TECHNOS

August 29, 2008

October 2005—Vol. 2, No. 9

Shape of Life: The Story of the Animal Kingdom series available!

Based on the PBS documentary, The Shape of Life, this series meets AAAS National Science Teaching Standards for Grades 9-12.

Welcome to the technos.net e-newsletter, published by AIT’s Technos Press. You’ll find valuable information here about AIT products and services and other noteworthy news from the world of education. Please let us know what you think, or what you’d like to see here, by emailing us at: editor@ait.net. Thank you!

Featured Interview

Cecil J. Picard, Louisiana Superintendent of Education

Cecil J. Picard has been the Superintendent of Education for the State of Louisiana since July 1, 1996. Previous to being appointed State Superintendent, Mr. Picard served as a member of the Louisiana State Legislature from 1975 to 1996 (Representative, 1975–79; Senator, 1979–96). He was also a teacher, coach, and principal in the Louisiana public schools for more than 20 years. Mr. Picard has worked closely with the governor of Louisiana and the legislature to develop and implement an accountability system for the state’s schools that was recognized as second in the nation by Education Week’s 2005 Quality Counts. This system enables the state to identify weaknesses in student and school performance and target resources where they are most needed to improve student learning. A more recent challenge was the arrival of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which caused great displacement of students and staff, particularly in the New Orleans area. As those students and teachers had to leave their homes and schools, the State Department of Education went into full-time, 24/7 emergency mode to help track their whereabouts and to facilitate their learning and earning until they could return home. Technos spoke to Mr. Picard in late September about the effects of the hurricanes on his constituency and what the Department of Education was doing to help.

Technos: How many displaced students from the New Orleans school district are there?

C.J.P.: There are 109,000 students displaced from Orleans, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard parishes.

Where are these students now enrolled? Are these transfers for the entire year, or temporary placements?

Before Hurricane Rita, these students were enrolled across Louisiana and across the nation. Louisiana has approximately 39,500 displaced students enrolled in districts. Texas has approximately 45,000 students enrolled. Florida has approximately 6,000. Georgia has approximately 8,000.

How have you kept track of them?

We have not been tracking individual students, but rather numbers of displaced students that have enrolled in districts. Each receiving school district has been reporting to us daily the numbers of displaced students they have received.

How many teachers have been displaced? How are such things as payroll and benefits being handled for them?

Approximately 4,900 teachers have been displaced. We have asked for federal assistance that would allow us to maintain payroll and benefits, but have not received an appropriation to date. Orleans Parish has placed all of its employees on “Disaster Leave” and all impacted districts have told their employees to apply for unemployment.

Read the entire interview with Mr. Picard.

For URLs of relevant Web sites, jump to Recommended Links.

Featured Essay

What We Owe Our Children
Remarks to the 3rd Congressional Conference on Civic Education, September 25, 2005

By The Honorable Lee H. Hamilton (U.S. House of Representatives, D–Indiana, 1964–1997; retired)

Let me offer some thoughts this morning on a fundamental question: What do we owe our children? My guess is that you have asked yourself this question many times. For many of us, it is the reason that we are involved in civic education.

There are, of course, many answers: a decent opportunity to become the best they can become; a strong economy; a secure country; a reasonable safety net; safe schools; an open society. Yet the right kind of education must be a top priority.

I agree with—and I suspect you would, too—the long-time Senator from Rhode Island, Claiborne Pell, who said: “The strength of the United States is not the gold at Fort Knox or the weapons of mass destruction that we have, but the sum total of the education and the character of our people.”

Of course, over the years, people have disagreed about how important America’s schools are to the education and character of our people. Mark Twain once said, “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”

I do not agree with Twain. What happens in our schools is vital. This afternoon, I would like to focus on four types of education that we owe our children:

preparedness education;
civic education;
character education; and
education to encourage them to enter into public service.

Read the complete text of Mr. Hamilton’s speech.

What’s New at AIT?

Adventure of the American Mind Project Begins Field Testing this Fall

AIT is pleased to be working with the Center on Congress to develop new Web-based resources for social studies teachers. The project, Adventure of the American Mind (AAM), is part of a national effort to help teachers access and use the digital resources, especially primary documents, of the Library of Congress (LOC).

The overall goal of the Center on Congress AAM project is to develop resources and tools for social studies educators using LOC and Center on Congress digital materials related to Congress, U.S. government, citizenship, and representative democracy. The project will make available tools that will help teachers search the LOC’s Thomas site as well as the American Memory digital collection and incorporate the digital resources into the curriculum. Project components will be disseminated to educators nationwide through a Center on Congress/AAM Web site.

Center on Congress AAM project resources will be developed to provide educators with (1) new, tested, easily-accessible classroom resources, and (2) tools and training to increase their skills in incorporating technology into the curriculum.

Recent research has found that teachers want and need more “hands-on resources for teaching civics and government.” Respondents also have reported a need for resources that use primary documents. Social studies teachers request resources that engage students and give teachers and students experience with new technologies. The Technology Counts 2005 report states that schools across the nation are putting a high priority on investing time and resources to help teachers learn how to use technology for teaching. This project will address these needs and opportunities.

The AAM project is in the early stages of development, with a rollout of the Web site scheduled for Spring 2006. Field testing of the project materials and evaluation of the Web site will take place in late 2005 and early 2006.

Components being developed in the first year of the project include:

E-learning modules. The e-learning modules will be a central feature of the learning experience, providing teachers with a variety of lesson plans, background information, and other materials about Congress and representative democracy. The first modules will address “Public Criticisms of Congress” and the “Impact of Congress.”
Project Center. The Project Center will have two sections: Tools and Resources. The Tools section will give teachers tools to help students create portfolios, reports, and presentations, using LOC and Center on Congress digital resources. Simple and intuitive construction tools in the Web-based Project Center will allow teachers to help students assemble media files and documents, write text, and assemble timelines to create a “page” or multiple pages that can be added to “portfolios.”

The Resources section will include:
- “How-to” guides for teachers on developing various types of projects using primary resources, including information and instructions for incorporating a cross-curricular theme in projects (specifically, language arts and literacy).
- Detailed examples of several projects based on LOC and Center on Congress resources, providing step-by-step instructions for replicating the projects.
- A series of shorter lesson plans—one to two class periods in length—that utilize the LOC and Center on Congress resources.
- Database providing alignment of sample projects with state-by-state curriculum standards for social studies, language arts, and other subject areas as appropriate (updated on a regular basis as standards are revised).
- Ties to assessment methodologies.
- Student handouts and resource material.
- Teacher feedback component through which teachers can ask questions and submit original projects for publication, thus building a collection of sample projects for other teachers to use.
Field Testing/Teacher Training/Teacher Outreach. Year One of the project will also include field-testing of developed resources through a series of workshops for teachers and teachers-in-training. Field-testing sites will include upper elementary, middle school, and high schools. The effort will also involve national outreach to social studies teachers, curriculum leaders, faculty from teacher training programs, pre-service teachers, and professional organizations.

Plans for Phase Two/Year Two would be for additional product development and outreach. Phase Two may also include, but not be limited to:

Development and dissemination of resources for school librarians and media specialists that would help them provide assistance to classroom teachers and facilitate a team approach in schools among teaching and resource staff.
Development and dissemination of resources for use by public libraries to facilitate their service to the general public in the use of LOC/Thomas and Center on Congress resources.
Development of a series of train-the-trainer opportunities with the goal of establishing a network of social studies professionals in every state who can, in turn, provide training on the use of project resources to educators in their states.
Development of online courses utilizing resources, projects, and activities of Phase One. These courses may be offered for credit, and, if so, they would be facilitated by university faculty.

Watch this space for more information on the progress of the Adventure of American Mind project.

Tech Notes

Digital Divide = Uneven Access to Internet & Information Inequity

By Elaine Larson, AIT’s Director of Education

The concept of a digital divide—a serious lack of equity in technology access and use across the nation and the world—is clearly not new. However, as new technologies are adopted, new digital “highways” opened, more teachers trained, and more kids using digital technologies than ever before, the issue of equity remains.

According to the Benton Foundation:

There has always been a gap between those people and communities who can make effective use of information technology and those who cannot. Now, more than ever, unequal adoption of technology excludes many from reaping the fruits of the economy.

(We) use the term “digital divide” to refer to this gap between those who can effectively use new information and communication tools, such as the Internet, and those who cannot. While a consensus does not exist on the extent of the divide (and whether the divide is growing or narrowing), researchers are nearly unanimous in acknowledging that some sort of divide exists.

The gap is furthered described in “The Digital Divide, ICT and the 50x15 Initiative”—an article on the Internet World Stats Web site:

The difference is not necessarily determined by the access to the Internet, but by access to ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) and to Media that the different segments of society can use. With regards to the Internet, the access is only one aspect; other factors such as the quality of connection and related services should be considered. Today the most discussed issue is the availability of the access at an affordable cost.

The digital divide is not indeed a clear single gap which divides a society into two groups. Researchers report that disadvantage can take such forms as lower-performance computers, lower-quality or high price connections (i.e., narrowband or dialup connection), difficulty of obtaining technical assistance, and lower access to subscription-based contents.

Statistics

The report, “Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994–2003”, published by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), tracks access to information technology in schools and classrooms since 1994.

Each year, NCES has conducted a new nationally representative survey of public schools to gauge the progress made in computer and Internet availability, based on measures such as student-to-computer ratio and the percentage of schools and classrooms with Internet connections. As computers and the Internet became increasingly available in schools, the surveys were modified to address new and continuing issues, such as the use of new types of Internet connections to enhance connectivity. Recent surveys on Internet access have been expanded to address other emerging issues. The 2002 survey, for instance, included items on the use of technologies or procedures to prevent student access to inappropriate material on the Internet, the availability of computers outside of regular school hours, and the availability of teacher professional development on technology use in the classroom.

This report presents key findings from the 2003 survey on Internet access in U.S. public schools and selected comparisons with data from previous Internet surveys. The 2003 survey was designed to update data on all of the questions asked in 2002. Selected findings are organized to address the following issues: school connectivity, student access to computers and the Internet, school Web sites, technologies and procedures to prevent student access to inappropriate material on the Internet, and teacher professional development on how to integrate the use of the Internet into the curriculum.

The “21st Century Skills: A Digital Divide” report on the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) enGauge Web site highlights advances made toward narrowing the equity gap. But it also states:

While this progress is certainly encouraging, access is just the first step. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce study, Falling Through the Net (National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 1999), the digital divide also represents differences in the capacity to use technology tools efficiently and effectively. True equity requires high levels of technology proficiency to ensure broader, more meaningful, and increasingly innovative uses of technology by all segments of the population. In turn, these heightened levels of technology proficiency—so critical in the Digital Age—require higher levels of 21st Century education.

The Web site includes a report, “Digital-Age Equity”, that provides insight into the issues plus definitions, indicators, and success stories in narrowing the gap.

Information

The Digital Equity Web site addresses inequitable access to learning technology resources for all learners. It lists “The Five Dimensions of Digital Equity”—dimensions that “have been chosen as fundamental categories by educators and professionals working in the field.” These categories are intended to provide help in addressing basic needs to those who are just beginning to learn about the field.

Content creation
Opportunities for learners and educators to create their own content.
Effective use
Educators skilled in using these resources effectively for teaching and learning.
Quality content
Access to high-quality digital content.
Cultural relevance
Access to high-quality, culturally relevant content.
Technology resources
Access to learning technology resources (hardware, software, wiring, and connectivity).

The site is a project of the National Institute for Community Innovations and an offshoot of their Education Reform Network.

As stated on the front page of the Education Reform Network Web site, the “National Institute for Community Innovations, in collaboration with a growing number of internationally recognized expert communities in educational reform, has developed national networks of leaders skilled in assisting schools, districts, preparation programs, and large-scale educational systems to plan and undertake sustained educational reform efforts with regard to the reform dimensions below. Each of these networks has identified exemplary, free, and inexpensive professional development materials about proven and promising reform strategies and resources in a given reform dimension.”

The Web site also points to a Digital Equity Toolkit that provides some resources (organizations and agencies) that focus attention on “digital equity.” Resources include other tool kits, list-servs, and links to information.

The toolkit points educators to free and inexpensive, high-quality resources that help address the digital divide in the classroom and community. The toolkit, edited by Joy Wallace, senior associate at the National Institute for Community Innovations, is made possible in part through funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s PT3 (Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to use Technology) and Technology Innovation Challenge Grant programs.

Strides

As funding for school technology shrinks, school-community and school-corporation partnerships make strides to fill in the gaps.

Community Technology Centers continue to provide a wealth of technology resources, training, and funding opportunities for communities. The CTC Web site provides information about the CTC movement, news about grant opportunities, and links to stories about how the organization is working in communities around the nation.

In an example of school-corporation efforts, Detroit schools are partnering with Apple to create a Digital Learning Community High School.

Final Note

As with other equity dilemmas in education, the complex issues of the digital divide will remain a point of debate for years to come. A few things are clear, however.

More research needs to be done to get a good picture of technology issues today. Most of the existing research is at least two years old—and two years is a long time when studying technology.
Teachers need pre-service and in-service training to increase their skills in effectively using technology in the classroom—to increase their understanding of the technology their students are using, to take advantage of the powerful tools available, and to build their comfort level with new and emerging technologies.
Decision makers need to realize that educational technology is more than having a computer in the classroom that’s connected to the Internet.

etc. (News You Need)

Borders Books & Music and Waldenbooks will celebrate Educator Appreciation Week October 14–18, by treating educators to giveaways and special events. “To help educators help fill their classrooms with the tools that they need, each store will offer educators a 25% discount on books, music, and gift items and a discount on DVDs*. This discount for teachers, librarians, principals, home-school parents, and other educators also applies to non-classroom items. Educators must bring a school ID or paycheck stub to be eligible to receive the special discounts.” For more information contact Paula Dombrowski, Marketing Specialist-Savings and Benefit Events for Borders Group Inc., at 734-477-4703—or go to: www.bordersstores.com/educator.

Center on Congress Launches Podcasts and Weblog—Expanding its civic education efforts to the latest means of electronic mass communication, the Center on Congress at Indiana University today announced that Director Lee Hamilton's commentaries on Congress and civic affairs are available in audio format on www.iTunes.com and may also be accessed at http://centeroncongress.blogspot.com. “I’m excited about the potential for Internet podcasting and the blog to help us get more people thinking and talking about how Congress could serve our country better,” Mr. Hamilton said. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the State of Indiana for 34 years.

Education Week Online sponsors regular Live Chats via the Web, at http://www.edweek-chat.org (a transcript of this Live Chat is available at this site). On Wed., Sep. 28, the principal of Kennebunk High School in Maine, Nelson Beaudoin, fielded questions about what he calls “the magic of student voice.” For Beaudoin, giving kids a greater say in how they’re educated—including allowing them to supervise parent-teacher conferences, help hire new staff, and sit on the district’s school board—reflects democratic principles and fosters responsibility and engagement. Beaudoin is author of Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone: Lessons for School Leaders. A transcript of the Live Chat is available at http://www.edweek-chat.org. For more information on Beaudoin and Kennebunk High, read “Vocal Arrangements,” from the August/September issue of Teacher Magazine.

A booklet from the Economic Policy Institute, “Losing Ground in Early Childhood Education: Declining Workforce Qualifications in an Expanding Industry, 1979–2004,” by Stephen Nerzenberg, Mark Price, and David Bradley, summarizes a new report that provides the hard numbers that Early Childhood Education (ECE) can no longer consistently attract and hold onto well-educated teachers. The report sounds the alarm on the pressing need for state and national policy to reverse the fall in the qualifications of ECE staff. “The story that emerges from the data is that the position of ECE in the labor market has changed for the worse since the early 1980s.” Access the study report, including state rankings.

Chinese is becoming the language du jour in high schools around the country. In a Sep. 27 Chicago Tribune piece, titled “The ‘It’ Language: China’s Growing Influence Drives Demand for Classes,” reporter Grace Aduroja explains how the increase in China’s economic status is driving more students and professionals to learn Chinese to achieve success in their careers. “Mandarin Chinese, the most widely spoken form of the language, has become the new ‘it’ language among students, business executives and others trying to gain increasingly useful career and life skills, experts say.” Access the article (free registration may be required).

Believe it or not, October is National Popcorn Popping Month! You’ll find more than you want to know about fun popcorn activities here: http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/octoberholidays/l/bloctmon3.htm

AIT Products & Services

October is Hispanic Heritage Month…AIT offers the following pertinent instructional series. Go to our online catalog for more information, including pricing and shipping info, www.ait.net/catalog—or call AIT’s Customer Service Department at 1-800-457-4509 to order.

Amigos encourages young students to learn basic Spanish vocabulary and increase their awareness and appreciation of Hispanic culture — and it helps to develop interest in the geography of Spanish-speaking countries and reinforce skills and concepts taught in the regular language arts curriculum. Amigos uses the FLEX (Foreign Language Experience) approach, which emphasizes oral practice within real-life situations. Students hear and repeat Spanish words and phrases relating to numbers, colors, food, family members, animals, clothing, body parts, and much more. Thirty 15-minute programs for grades K–2.

Fun with Español—Studying a foreign language in the primary grades encourages acute listening skills, organization, problem solving, and imagination. Exploration and greater understanding of other cultures is an inherent part of foreign language study. Fun with Español helps to develop these skills while introducing conversational Spanish to children who have never spoken the language. The format includes familiar settings, simple songs, and easy crafts to help make learning fun. The series is designed so that even teachers without any Spanish language skills can still use it. Eight 14- to 21-minute programs for grades 1–3.

You can also utilize the stories about Hispanics in Heroes Read and Sixteen Tales:
- Heroes Read features authors of contemporary children’s literature discussing and reading their own works. Revised standards in Language Arts call for children to be able to critique, interpret, and respond to literature. Heroes Read provides 18 programs for grades 3–7 that meet these standards.
- Sixteen Tales introduces readers and nonreaders alike to literature, folklore, and the sheer delight of a good story. These vividly illustrated folktales enrich multicultural studies and provide new perspectives on America’s diverse ethnic heritage. Storytellers discuss the land and people who passed down the tale and urge viewers to “share a story with a friend, so our tales will never end.” Sixteen 15-minute programs for grades K–5.

Did you know that October 16 is Noah Webster’s birthday (1758)? Why not celebrate in your classroom with lessons from AIT’s Language Arts series Wordscape? Expand students’ vocabularies by teaching them to recognize word “cells” as the major building blocks of English words. Help students develop and maintain positive attitudes toward the diversity, utility, and wonder of language. As students begin changing their views of how English is built, they will shift from a letter-by-letter or sound-by-sound process to one that focuses on larger units of language — roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Words come alive through vignettes and explanations that demonstrate topic vocabulary used in context. Students see and hear vocabulary in authentic settings, instead of simply “memorizing” a list of words. Wordscape explores the multicultural contributions to English vocabulary from Latin, Greek, French, German, Hispanic, West African, and Native American sources. Sixteen 15-minute programs for grades 4–6.

…and that October 24 is United Nations Day? AIT offers its series Global Geography and Voyageur for your students’ edification:

Global Geography is one of AIT’s most respected series. Its ten 15-minute programs illustrate how actions in the United States influence other regions of the world: Asia, Southeast Asia, Japan, Russia, East Asia, Australia/New Zealand, North Africa/Southwest Asia, Africa, Central and South America, and Europe. Conversely, students in grades 6–9 observe the effects of actions in other countries on the United States. Series plus teacher guide or videokit available.

Voyageur Experience in Global Geography. This series is a comprehensive survey of important standards-based social studies concepts within a compelling case-study style format. Students will explore complex economic, social, and cultural issues while they watch diverse examples of social studies in action. The ten 25-minute programs for grades 9–12 model an investigative approach to physical and social geography, following North American students on tour to foreign lands. Each program features a case study of a specific geographic area with queries posed to the audience and several opportunities for extensions of learning in the classroom. For more information and to view a video clip, visit the Voyageur Experience Web page. Special prices are available to customers in Missouri, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Quebec. Please call AIT Customer Service at 1-800-457-4509 for more information.

Order online or call AIT’s Customer Service Department: 1-800-457-4509.

Read previous issues of the TECHNOS e-Zine.

CONTENTS

Featured Interview

Cecil J. Picard, Louisiana Superintendent of Education

Featured Essay

What We Owe Our Children Remarks to the 3rd Congressional Conference on Civic Education, September 25, 2005

What’s New at AIT?

Adventure of the American Mind Project Begins Field Testing this Fall

Tech Notes

Digital Divide = Uneven Access to Internet & Information Inequity

etc. (News You Need)

Recommended Links

AIT Products & Services

What We Owe Our Children
Remarks to the 3rd Congressional Conference on Civic Education, September 25, 2005