InTime Publicity

TK teacher offers high-tech lesson to other educators

The chalkboard in Jerry Robinson's Thornapple Kellogg High School classroom is something of a relic — overshadowed by the computer monitors, PowerPoint presentations and big television screens.

Technology is Robinson's way of making his lessons lively and giving students the skills they need in the real world.

Students who want to boost their grades in Robinson's government and geography classes can play "Who Wants Some Extra Credit," his version of the prime-time game show "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire."

Quiz reviews are done in a spin-off of the popular quiz show "Jeopardy!" with students selecting categories from the computer and answering questions based on their lessons.

As a government teacher, Robinson has found ways of enlivening the classroom through technology.

And because of his resourcefulness in technology education, Robinson was selected as one of 50 teachers nationwide to have one of his classes taped. The tape will be used as a national training tool for young teachers and student teachers.

The program is called Integrating New Technologies Into the Methods of Education Video Participation. The University of Northern Iowa received a $1.6 million federal grant to help future teachers learn how to use technology in the classroom.

Teachers and future teachers with access to the World Wide Web will be able to view video scenarios of good ways to use technology in the classroom.

Teachers videotaped for the program were selected because of their exemplary use of technology to help children process information and team content, which is more than reading, writing and arithmetic, but also learning skills necessary to be a thinking citizen.

"Technology is what's happening to day," said Robinson, a fifth-year teacher at Thornapple Kellogg High School. "It's the world.

"You can get on the Internet any time you want and have access to all kinds of information."

The video of Robinson's freshman civics and world geography class will be made in May. By this fall, it will be available for training purposes and on the Internet.

According to Robinson, the video will show his students working on a project about planning a European vacation. The project includes establishing a budget researching destinations, finding the best rates on air fares and hotels, and learning about each of the, countries that the students wish to visit.

"It gives them hands-on skills," Robinson said of the project. "And it incorporates a lot of other skills like math - converting the money, setting up a budget and that kind of thing."

Students also will make a presentation of their European vacation plans, showing their peers exactly what sites they wish to visit, the costs and the travel times.

Robinson's video" for the University of Northern Iowa will be one of the first 25 made. A second round of 25 videos probably will be available by the end of the year or early in 2001.

Robinson said it is important for teachers to realize the possibilities of technology and bring experiences into the classrooms. He is working on an educational technology graduate certificate at Western Michigan University and hopes to pursue a master's degree in educational technology next fall.

The $1.6 million federal grant to the University of Northern Iowa is one of 22 grants from the U.S. Department of Education's Catalyst Grants for Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology.

While Northern Iowa is the lead school in the three-year project, collaborating universities are Eastern Michigan, Emporia State, Longwood College and Southeast Missouri State.

By Julie Makarewicz

The Grand Rapids Press, 4/13/2000