It’s hard to believe that tomorrow (June 21) is only the first day of summer. With the high heat in the early part of the month, it seems like it’s been summer for awhile. But tomorrow’s date is a good reminder that we have plenty of time left to enjoy the rest of the summer. Summertime to me has always been a welcomed chance to catch up on my reading. With the long days stretching ahead, you can encourage your children to pick up a book to read. Now that they are not in school, they can have their choice of what to read: graphic novels, chapter books, magazines, biographies, whatever strikes their fancy. Our local libraries have additional summertime opportunities to expose children to new books and activities. Blount County Public Library is showcasing “Starship Adventure @ Your Library” for its Children’s Summer Reading Program. Check out the library’s web site for a list of events. Knox County Public Library also has a number of activities that are built around this theme.

If your gas tank is running on empty, this is a great way to transport kids to other lands and other adventures without having to spend a fortune. It also has the added bonus of keeping reading skills in tune and further developing them for the upcoming school year.

You can also encourage your kids by picking up a book to read yourself. For the first time, the Blount County Public Library has an adult reading program this summer. You can check out what the new program is all about on their web site. It’s easy: you just sign up and then start reading!

So now that summer is officially underway, find a shade tree and a good book and take a trip to another place and time. Happy reading!

We all can remember being in school and the tools that our teachers used. All research was done in the library, and information was written up on the chalkboard. Depending on how old you are, the changes can be staggering. Chalkboards have given way to white boards that were erasable to SMART boards that interfaced with a computer and the Internet. A book report is no longer just a written report but formatted as a newsletter or another type of project generated with a software program.

The next level of a 21^st Century classroom is being introduced into the Maryville school system through the aid of the Maryville City Schools Foundation: the Promethean ActivClassroom. Promethean is white-board technology that allows teachers and students to interact with it and each other. The foundation is raising money in order to provide these systems to all core classes in each of the schools.

Recently, teachers currently using the system explained how they have been able to incorporate Promethean in their lesson plans and the capabilities of the system. They also shared insight into how it is changing and improving the way students are learning.

Carol Anne Scarlett, an eighth grade science teacher at Maryville Middle School, said Promethean helps draw students into lessons by allowing them to interact and provides information to the teacher about what they understand. The system operates like a PowerPoint, but the user has the ability to move objects around and make them appear or disappear.

Ginni Jabbour, who teaches algebra and introduction to algebra II at Maryville High School, said the system’s interactive qualities appeal to today’s students.

“The kids are much more engaged now than they used to be,” Jabbour said. “You could always send kids to the board and write but for some reason, when you involve a technical tool where they’re doing technology, all of a sudden, they’re much more interested. That’s the way they do everything now. To keep them interested you have to communicate the way they are used to.”

Both Scarlett and Jabbour said one of the great features of the system is Promethean Planet, an online source of materials and lesson plans that they can use in the classroom. Teachers use what are called “flip charts” that contain the lesson plans, but they can customize their lessons by picking and choosing which pages of the flip chart they want to teach as well as adding their own information. Jabbour said the Web site allows teachers to search by state standards, topic and grade level, and has lessons that are taught around the world. The site also has a forum for teachers to share information and ideas.

The system includes an activboard, an activslate, an activpen, an activote, and an activwand. The activboard serves as a screen that students and teachers can use with an activpen or activwand to move and display objects.

Jabbour said using the system helps her go through material faster because she doesn’t have to take time to draw shapes or graphs. She can used the available pages or create her own ahead of time.

The activotes are hand-held devices that students use to respond to multiple choice questions. Scarlett said these allow teachers to assess immediately whether or not students are grasping the material. In addition, if it is a quiz, the students’ answers can be exported to an Excel spreadsheet, which results in an automatic posting of the grades.

The system also has another feature that both teachers like.

“The Promethean system that I have in my classroom actually also consists of a wireless slate which allows me to keep control of the board but be anywhere in the classroom,” Scarlett said. “That way I’m not just stuck in the front of the room.”

Jabbour agreed. “Classroom management is much better when you aren’t tied to the front of the room.”

Jabbour also found another use for the system that she hadn’t anticipated. She learned to use a recording feature to “pre-teach” her lesson plan. On a day when she knew she would have to be absent from school, she prepared her lesson a head of time and recorded it. The substitute teacher called up the program in which Jabbour had added appropriate pauses to allow the students to work through problems.

“It was like I was there, but I just physically wasn’t present, and so I didn’t miss a day of instruction because I wasn’t at the school,” she said. When she returned to class the next day, the students were prepared to move on.

Sharon Anglim, director of Communications and Special Projects for Maryville City Schools, said the Promethean system was developed by educators specifically for educational purposes. The system allows teachers to meet the learning needs and styles of each individual child, she added.

More and more, technology is becoming embedded in curriculum as textbooks, Web sites and software are developed to provide a seamless transition between the different learning arenas. Anglim said scholastic companies aren’t just selling textbooks anymore.

“As we see new textbooks come out, we see that technology is an integral part of that,” she said.

Photos: First-grade teacher Jessica King, Foothills Elementary School, uses the Promethean activboard to lead a discussion about authors of books her students have been reading.

Students in King’s class “play” a spelling game involving that week’s spelling words on the activboard. Students had to stay inside during a recess because the ground was too wet and eagerly asked to play this game. They lined up to take turns.

Blount County schools’ Fifth Annual Reading Conference provided educators with some food for thought over their summer holidays. Educational leader Todd Whitaker set the tone for the day, sharing with  teachers and administrators the traits that he feels make a great teacher. He’s written several books on the subject. All students should be treated with respect and dignity all the time. Whitaker, a professor of educational leadership at Indiana State University, said the three behaviors that should never be used in school are arguments, yelling and scarcasm. The keynote speaker sprinkled his comments with humor as he pulled examples from his time as a classroom teacher. “We need to cultivate society. We’re not trying to reflect society.”

His philosophy of education (and of life) is “Raise the Praise” and “Minimize the Criticize.” People should be treated as if they are good, giving an example of questioning a student who is out of class. Instead of acting as if the student is doing something wrong, ask if he or she needs help. Great teachers are the ones who act intentionally in everything they do, developing well-thought out plans while making it look random. Great teachers can help students develop a love of reading, which starts with a book.

The day-long conference was chock-full of workshops including Novel Studies, Triology of Reading Strategies, Social Studies for Social People, Using Children’s Literature to Support Life Skills and many others that touched various issues of reading. The presentations I was able to attend all dealt with better engaging our students. I particularly enjoyed Steve Chastain’s Technology Tools for an Educator. Chastain, a University of Tennessee professor who teaches about technology, showed educators Web sites and tools that they can use in their classrooms and gave examples of how those can be utilized in different subject areas.

I’ve attended these reading conferences in the past in a different capacity and found that they provide useful information to our teachers. As a lifelong learner myself, I enjoy conferences that serve to inspire you, to underscore what you are doing right and to give you fresh ideas. I think that is what this conference, which was the inspiration of Director of Schools Alvin Hord, does for participants. Hord created it not long after being name director because he felt a stronger emphasis needed to be placed on reading skills for all grades and all subjects.

This year, as in past years, it was held at Heritage High School and had close to 400 participants. It will give our teachers something to shift around in their subconscious over the summer months and return to the new school year charged up with ideas.

By Matthew Stewart
of The Daily Times Staff –

The field of education continues to evolve as teachers become further aware of the ever-expanding world of resources available to them.

Great teachers are able to discern their students’ needs and tailor these new resources to the needs of a specific class. Great educators also possess a certain flexibility whereby they are constantly refining their lessons.

Susan Wagner, a Porter Elementary School fourth grade teacher, is one such teacher. She was one of five Tennessee teachers awarded the 2008 Award of Recognition for Outstanding Teaching of the Humanities.

Wagner is humble about the award. “There are lots of other teachers who do just as many cool things (for their students), but don’t get recognized. I just applied for the award,” she said.

“(Blount County) has a great school system with great kids. A lot of good things are going on here,” said Wagner. “There are a lot of unsung heroes (in education) — a lot of teachers are quiet.”

Second career

Wagner is a second-career teacher, she said. “I’ve worked in other jobs before and this is one job where we give a lot (of ourselves). (As teachers,) we get so attached to (students) that we’re one little family. When (students) are having an exciting day or a sad day we all feel it.”

She has taught third grade, fourth grade and a multi-age fourth grade and fifth class in her eight years of teaching. Wagner likes teaching fourth grade the best, she said. “It’s a hard year for reading and introduces more difficult subjects for science and history. They are moving from a primary education to an upper elementary education.”

Every school year is a new experience with its own unique set of challenges. “Every year I do something different,” said Wagner. “I gauge (my students’) abilities and interests. I gear my instruction toward their needs.”

Wagner likes researching and writing her own lessons, she said. “It’s one of the great things about teaching,” said Wagner.

“What’s really neat is to see a student you had several years ago, and have them tell you they remember a lesson. It’s nice to know it sticks with them,” she said.

Past students remember

Fifth-grader Derek Roulette remembers his time in Wagner’s class last year. “I like how she taught social studies. She made it fun and easy,” he said. Roulette’s favorite lesson was one where his classmates had to act like British and American spies during the American Revolution. Roulette seemingly remembers every detail of how he and his peers scoured the entire school for enemy troops. Even more impressive was how his narrative of the lesson reflected a deep understanding of not only the tactics but the history of the American Revolution.

“She was just a great teacher and I was glad to have her,” said Roulette.

Students have enjoyed many lessons this year, such as reenacting the battle of Lexington and Concord, creating models of famous Tennesseans using potato chip cans and designing cell models for a “Top Cell Model Competition.”

Wagner will receive a fellowship of $2,000 to use for professional development, and another $1,500 for humanities textbooks at the school. She will use the $2,000 for trips to Boston and New York to learn more about these significant colonial period cities. Wagner’s trip will include visits to museums and historic sites as well as a Mt. Vernon workshop on archaeology.

“I’m glad she’s getting awarded for things she’s doing everyday,” said principal Deborah Craig. “She’s very creative and always provides an enriched curriculum. This award will just add to the enrichment and give her financial backing for her projects.”