts in Nicaragua.  We raised $187.00.  Other classes in the 4th grade also participated and collectively $500 was raised and sent to the Disaster Relief Fund. 

Our Internet project isn’t going quite as well.  Our partner class isn’t communicating with us and we are wondering what has happened.  The children are enjoying our class pet and we are working hard to complete a photo-journal of his visit here in Tennessee.   Maybe we will hear from our exchange class this month. 
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January Entry

During December, we really took advantage of using the new laptop computer at our school.  It has really been great to have access to another computer.  The hardest part about using technology in my classroom is the management of time on the computer.  Having the laptop increases the number of students and the amount of time each can spend completing projects on the computer.  We primarily have been using Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.  This past week we have been working on a newspaper about Elizabeth Dole and her possible run for the presidency.  The children are fascinated by the possibility of a woman becoming president.  We have searched the Internet for information about her and are using it to create the paper.  We are learning to write summaries, revise our writing, and publishing it using technology.

We are also in the process of completing The Class Pet Exchange.  This is our first Internet project.  I must say I have been disappointed with our results this year.  On our end, we have been working diligently to complete the project but have been unable to communicate with our exchange class.  We have tried to contact them almost weekly but haven’t received a response.
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February Entry
This has been a busy month.  I spent some time familiarizing my students with using ICQ.  My class along with Mrs. Gray's class had two different "learning chat sessions."  First, we had a chat challenge practicing the states and capitals of the United States.  We would give a state or capital and the other class had to respond with the appropriate answer.  Second, we used ICQ to teach the difference between similes, metaphors, and idioms.  We had a pre-test and a post-test to determine if the practice using ICQ improved student achievement.  Both classes marked improvement. 
 I have really taken advantage of the laptop for the past couple of months.  We have been writing creative stories (preparing for the TCAP writing test) using the laptop as a third computer.  We have been using Paint and the web to illustrate our stories.  The students have really improved at editing their papers using spell check and using conference partners. 
 Lastly, I finally allowed my students to create their own newspaper.  We decided to research Elizabeth Dole and do several different papers about her.  I was amazed to see how much they had learned about using the computer when I stepped aside and let them work on their own.  I also noticed that they were improving at using summary skills. It is more time consuming for me to turn the control over to them, but I'm proud of their effort and progress.
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March Entry
This past month (February) our main focus was using PowerPoint presentations in the classroom to improve student understanding of reading skills.  We had a mini-lesson on downloading presentations from the Cyber Exchange website and using Winzip to open the files.  My class really enjoyed looking through the various presentations and using them in the classroom. 
We are working on another "extended" newspaper similar to the paper we created about Hurricane Mitch.  The topic of this paper is going to be Severe Weather in East Tennessee.  I plan to use this in conjunction with a science unit about weather.  I plan to group my students and assign topics for them to research and write about.  Hopefully, the paper will be ready by next month.  This is going to be completely created by my students. 
I continue to use the laptop as a second computer.  It is really helpful to have an extra computer to use in the classroom.  We have used it this past month for a creative writing assignment.  We used MS Word to type the stories and MS Paint to illustrate them.  This is a time consuming task but we are getting there.

April Entry
This past month my class along with Mrs. Gray's class worked cooperatively to create PowerPoint presentations.  We began by choosing four students to train to use the program.  I was quite impressed with how quickly they picked up on the basics.  I then took a mentoring role and turned them loose (so to speak) and let them turn on the creative juices.  I was so impressed.  The computer skills I have been teaching suddenly appeared.  Downloading, importing files, saving sound files, etc. - The presentation they created was tremendous!  The topic was similes, metaphors, and idioms.  I used the laptop to help speed along the process.  While two students created the skeleton of the presentation and linking text, the other group used the laptop to search for clipart and sounds.  We are now working on two more presentations.  One is on cause and effect and the other is on synonyms and antonyms. 
Our class newspapers are taking another direction. I've gone in the direction of allowing students to create the papers and to include the skill of writing summaries.    Currently, we are creating a Civil War Journal that combines our language arts and Tennessee history classes.  We are using this journal as our March, April, and May newspapers.  In addition, we are using Alpha Smart keyboards to complete the project along with the laptop and desktop computer. 
My classroom environment has completely changed.  The motivation of my students has increased - partly due to the fact that I have changed the way I teach from skill oriented teaching to project learning.  I must admit this places more constraints on my time but my classroom is a more enjoyable place to be.  I also feel that they are grasping more difficult subject matter.  From the use of PowerPoint, my students seem to have mastered cause and effect.  (A skill that they seem to have a lot of problems with. Also writing summaries is more enjoyable due to using the newspaper format.) 
 Our classroom webpage is coming along.  We have changed the format to include a creative writing link, a link to websites for parents and students, and a link to my Plan of Action.  This is my weekly newsletter to parents concerning what we will be doing in class the following week.  We plan to add a link for our PowerPoint presentations and newspapers very soon.
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May Entry
I have completed two Internet projects this year.  The first project was the Class Pet Exchange.  I did this project last year with great results.  We were able to communicate using email and created a wonderful photo/writing-journal.  This year we did a great job on our side and the students really enjoyed the project.  Unfortunately, the class we were paired with did not communicate with us.  This was disappointing to my class.  The other project was Project Groundhog.  This was a great project.  I was able to integrate language arts and science.  At the end of the project we invited a local meteorologist to speak with our class.

I used the lesson plan Contraction Action with my classroom.  This lesson involved students using MS Word to correctly spell contractions.  This lesson went well.  I have extensively used the online PowerPoint presentations with my classroom.  This has really added an extension to the lessons I have used them with.  My students really enjoy the tutorials rather than completing the usual worksheet assignment.

I have mainly focused on the use of ICQ. (Although we have used email with various Internet projects) We have been able to communicate with several classrooms within our county.  One way that I used ICQ was to play a game of Jeopardy with topics such as states and capitals, identifying similes, metaphors, and idioms, and cause and effect.  A pre-test and a post-test was given to measure student gains with test scores improving after the use of ICQ.  The average gain was six points.  

I have really taken advantage of using Word and PowerPoint.  I trained three students to use these software packages and they trained the others in my class.  I have had several projects this year incorporating this software.  Assignments have included publishing their writing, (creative and extended newspapers) using PowerPoint to create book reviews and lessons tutorials, and uploading class work files to Word from Alpha Smart laptops and printing assignments.

I have developed our classroom newspaper as a focus on specific areas.  For example, when we studied the Civil War each student chose a topic they would like to learn more about and did research and completed a paper.  I have developed a web site that includes my weekly lesson plan, links to sites for parents and a link to a writing portfolio which contains examples of student writing.  I plan to add additional links for next year.

The major tool I have gained is ideas on how to incorporate technology into all subject areas - not just as something to fill free time.  I do use software to enhance student skills but have really tried to use productivity software in project oriented assignments. Also, I have gained ideas from other teachers on how they are using technology in their own classrooms.  The chance for me to come to in-service once a month to learn new ideas to use in my classroom has been very beneficial.  I have really learned a lot.

With only one computer in my room, I have used the laptop as a second computer. This has helped to complete assignments on a more timely basis and has allowed my students more time at the computer.

Due to scheduling problems with other classrooms, I have not been able to use the Cyber Ambassadors.  I would like to believe that I have a classroom full of Cyber Ambassadors!!!

By creating PowerPoint tutorials with reading skills such as cause and effect and figurative language, my students seem to have a greater understanding of these comprehension skills.  My overall test scores are a bit better as compared to my students last year.  In addition, I have noticed a difference in each student's ability to create a quality composition. There is something about seeing their writing on the monitor and being able to easily revise and edit their composition that takes the frustration factor away from writing.  This has also helped with their navigational skills with using the mouse and keyboard in making corrections.

Now that other teachers have heard or seen what I have been doing in my classroom as a result of attending the Cyber Exchange program, they come to me wanting to know what I am doing and where I found that idea.  I have received a lot of positive feedback from parents who are impressed with how much their child has learned using technology and how excited their son or daughter is about coming to school each day.  This program has completely changed my classroom.

The teaching ideas presented as part of this project were excellent.  I think that including an electronic writing portfolio would be a good idea to explore and how we might be able to improve a child's ability to produce a quality composition using technology.

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