Justification

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Proficiency C: 
Demonstrate knowledge and use of multimedia, hypermedia, telecommunications, and distance learning to support teaching/learning.

Use knowledge and use of multimedia, hypermedia, telecommunications, and distance learning to expand beyond the barriers of a normal classroom.
I designed Mr. Robertson's Surfin' USA web site to be the hub of information for this unit. The web site takes the students "out of the classroom" and into a wealth of United States information at the keyboard. It's a site of facts (i.e., the Five U.S. Region page), exploration (Explore the USA), and fun (USA Fun and Games). I designed the site to have a trickle down effect; the more the students used it, the more curious and interested they would be to learn. Students that visit the World Almanac for Kids web site as part of a region assignment also discovered that the site had other information about the United States; when time allowed, students that completed their assignments were allowed to further explore the site. The students also reached out and touched every state when they requested tourist bureau information via online request forms (see Information Please! section of Mr. Robertson's web site), using their own unique email address. In addition, they strengthened their email abilities by sending messages to their peers and teachers, as well as a formal message to the superintendent of schools, their principal, and the Board of Education president. Finally, they connected with students almost half a world away in Hawaii through the ePALs program. The teacher in Hawaii saw Mr. Robertson's Surfin' USA web site, liked what she saw, and asked if his students would like to correspond.

Commonly integrates text, tables, graphs, drawings, diagrams, photographs, sound, animations, and video in presentations and communications.
I incorporated text, tables, graphs, drawings, diagrams, photographs, animation, and video into Mr. Robertson's Surfin' USA web site, PowerPoint presentations (i.e., Explore the Northeast), and/or class handouts/worksheets constructed in Microsoft Word (i.e., Midwest Worksheet, Midwest Scavenger Hunt). Another specific example of such use was in a supplemental lesson I gave the students on cardinal directions. I sent them a question, via email, asking for their input to what states are in the most north, south, west, and east positions in the United States. I tabulated their responses and then presented a graphical representation in a bar chart.

Maintains a variety of means of communication open to students, parents, and colleagues (email, voice mail, web pages, etc.)
The students could always access Mr. Robertson's Surfin' USA web site at any time, in school or at home. When I first started this project, I sent home a permission slip to parents/guardians discussing the unit and requesting permission for student information to be placed on the web site and for student use of email. Once students understood how to send email, they routinely sent it to Mr. Robertson and me. Mr. Robertson and I communicated frequently via email and voice mail about class and computer lab schedules, lesson plans, and technology questions.

Understands the applications that support multimedia and telecommunications, and is able to make appropriate recommendations for school evaluation and purchasing.
One of the restraints that I think needs revisiting is the District's policy to restrict downloading of documents from web sites. It put limitations on what I could do, and therefore, what students could do and more importantly, learn. An example is the Microsoft Word Go to USA Worksheet document that could not be opened from Mr. Robertson's Surfin' USA web site. I believe teachers should be allowed to make judgments for downloading such information. I intend on discussing this with our Director of Technology.