To select more essay assignments, just peruse the bank of prompts, and select one or more to add to your list of assignments.

For each assignment you select, choose which tools students are allowed use (spell-check, word banks, etc.) and also how many revisions students are allowed to complete.

All tools and unlimited revisions are OK for all essays except the baseline and the final.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Baseline essay due October 25, 2006
Topic: Space Shuttle Mission
No instruction required and no tools allowed

Mid-point essay due March 8, 2007
Topic: Separate Schools for Boys and Girls
Instruction expected and tools allowed

Final essay due May 23, 2007

Topic:
You will be notified via e-mail
No instruction or tools allowed.

ED TECH STUDENT SURVEY DUE 06/20

BASELINE SCORES:

The average score on the baseline was a 3 (w/out tools). The average score on the midline was a 4 (w/tools). The average score on the final was also a 4, and that was without tools.

Terrific job, teachers and students; we did superbly!


For more info on our goals, visit the
tech grant page.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES:

Feel free to have early-finishers complete any or all of the following:

My Access! Scavenger Hunt

Web Quest

Teacher Approved Sites for Student Surfing

Interactive English Grammar Quizzes

DIGITAL STORYTELLING:

A great laptop activity is digital storytelling. The laptops are equipped with Photo Story 3, which is a very user-friendly program enabling students to write, narrate and set to music stories. They may use either photos or drawings. Check out these award-winning samples.

EMERGENCY RESOURCES:

Troubleshooting Guide


Blog

CELEBRATORY RESOURCES:

Tech Grant Year One Wrap-Up
Ms. Kittelson 2006-2007
LAPTOP BATTING ORDER:

Cart #'s 2 and 3
On a Four- to Five-day Rotation

Annie Mazur
Andrea Kittelson
Tami Carlson
Estine Shahverdian
Helen Glyptis
Martha Ford
Lupe Reyes*
Richard Mellott*

Cart #'s 1 and 4
On a Four- to Five-day Rotation
:

Javier Guzman
Tahereh Daylami
Liz Stuart
Pam Zamanis
Anzhela Dishchekenian
Heather Robertson
Mirna Asadourian-Eleyjian


* If the laptop carts cannot get into your room due to stairs, then use the computer lab and/or classroom desktop computers for the essays OR use the laptops in other teachers' rooms during prep periods.

MOVING THE LAPTOPS TO THE NEXT PERSON IN THE BATTING ORDER:

On the day you are about to finish using the laptops, please notify the teacher who is after you in line, and please orchestrate the delivery of the carts to that teacher so the laptops can be in his or her room, plugged in and charging, in time for that teacher's first class. Try not to rely on the morning-of, as that is rather risky and might throw the schedule off by one day.

Mark, Frank and Jimmy are often available to help move the carts, so feel free to contact them when you are ready to move them. But if Mark, Frank and/or Jimmy are NOT available, please feel free to seek outside help. The carts are relatively light. (They're heavier than a shopping cart full of flower petals but lighter than a shopping cart full of bricks). One teacher and one student can move them quite easily. Also, I am happy to help move them ANY day after school. Please note: Students should NEVER move the carts alone.

Thank you,
Andrea Kittelson

LAPTOP USE:

Now that we are done with the baseline,  midline and final essays, we will continue to use the laptops to write and submit other essays and to perform other tasks.