8/16/92 -- 8:00:06 PM Opening "LOG0816" for recording. CHAT LOG FOR APPLE // EDUCATION CHAT HELD 8/16/92... Negotiator : Hi, Bard. AFA Bard : YUP... the topic is "open chat" -- got any wonderful ideas you'd like to chat about? Negotiator : I don't know where to begin. We just had our first chairmen's meeting on Friday and we are Negotiator : gearing up for the coming school year AFA Bard : Any technology plans for the coming year yet? AFA Bard : Welcome *** Gayle ***! [][][] AFL Gayle : Hi, Bob and Bard! :) Negotiator : Tooter has been appointed head of our regional technology committee. Now we will get things done! AFA Bard : That should shake things up, for sure! Any sign of some money to help you support technology this AFA Bard : year? Negotiator : Maybe. Too soon to tell AFA Bard : What are your hopes for technology this year, Bob? MaryEz : Hi, How are you all? AFA Bard : Welcome Mary!!!! [][][][][] AFL Gayle : Hi, Mary! :) MaryEz : Just got back from Pennsylvania! Visiting our son. Negotiator : We are doing more with video - We started to produce a one hour cable access show each month for the school AFA Bard : Any video-computer interface for titles or animation yet? Negotiator : I think we did 5 shows. Negotiator : We want to interface the video and computer but need hardware. The first proposal was shot down AFL Gayle : Welcome, Daniel! :) AFA Bard : Welcome to AED, Daniel! DanielC66 : Hi, any special topic? AFA Bard : Open chat tonight, Dan. What's on your mind? AFL Gayle : Open Topic tonight, Daniel. What do you want to talk about? :) AFL Gayle : We also have a free hour to give away tonight. DanielC66 : I'm really interested in technology in education, and another issue, inclusion. AFL Gayle : Hi, DC! :) Glad to see another Tar Heel! :) AFA Bard : Welcome to AED, DCBrower! It's an open chat - jump in whenever you can! DCBrower : OK! AFL Gayle : What do you mean by inclusion, Daniel? DanielC66 : AKA...Mainstreaming..... it's the new "BUZZ WORD" AFL Gayle : Oh, OK. Are you for or against inclusion? DCBrower : It's also meant to "include" multicultural education, too DanielC66 : Don't Nail me to the cross yet, I just think that the problem is... AFA Bard : Hi Saul! Welcome to AED. AFL Gayle : Hi, SC! :) Teacher sc : HI! DCBrower : Inclusion is great, but it generally doesn't affect a good teacher's way oflife Negotiator : What is your particular interest in mainstreaming, Dan? DanielC66 : Public education should not be molded on every student. AFL Gayle : Saul, we'll get to your question in just a minute. :) AFA Bard : DC, what doyou mean by "affect a good teacher's way of life?" Teacher sc : Understood! DanielC66 : How can a classroom teacher without a special ed background be held accountable DanielC66 : for special ed students? DCBrower : A good teacher does all that inclusion stuff as a matter of course MaryEz : Daniel, don't you consult and collaborate with the special ed staff in your school? DanielC66 : Yes, but I think you know what I mean. AFA Bard : DC, does inclusion help or hinder a "good" classroom teacher? DCBrower : Yeah DCBrower : The hardest part of teaching is finding something to teach everyone DCBrower : Mainstreaming makes that harder, of course MaryEz : My concern is, "Is this just a way to eliminate some positions, save money budget wise, and leave DanielC66 : When four or five students are at the ends of the spectrum, coded, IEP's, and MaryEz : it in the lap of the classroom teacher?" DCBrower : It can be a mess, sure... Negotiator : We have the special ed teachers come into our classrooms on a regular basis to help. DanielC66 : you may or may not have qualified aids, what is the teacher to do? AFA Bard : Makes you wonder if we're doing what's best for the student, huh? DanielC66 : We are in trasition with a self-contained special ed room and inclusion. DCBrower : You bet... some say that it's not in best interest of deaf students to be main DCBrower : for example DanielC66 : There is talk of the classroom teachers becoming case managers for students as DanielC66 : well. Negotiator : I find that some special ed kids are more highly motivated to do well, and do! MaryEz : All but the most severe have been mainstreamed for some time in our schools. DCBrower : how does it work? DanielC66 : It is always hard to meet the needs of your "regular" students (24-27) which MaryEz : The specialist works with the reg ed teacher and classroom aides to implement the IEP. DanielC66 : includes the students who can't get coded. MaryEz : Some of our classes this year will have 28 kids (6th grade). DanielC66 : Now give us IEP's and behavioral disorders....... Negotiator : I think before long we will be having IEPs for all kids, for each kid is special and has special needs DCBrower : All together now ... let's hear it for paperwork! MaryEz : More and more are having problems each year. DanielC66 : I can go that way, but it's this middle of the road stuff that hurts the kids DanielC66 : the most. AFA Bard : I agree Negotiator (Bob) - IEPs for all kids are right around the corner. Hopefully, technology will Negotiator : Yes, more problems are appearing each year AFA Bard : help us manager this paperwork nightmare. :) Negotiator : Computer technology will help us with the IEPs DanielC66 : Vt. I believe will be the model with the portfolio grading system. DCBrower : (My wife says Hi from North Carolina!) AFL Gayle : Don't be sure of that, Bard. Our Exceptional Children's teachers had a program DanielC66 : HI from the live free or die state! AFL Gayle : that helped automate the IEPs. The new consultant at the BOE has banned it. MaryEz : When I was at Southern CT. ST. College in late 1970's, mainstreaming was the hot topic. It has Negotiator : Why? AFA Bard : Daniel, you may be right. Several school systems are using a portfolio assessment program called the Negotiator : Why, Gayle? AFA Bard : Grady Management System. Not IEP-like, but very effective. MaryEz : taken almost 15 years to get it into the schools. AFL Gayle : She hates computers. She hasn't given any reason. DanielC66 : What about site-based management for schools..... We've tried it. AFA Bard : Happening now in our district, too, Dan. DCBrower : I think it's a great idea! AFA Bard : It certainly has its plusses and minuses. DanielC66 : It works well, but we hired a principal because we needed representation at the DanielC66 : front office. AFA Bard : Does "we" mean teachers had input in the decision to hire a person for principal? DanielC66 : But she really allows us to create the agenda and run staff meetings. DCBrower : Is anyone working in a year-round school? (Bad name, by the way) DanielC66 : Yes, our principal left half way through the year and the teachers ran the DanielC66 : school. We were going to call ourselves POW principals of the week AFA Bard : LOL! Teachers running the school - what a concept! DanielC66 : but we changed to AOW's administrators of the week. DanielC66 : It wasn't luck, it was a lot of hard work. AFA Bard : Welcome to AED, Grady! It's an OPEN CHAT. Right now we're talking about site-based management and AFA Bard : year-round schools. DanielC66 : I wrot about it in the NEA debate page awhile ago. DanielC66 : "e" DCBrower : I'd prefer to call it "distributed vacation" schedule, instead of year-round... AFA Bard : DC.. do YOU know anyone in a "distributed" vacation school? DanielC66 : please........ DCBrower : No -- DanielC66 : Navada has that type of schedule. AFA Bard : Is it working there, Dan? AFL Gayle : Two schools in the county I live in have just started a pilot of year round AFL Gayle : schools. (using what they call it.) DCBrower : A few schools in NC have it, and it plays havoc with everyone's summer plans AFA Bard : 45 on and 15 off, Gayle? AFL Gayle : Of course, all of the press on it so far has been positive. DanielC66 : Don't know too much about it. I don't like to pack up and move many times a DanielC66 : year. AFL Gayle : I think so, Bard. AFA Bard : Wonder what it would be like to TEACH in that kind of system... DCBrower : I WANT to AFL Gayle : Two elementary (K-5) schools. All volunteered for the pilot. Supposedly, they AFA Bard : Why, DC? AFL Gayle : have a long waiting list to get in. DanielC66 : Teachers could/should extend their contracrs for staff development, but the DanielC66 : students might not need to extend their year. DCBrower : It would settle the students down to a regular life, instead of off again, on a DCBrower : gain AFL Gayle : This is in NC, as DC mentioned. New Hanover County (Wilmington, in the AFL Gayle : southeastern part of the state.) AFA Bard : Has the curriculum changed, too, Gayle - or just the schedule? DanielC66 : Doing more of the same (year round) will not make education better. AFA Bard : GMTA, Dan. :) DCBrower : It's not more, only moved around so that there isn't a big gap June-Aug AFL Gayle : The curriculum is the same. In fact, only part of the 2 schools are year round. DanielC66 : I think the quote is.."We are doing a great job preparing our students for AFL Gayle : Part of those same schools are still traditional. DanielC66 : aworld that does not exist." AFA Bard : LOL, Dan! Or... "a world that DID exist." :) AFL Gayle : One or two classes per grade are year round. AFA Bard : Gayle... how does that work with parents with kids in both year round and traditional school. Sounds AFA Bard : like chaos to me. DanielC66 : How often do these chats take place? It's a good place to "vent" & Share ideas. AFL Gayle : Can't really say yet, Bard. They just started July 15. The parents elected to AFA Bard : WEEKLY, Dan! AFL Gayle : have their kids go to the year round school. None were placed in the year AFL Gayle : round school who didn't ask for placement. AFA Bard : OIC - that was a good move. DCBrower : Even the students get bored with summer -- those Tom Sawyer days are over, man! AFL Gayle : These chats take place every Sunday from 8-9 pm ET. AFL Gayle : Please come often. :) DanielC66 : Thanks! :) AFA Bard : Welcome YerSoBad (great screenname!) AFL Gayle : "To vent and share ideas" are some of the purposes of these chats. :) DanielC66 : Scared him away! AFA Bard : LOL! DanielC66 : AFA? ...AFL? AFA Bard : Yes, we vent quite alot sometimes. :) Let's hope someone doesn't mention PAYDAY. :) DCBrower : Oh no! AFA Bard : AFL = America Online Forum Leader, AFA = AOL Forum Assistant DanielC66 : What's that -------> Pay day???????????????? AFA Bard : hahahahahha... seriously - it SEEMS to bet getting a bit better, no? AFA Bard : bet=be DanielC66 : Just received my masters in technology (elementary ed.) Any positions open? DCBrower : Congratulations AFA Bard : Congrats, Dan! Good luck in the great job search of 1992! AFL Gayle : Getting better, Bard? Guess GA legislators are more generous than ours. DanielC66 : Actually Masters in Ed, Technology is the specialty. AFA Bard : Did you folks get a raise this year, Gayle? AFL Gayle : Congrats, Daniel! I don't know of any jobs open around here. Where did you get AFL Gayle : your degree from? DanielC66 : Plymouth State College AFA Bard : We got a hefty 3 percent. hahahaha DanielC66 : That's 3% more than we got! DCBrower : NC increased salaries by $500 per year (2%) Negotiator : We go 9%, last of of 3 yr contract AFL Gayle : Don't complain, Bard! Ours is 2% or less. AFA Bard : NINE percent, Bob? How do salaries in CT now rank nationally? AFL Gayle : And that is after years and years of no raises while inflation skyrocketed. Negotiator : First DanielC66 : Well, thanks for the time, I have to leave now. E-mail with anything AFL Gayle : Ahead of Alaska now, Bob? Negotiator : Yes DanielC66 : you would like to discuss. AFA Bard : First! If it weren't for Mississippi, we'd be at the bottom. :) AFA Bard : Daniel -- please join us next week! Great to meet ya! DanielC66 : Thanks, for the chat :) DCBrower : Bye Daniel AFL Gayle : Gee, Bard. That's nothing to brag about. ;) Why is it the south is always in AFL Gayle : the basement? Sigh... AFA Bard : True, Gayle. Guess we'z jus' dumb? ROTFL Negotiator : It's cheaper to live in the south. I know, my parents live in Florida DCBrower : ??????? AFA Bard : Florida is NOT in the South -- it's a suburb of New York City. :))) AFL Gayle : That's true, but not as cheap as the difference in our salaries! AFL Gayle : Go ahead with your question, DC. DCBrower : I'd like to find out how many "master teachers" in other states were trained Negotiator : Your shoes cost 1/2 of ours; food is cheaper; cars about the same; housing less than 1/2 DCBrower : in the south AFA Bard : Hiya Andy! AFA Andy :Hello All AFL Gayle : Don't know, DC. I was trained in the North and moved South. DCBrower : Any stats? Would be tough, but useful to take to legislatures like ours AFA Bard : Andy, we're comparing salaries in South & rest of country. Negotiator just got a 9% raise! AFA Andy : Hello all! AFA Andy : Great! AFA Andy : <--- still hasn't found a job yet. :/ AFL Gayle : Sorry to hear that, Andy. :( AFA Bard : Seems like that information might be available from state departments of Ed, DC. DCBrower : But what a job! AFA Bard : True! DCBrower : Gotta go -- thanks for the time! AFA Bard : DC -- drop by any Sunday at 8:00 PM ET. Glad you stopped in! Negotiator : Bard, I know you are looking for software recommendations. I just bought MathType - Looks good AFA Bard : Bob - thanks for the recs. Have you seen MathWriter? Negotiator : Nope AFA Bard : S'posed to be good - same type of program. Anyone out there heard of new A2 software coming from AFA Bard : Scholastic or Davidson? Negotiator : This software has many math symbols, you can change fonts, letter size AFL Gayle : I think they're both concentrating on the Mac now, Bard. (Davidson, the IBM, AFL Gayle : too.) AFA Bard : :( AFA Bard : Did I hear you say we've got a FREE HOUR to give away tonight, Gayle? AFL Gayle : In fact, I read somewhere that only MECC is bringing out new A2 software. AFL Gayle : Right you are, Bard. AFL Gayle : Still a little early for that. :) Negotiator : Drum roll! AFA Andy : I think that's right, Gayle. AFA Bard : I heard that too, Gayle. MECC did release several new titles for the Apple II this year. AFA Bard : Hiya Fish! AFA Andy : Hi Fish! Fish24 : HI all Fish24 : I didn't realize this was Apple 11 education Fish24 : I teach Mac to kids AFL Gayle : That's OK, Fish. We welcome all. :) AFA Bard : That's OK, Fish.. please join in! Negotiator : This is everything to do with ed., Fish Fish24 : I volunteer at the Hoboken Public Library Fish24 : What are you talking about ? AFA Bard : What the favorite software at the library, Fish? Fish24 : Kid Pix and hypercard Fish24 : KNow them AFL Gayle : It's an Open Topic tonight, Fish, so we're talking about several different AFL Gayle : things. AFL Gayle : Where is the computer located, Fish? In the Children's Dept.? Fish24 : Yes.It is a donated Mac ll.THey also have a llGS that I haven't seen yet AFA Bard : Seen Kid Pix Companion yet? Fish24 : Nope,what is it ? AFA Bard : Slide Show and other extentions for Kid Pix. Wonderful! Also -- get HYPERSTUDIO for that IIgs! Negotiator : What kinds of programs for kids concerning computers does the library have, Fish? Fish24 : Programs as far as official ones to teach them ? Negotiator : Yes. Or, is it just informal? Negotiator : Word processing? Data retrieval? CD rom? Fish24 : It's informal now.THey have the kids use them after school and on some weekends AFA Andy : I need to open up ABF. Night all, have a good week! Fish24 : I am suggesting that they get a CD-ROM Player AFL Gayle : Great suggestion, Tom! :) Negotiator : How do the kids want to use the computer? What do they do with it? Fish24 : THere are people that tell me one local school is setting up an e-mail student network Fish24 : I try to let them do what they want to and in the process show them what O know AFL Gayle : What age/grade are most of the users, Tom? AFC Tooter : Made it with seconds to spare!*Welcome* AFL Gayle : Hi, TooT! :) Fish24 : They are around fourth grade AFA Bard : Hiya ToooooooooooT! AFC Tooter : It's pouring rain. Sorry, don't want to interrupt. Negotiator : Long time no see, Toot (as you always say to me) AFA Bard : Here, too, Toot. AFC Tooter : Negotiator!!!!! Negotiator : Toot!!!!! AFL Gayle : Tom, to answer your question... yes, I'm a teacher. Actually, a school AFC Tooter : Bard!!!! Gayle!!!! AFL Gayle : librarian, grades K-9. AFA Bard : Time for the drum roll!!! Negotiator : No rain here, Ted. Just in your neck of the woods. AFL Gayle : We sent the rain to you, Ted. We were tired of it here. ;) AFL Gayle : Now is the time you've been waiting for... free hour announcement. However, AFL Gayle : first a commercial... Our secret word leads us to next word's topic... AFL Gayle : Planning Technology in a New School. Our "guest" is our own AFA Bard. :) AFA Bard : (::: bowing :::) AFL Gayle : We will have a free hour to give away next week, too. :) AFL Gayle : Our winner this week is none other than Negotiator! Negotiator : Yeeh! Yeah! Applause!! AFA Bard : Congratulations NEGOTIATOR!! We're also glad to have FISH, GRADY, & TOOT with us!!! AFL Gayle : He used the secret word, technology! :) Negotiator : I humbly accept. AFL Gayle : AED has a chat each week on Sunday from 8-9 pm ET. AFL Gayle : Thanks to all for coming tonight and participating in our chat! :) See you AFL Gayle : next week! :) AFA Bard : G'night folks... THANKS for visiting AED! Negotiator : Thank you, Gayle AFL Gayle : He was afraid you might start trying to throw him, TooT. ;) AFL Gayle : Sure, Bob! :) Glad to have you. Now I'm leaving to put in the request for your AFL Gayle : hour. :) AFA Bard : Nite, Gayle! Negotiator : Nite, Gayle AFL Gayle : Good night, all! Enjoy your vacation (those who still are lucky enough to have AFL Gayle : one! ;) 8/16/92 9:07:09 PM Closing Log file.