International Schools CyberFair 99
Project Narrative
Local Leaders
Our community consists of local people who helped secure interviews and pictures with our leaders, local leaders who graciously shared information about leadership with us (many of them in person at our school), and technical people who helped from a distance. Our school is in a rual area, and draws students from three Texas cities--Bonham, Leonard, and Celeste, representing two Texas counties (Fannin and Hunt). One of our teachers lives in Honey Grove, Texas.
Our CyberFair Web Project spotlights many leaders in our area, most of whom are volunteers. These leaders shared their insights about leadership with us, allowing us to share their insights with a global community. Our project will be updated each spring, thereby providing timely information about our community for new people who move into our community, for relatives and friends of our residents around the world, and for those who are interested in relocating here.
Alpha Omega Christian School of Leonard has Internet access via a U.S. Robotics Sportster 28.8K modem in a Pentium 100 MHz PC. Our internet access if provided through Internet Texoma in Sherman, Texas. Internet Texoma has implemented a hicap connection to Digex, a first-tier national Internet carrier.
Students and teachers often felt overwhelmed with a variety of difficulities. All of the students and the teachers had problems with lost files--we're new to networking and sharing files. Our report writing students almost quit in mid-stream, until one of our teachers showed them index cards and told them they would write reports with note cards and outlines if they didn't finish their electronic reports. That motivated them to finish. Our primary HTML coder, Chantel Lines, thought she was in la-la land after several attempts to upload a change that didn't take. With the help of our technical director, David Lines, the problems were resolved.
CyberFair99 has been educational and fun! A big THANKS to everyone who helped made it possible.
1) How did your activities and research for this International School CyberFair project support your required coursework and curriculum requirements?
The school board of Alpha Omega Christian School of Leonard voted in 1997 to allow CyberFair projects to count as a "Unit Study" implementing a "Whole Language Curriculum." Our students were allowed to skip eight workbooks in four subjects for participation in CyberFair. This year's CyberFair Unit Study incorporated English, Technology/Computer Science, Social Studies (including Cultural Awareness), Art, and Bible. Our older students met The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) requirements in advanced jounralism that require high school students to "edit and critique the work of others...," to work coperatively, and to write and produce reports for publication that include photographss or graphics. TEKS for ninth grade English requires students to "use technology for aspects of creating, revising, editing, and publishing." In English, older students studied research skills and report writing. Younger students learned skills required in the TEKS--to listen, to follow directions, and to develop reading, inquiry, research, writing and spelling skills. Using the Internet for teaching and learning has been more effective than traditional methods because the students are more interested, and thus more highly motivated. At least once, the teachers had to make students leave the computers to go to lunch!
2) What information tools and technologies did you use to complete your CyberFair project?
Our students used a wide variety of tools to complete our CyberFair project. A former school board member loaned us a Sony Digital Camera. We used the telephone, five Pentium-class computers (four of which were networked in the classroom), LanBridge modem-sharing software which allowed more than one of our computers to access the internet at a time, an HP ScanJet IIcx, an HP LaserJet 4L printer, Windows95, HTMLed Pro, L-View Pro, GIF Animator, Netscape Communicator, and three excellent software packages that we won from CyberFair in past years-Adobe Photo Deluxe, CU-SeeMe, and Multimedia Workshop. We enjoyed all the software that we won from CyberFair. Multimedia Workshop was really GREAT! Students love to use it. HTMLed Pro was one of the most helpful tools we used because it was RELIABLE and predictible, even though it didn't have as many "bells and whistles" as some of the other web-authoring software. Another very useful tool was L-View Pro. It proved indespensbile for sizing imagess, and for changing files to different formats. It was also inexpensive and dependable. GIF Animator was also very useful because children love to watch it, it's easy to use (IF you have a live person to explain it to you), and it's inexpensive.3) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.
Community leaders seemed surprised that our little school would be interested in them, but were very cooperative and helpful. One of our parents took two of our students around town to conduct interviews after school the day we borrowed the digital camera. They conducted six interviews that rainy afternoon, but enjoyed every minute of it. They made some friends and generated lots of curiosity among public school students at the junior high school--Why were these two private-school students in THEIR principal's office? A fifth grader impressed the police chief with her foresight in attempting to negotiate a ticket write-off in the future if she made him look good on the web (of course, he didn't make a deal). On line we discovered several local internet sites, and we are contacting them about exchanging links. These include Trenton Bank, http://www.bonhamtx.com/, Bonham Area Chamber of Commerce, and Bonham State Bank.4) What has been the impact of your project on your community?
All of the leaders that we interviewed serve as volunteers--one leader had not even considered himself/herself a leader until we asked for an interview! The leaders we interviewed seemed honored to be thought of as leaders, even though they have worked for years in their different positions to assist others and to help our small community survive. One leader who's involved with the local chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes is checking to see if our private school can join the local organization.5) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?
Our CyberFair team depended heavily upon advice from our web expert, David Lines. Jeff Ogea, a pharmacist in Bonham, saved us many hours by loaning us a digital camera. Also, Steve Miller, an artist as a multimedia expert, helped by reviewing our page on a Macintosh platform, since we only had access to IBM type systems. The CyberFair Help Desk helped with a problem we were having in a "Paint" program. We wish to extend a huge THANKS! to all of you who so graciously helped us. We would not have been able to achieve what we did without your help.6) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises
6) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises All of our students were required to work with art software and fonts in a word-processor--especially to create the Greek characters, Alpha and Omega. Those who participated in CyberFair in prior years helped newcomers and younger students use the "Paint" software programs. Some of these experienced users were reluctant to experiment with fonts in a word-processor. However, these same students were amazed at the versatility available to them with font options. Our second grader, Bobby Killgo, went beyond the Greek characters in Windows95 "Symbols" to explore "WingDings," and then asked, "Can we learn to speak WingDings?" One afternoon [after school], two of our students went to interveiw all the principals in the Leonard Public School district. They went to the High school principal first and took her picuture. Then they walked to the Junior High building and went to the pricipal's office. Gary McDonald is the principal's name. They interveiwed Gary McDonald in his office, and as they were interviewing him, one or two boys walked up to the window and brought five or six other boys to the window to watch. Sooner or later two girls walked up to the window and quickly turned away, but the boys were still plasterd to the window for almost as long as the interview. Our students who were interviewing the principal chuckled at the fact that everyone at the window was wondering where they were from and who they were.