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Using the server to improve learning
A sixth grade teacher creates a lab called the Imaginatorium where his students'
desktop publishing and production capabilities have flourished.
By Marc Slippen
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have been teaching computer technology at the New York City Board
of Education for the past two years. I initially started out as a sixth
grade teacher with four Power Macs in my classroom. I did a couple of
projects with my sixth grade class, and the following year I found myself
as the computer teacher in my school.
My lab has 35 PCs running Windows 98 as
an operating system and are networked with Windows NT. Before last year
I was not familiar with Windows as an operating system. With wonderful
guidance from one of the district's staff developers I quickly became
comfortable using Windows 98, and administrating the network. We decided
to make this lab different from anything we had seen. With my limited
experience I knew that anything we did would seem different to me. We
named the lab the Imaginatorium.
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"It has been my
experience that the biggest problem facing our students is their inability to
organize their thoughts and their information once they have found it."
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 he
Imaginatorium has grown into a desktop publishing and production Mecca. It is
here that students from second to sixth grade are creating curriculum related
brochures, and nonfiction class books which serve to meet their nonfiction
writing standards. They successfully surf the Web for information and images to
use in their projects. We have created calendars to help in our school's campaign
against gangs and gang violence. Students are also creating their own trivia
games on the Web.
Almost all of these projects would not be possible
were it not for good networking. Public School 55, where I teach, is not in an
affluent neighborhood. The majority of students do not have computers in their
homes. Many of the students are not reading on grade level. It has been my
experience that the biggest problem facing our students is their inability to
organize their thoughts and their information once they have found it.
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have found
that using the network allows me to provide my students with the organization
that they need. My students have access to the network server; it is set up as
read only. This allows students to be able to see folders and files that are on
the server, however they are unable to alter the files or folders they
use.
By creating templates for organization I have
found that students are provided an opportunity to see what their work should
look like. Not only do they see what their end result will be, but they actually
save the file as their own in their own folders so that they may work on it at
their own pace. It is with this that they are able to take their Internet
research, the images they find, and put it all into a well-planned, well-organized project.
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"This year alone we have created eight nonfiction class
books."
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he results
have been phenomenal. This year alone we have created eight nonfiction class
books. Each student is assigned a different subtopic under a larger umbrella
topic. They research their subtopic, save the work to their folders, read it,
and scan it for the proper information to help them complete the template. When
they find the pertinent information they simply fill out the page.
For example, one of the fifth grade teachers I work
with was covering deserts and desert animals with her class. She assigned each
child a different desert animal. She gave me a list of about seven questions that
each child should answer about their animal. I created a template. Students
researched their animals on the Web, and saved .jpgs and .gifs to their folders,
and they later inserted their images and filled out the template. In the end, we
put all of their work together to form a book of desert animals.
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know that many technology educators frown upon using templates.
However if students are not given clear guidelines or even shown what their work
is supposed to look like, how can they ever achieve success on their own? All too
often we put expectations on children's work without providing them with a system
to use. The server allows us to not only show students what their work should be,
but it also allows us to give them the format. Why should students have to
recreate the wheel? In order to help students to learn to read, and learn to
research, and to organize a page or even a report on a computer screen, we must
first show them how. They need to be given clear expectations and guidelines.
Since the success with the nonfiction books, I
have created templates for constructing Web page games, curriculum related
brochures, calendars, and whatever else we can think of. The Imaginatorium
continues to grow in part due to our success using the server.
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"I believe a huge part
of the success is because children do not run into the frustration of being
unable to work through and around the computer."
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 ur network
has no controls other than Windows and Norton anti-virus. I believe a huge part
of the success is because children do not run into the frustration of being
unable to work through and around the computer. I encourage my students to enter
the hard drive and set up folders. Every time we start a new project, a new
folder is created within their own class folders. This helps students to learn
even more organizational skills.
I have visited labs that use protection software
like At Ease, which are designed to prevent students from getting into the guts
of the computer and causing serious damage. All too often it seems that those
computers either are not used or have been vandalized.
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n the Imaginatorium every computer is working. There are no mouse
balls missing. There is not a mark of graffiti on any of the machines. Should we
spend our budgets on computers installed with protection software and allow them
to die of atrophy? Or, should we take a chance that they may harm our priceless
machines? Show the students how to use their computers, not just particular
software. Let them get their fingers dirty. Provide them with exciting lessons
and allow them to produce professional work. Let them use the network. I don't
think they will hurt it. Even if they do, at least they will be using the
technology, money isn't being wasted, and they will be learning.
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