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Academics
libraries. It will be available over the Internet as well as in our library.
• Middle School students will be encouraged to move ahead individually to appropriate levels in reading.Anewcomputerprogram provides teachers with record-keeping capability, self- correcting tests and reading-level reports for each student.
Manyprojects donebyindividualteachersreach out to colleagues. Here are more examples:
Tom Carter researched and installed the best math software for use in our curriculum at all levels. Over the year, he will be evaluating its effectiveness.
Tom Yacoe’s projection system finally makes it push-button easy for teachers to use CD or Internet images as teaching tools. Teachers (or students) can capture images in advance and easily project them on a large, high-resolution screen during a discussion. Tom even researched and recommended several good CDs for our library.
Helen O’Hara designed research experiences for World History and Global Issues courses, using electronic simulations, collaborative projects and technology-based student activities. One offshoot will be a year of theme-based research for ninth grade students combining science and social science. We hope their research will culminate in multi- media presentations at year’s end.
Doug Sargent developed advanced skills with JAVA and HTML web site programming languages and studied the advanced features of the web itself. He teaches computer science at all levels, including the eighth grade unit on designing web pages.
We have ten more equally exciting projects.
This “bootstrap” training process reflects everything we think is important about learning: starting with individual strengths, building teamwork, teaching by example. We are hoping to secure continued funding for additional projects in the coming years.
Marianne Stoner Deborah Whalen Director of the Academic Dean Middle School
Going Beyond E-Mail In The Technological Revolution
Our campus is blessed with a newly- installed arsenal of computers, networks and Internet power — exciting, but sometimes frustrating. How can a dedicated teacher adequately research these new capabilities while simultaneously meeting the daily needs of students?
What we needed was an opportunity for our teachers to focus on their individual subjects and classrooms. William and Rosemary Hewlett made it possible with a program of summer technology grants tailored especially for Woodside Priory. Teachers wrote proposals explaining what they would like to learn and how they would like to use
their new techno-power in their classrooms. A campus committee funded eighteen projects in May. Those faculty members spent the summer developing their individual projects.
Our campus is now “seeded” with experts in specific topics and techniques. This fall, they will demonstrate what they learned and will be on call to colleagues. Teachers are encouraged to drop in to each other’s classrooms and watch the action. We expect useful techniques to spread quickly.
Following is a small sampling of the impact these grants have on our students:
•Advanced math students will gain skills in using two- and three-dimensional data models; Algebra II students will use graphing calculators as a tool to understanding mathematical concepts.
• E-mail pen pals will give French students direct contact with not only another culture but also an individual — a person each can correspond with over several years and perhaps meet.
• Everyone will be using a computerized library cataloging and search system similar to the type students encounter in colleges and better public
Hewlett summer technology grants were focused on
classrooms.
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