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July 1, 2000
Hosting a School Technology Fair
By Cathy Nelson
You cannot teach today's students with yesterday's materials and expect them to have success tomorrow. At New Ellenton Middle School, our goal is to equip every student with the skills of today's technology and send them into tomorrow as a lifelong learner, capable of using information and technology. To accomplish this successfully, we feel that parents, business partners, and community members need to see firsthand what we are doing to prepare children for the future. If the community supports and encourages us, our students' success will filter into the entire curriculum, making us a successful model school that produces creative citizens for the community of tomorrow.
Sponsoring a Technology Fair gives our students a forum to demonstrate the activities and skills they have acquired or are learning. The segment of our community whom we will invite were educated when the most modern equipment available was filmstrip projectors and electric typewriters. Some have even made comments like, "I didn't have a computer, and I received just as good an education." Others have said, "I don't want my child to use technology - I want them to think and figure out problems on their own." Many of these same people do not see the need to have technology in the school. Their feelings range from indifference to anger. Still others have no skills or knowledge of technology and its uses or applications, and therefore do not value it enough to provide access to their children. This event will help re-engage families in the education of adolescents. Parents who have delayed buying a computer out of fear may be more willing to make that purchase, knowing that their child will have the skills necessary to make it useful. Parents and their middle school student may become closer in their endeavor to learn from one another.
Teaching students to use technology in real-life scenarios increases understanding and enhances learning of a number of South Carolina Curriculum Standards. Many students tune out lessons that require a basic book, paper, and pencil. But when a computer or some other form of technology is introduced with the lesson, suddenly the students are very hungry for the information.
Student-Directed Focus
New Ellenton Middle School (NEMS) will host such a Technology Fair on an evening late in October 2000. At the Fair, students and staff will demonstrate practical and creative learning opportunities for expanding technical skills. Presentations will be created through the language arts curriculum within the school's academic schedule during the first grading period (August - October 2000). Students will plan, write, edit, revise, and publish works related to the Fair, including advertisements, brochures, narratives, and expository writings. They will also create schedules by using and implementing graphic organizers. The written work produced will be graded for performance using the South Carolina Writing Assessment Rubric.
Classrooms will be set up with scheduled activities so that parents and community members can appreciate the many interesting ways that technology is being used in our school. NEMS Technology Fair brochures will be displayed around town to publicize the event, and community leaders, dignitaries, school board members, and school district administrators will receive mailed invitations.
Teachers and students will jointly plan and organize a seminar-style event, during which students will conduct several concurrent 25-minute sessions on the instructional use of technology in our school. The Fair will begin at 6:00 p.m. with a general session where there will be a short dramatic, choral, or instrumental performance, and a few words from our principal. Attendees will receive a booklet or guide to the concurrent sessions and have the procedures explained for selecting and attending sessions. Activities and sessions will be continuous until 9:00 p.m.
By offering concurrent sessions, participants can select and attend productions that meet their technological needs or appeal to their interests. Each student presenter will have handouts providing more specific information, and each concurrent session will reward its participants with a door prize drawing.
Proposed Topics
Ideas for concurrent sessions include (but are not limited to) the following:
- The digital camera and its uses in the school.
- A learning session on Osiris, the tracking system schools use for scheduling, grades, and student information.
- A continuous PowerPoint presentation called "Getting to Know NEMS", which will highlight points NEMS wants visitors and others to know about the school.
- Calculators/graphing calculators.
- The Adventures of Dr. Brain, a brain enhancing/thinking skills booster computer game.
- CCC (a computer assisted instructional program from Computer Curriculum Corporation) Lab demonstration.
- Electricity in the science lab.
- Math Safari Electronic Game.
- Using Netscape to search the Internet in the classroom.
- DISCUS, South Carolina's Virtual Library.
- Accelerated Reader/STAR Reading.
- Accelerated math.
- Using videos in the classroom.
- Using laser discs in the classroom.
- National Geographic on CD.
- Using Microsoft Word.
- Using Microsoft Excel.
- Using Microsoft PowerPoint.
- Using Netscape Composers to create Web pages.
- Hyperstudio.
- Using a Flexcam in the classroom.
- Video Production with NEWS (New Ellenton Wolverine Studios).
Evaluation Measures
Each concurrent session will have an evaluation form for participants to assess the quality of the discussion. These five-question forms will be collected at the end of each session, and reviewed for presentation effectiveness. There will also be a suggestion box in the commons area for participants of the Fair to make anonymous suggestions. Additionally, students and teachers alike will fill out self-evaluation forms.
A Technology Committee comprised of teachers, students, and administration will read through the evaluation forms, and make adjustments for future planned Technology Fairs. We hope that this event will become an annual event at our school.
South Carolina Curriculum Standards Addressed
Reading/English Language Arts
III. Speaking
- A. The student will analyze oral participation in small group activities.
- B. The student will use effective speaking skills with a sense of audience and purpose.
- C. The student will organize, present, and evaluate information used in multimedia presentations.
IV. Writing
- A. The student will write narratives, descriptions, explanations, persuasive, and technical compositions.
- B. The student will use writing as a tool for learning in all subject areas.
- C. The student will demonstrate characteristics of a variety of writing for meaningful purposes and audiences.
Computer/Technology Standards for the Middle School
- A. The student will communicate through application software.
- B. The student will demonstrate a basic understanding of computer processing, storing, retrieval, and transmission technologies.
Email: clnelson@scescape.net or cnelson@aiken.k12.sc.us
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