Yes, I feel that I did benefit from learning something that was totally new.
I feel that one problem many teacher face is that they have forgotten what it is
like to learn. I don't ever intend to let that happen to me because I am
constantly learning new things.
>
> In what ways do you think your participation in the morning course will
> impact your teaching and/or your school?
I won't be teaching any of the content to my 8th grade students so the impact is
going to be more difficult to pinpoint. I feel that the more I learn the better
I teach
>
> Do you see any effects already?
It's really too soon, the begining of the school year there is too much
happening too fast to be able to take the time to "think".
>
> Did you enjoy the afternoon course? Did you enjoy the Elm Club
> discussions?
Yes, the afternoon class was personally more useful to me along with the Elm
Club discussions. I enjoyed the sharing of ideas about internet use, policies,
copy right issues and grant writing...and so much more.
>
> Did you benefit from one and/or both?
Both if you mean afternoon course and Elm Club discussions
>
> In what ways do you think your participation in the afternoon courses
> will impact your teaching and/or your school?
I have already helped to post our school district web page and hope to be
instrumental in securing grant monies for the district.
>
> Do you see any effects already?
Yes, our school district home page for one and the work I am doing for PCTM
would not have been possible before DREI came into my life.
>
> To what extent did you interact with the researchers?
I'd have to say on a scale of 1 to 10 my interaction was around a 5 or 6, I
found myself drawn to the computer labs in many "free" moments so much of my
interaction came at meals and at the scheduled 11:00 sessions.
>
> Have you maintained contacts with any of them?
Just Paul at this point
and Steve (from the math forum at swarthmore) he has been very helpful
>
> With which lead teacher did you interact with this most? Why?
I'm going to skip this questions, it sounds too funny to say that I had a
difficult time getting away from myself!
>
> Was there someone other than a lead teacher who significantly helped
> you in learning the material for one or both courses or in acclimatising
> to the program? Who, and how did s/he help?
I found Roseann and Lee both very helpful.
I almost forgot about Dan and Hal
>
> How many lead teachers should a program of this size have? Why?
4 is probably good, but we need more assistants in the lab. Dan was fantastic
in the Mac lab, but we could have used at least 2 more of him or lead teacher
with more experience. I often felt at a loss with stuff I had not yet tried
myself, or things that worked differently at home. I wish that the lead
teachers could have had a week on the computers before the participants arrived.
I know we were doing things from home for months, but it just wasn't the same.
The network had me confused for a few days until Dave did a great job at one of
the Elm Club discussions of explaining exactly what was going on. After that it
was so much easier.
>
> Is there something about computational geometry that you particularly
> hope will be addressed at the follow-up session?
Not really
>
> Is there some activity that you are particularly interested in
> undertaking in the lab on the follow-up session?
I want to spend more time on the graphics program, I didn't have enough time
with that this summer.
>
> Is there any staff person you are particularly interested in interacting
> with at the follow-up session? Who and how?
Just everyone!
>
> Is there some particular information you wish to gain at the follow-up
> session?
Everything
>
> Or a particular discussion topic that you hope some group will address?
>
More on grant writting.
> In the future, should all participants use the same computing equipment
> (PC? PowerMac?), or should we continue to offer a choice?
CHOICE is so important....it is better to learn and do on a computer as similar
as possible to what you will be using in your home or school. I think it is
also important to allow people to use both machines if that is what they want.
Some people may need to be experts on both because of their work situations.
I hope this was helpful
Judy
________________________________________________________________________________
visit the PCTM web site at: http://home.ptd.net/~pctm/
Judy Ann Brown
Pleasant Valley Middle School
Brodheadsville, Pa 18322
judyann@dimacs.rutgers.edu
http://dimacs.rutgers.edu:80/~judyann/