Homework for the Teacher
Congratulations! You understand the dynamics of participating in a collaborative project and most likely have joined one. Now it’s time to jump in with both feet. Modules 3-6 are set aside for the implementation of your project. There are color mini-posters for the students each week, but there will be no guided online activities (Steps 1, 2, 3) for your students. As your project takes shape over the next several weeks, please continue to check this column for resources that will save you some telecomputing-headaches down the road!

Here’s a preview of upcoming project-related topics for the Teacher’s Desk:
This Week: Implementing the Online Project: Communication Tips & How to Sidestep Problems
Week 28: Keeping the Curriculum Alive & Aligned with Project Goals
Week 29: Assessing Student Achievement Throughout the Project
Week 30: Evaluating the Project, Designing Your Own Project

Weeks 27-30 will provide rich opportunities for students to use all the skills they’ve learned up to this point. Encourage them to word process correspondence with project partners, enter and edit project data on a spreadsheet, while tracking people, events and facts with a database!

Great Sites to Bookmark!

If you are unable to participate in a collaborative project for the next 4 weeks, please refer to these suggestions for student-centered online activities.

Reading Strategy Spotlight
Retelling or synthesizing requires the putting together of ideas in a new way. It pulls together the processes of recalling, ordering and recreating of information into a coherent whole. It invites students to collect an array of facts and connect them to a central theme or idea. Giving students the opportunity to synthesize generates a deeper understanding of what they read.

Student Activity Sheet
Printable pages designed to complement the current week's Reading Strategy Spotlight and to help students organize their thoughts, reflect upon reading material, and look for organizational patterns in online text.

BBs: Weekly Nuggets of "Best Practices" and "Brain Research"
What happens in the brain when a student is involved with repetition? Link to Teachley's!

TechKnow Disaster Preparedness Page
Printable Computer Skills Mini-Posters & activity sheets for those times when the network crashes or equipment is unavailable. You can print a different page each week.

NC WiseOwl:
Web Sites of the Month

NC DPI Web Resources

Check your progress to date with information and computer skills!

Trouble Terminator