The Beginning:

At the beginning of the unit, we decided that the first thing we needed to do was to develop a set of understanding goals from which to work. Together, we determined what we most wanted the students to understand about desktop publishing (which you can see in the Understanding Goals section of this picture), and then we decided that Kirsten would do the actual teaching of content one day per week so Susan could learn the basic desktop publishing skills along with the students. Together we planned the individual weekly lessons, covering specific aspects of each program that built on each other. The students had very specific assignments and learning goals to accomplish each week to ensure that they could move on to the next application and/or skill required for completion of the final product.

When we met each Sunday for a few hours to plan, we would start out thinking about Teaching for Understanding and how to establish our goals for following week. But we always seemed to digress from TfU to language that seemed more natural and to more basic conversation about how to respond to this behavior problem or that language problem. It was frustrating because it often seemed that there were many other variables having to do with basic classroom survival more than solid learning goals. It was a struggle to find the right balance between trying to work TfU into our classroom practice versus simply trying to keep kids in the class and help them understand what we were saying.

Our Learning Environment:

The Mac lab at the Burke is set up with machines all around the periphery of the room and a large table in the center. Initially we had a hard time showing students how to use different applications. If we gave students handouts, many of them could not read the text. If we tried to lecture, students who did not understand English would stop paying attention after a few minutes. We could not demonstrate software for the entire class because the computer screen was too small.

So we requested the use of a 36" television monitor that the school had ordered and purchased an Apple Presentation System (currently costing less than $100). This allowed us to connect one of the classroom computers to the large display screen that all students could see.

We then spent the first 15-30 minutes of each class with students gathered around the large table for instruction and demonstration on the large screen. The students did a great job of paying attention for this period and as time went on, they began coming up to the computer one at a time and actually performing the tasks Kirsten was teaching. It became a very active "instruction" session by the end of the semester as students took more control of the teaching. After the 30 minutes of instruction and demonstration, we explained the performance of understanding to the students. The students were given handouts that Kirsten created in PageMaker, Word, Photoshop, and Illustrator, which explained the steps for their lessons. After this period of direct instruction, the students had forty minutes to work individually at their computers. During this time, we were able to make our way around the room to help students with their individual questions. Because of the direct instruction, Susan knew the skills and could help the students. Many of the students also ended up helping their peers, so much more was accomplished each day. We were able to practice ongoing assessment because the students were actually completing assignments each week and these assignments served to build the foundation for two major products that the students produced before the end of the term.

Challenges:

Adobe Illustrator is a professional freehand drawing application that the Burke had purchased for use in Desktop Publishing. No one in the school knew how to use Illustrator, and no manuals were purchased for the class, so it was not being used. Susan had participated in a brief seminar on the application last year and was impressed with its possibilities. She wanted to incorporate it into her class and thought the students would be able to create great work with it. Kirsten wanted to learn all about it simply because she had never used it but knew it was an industry standard. Ultimately Kirsten's greatest challenge in terms of using new technologies was mastering Illustrator enough to teach it to the students. Kirsten borrowed the software and the one tutorial Susan had from her workshop and spent 40 - 50 hours doing every single step in the book. She saw the possibilities for the program and realized that it was extremely complex in its functions. Kirsten found herself getting very frustrated throughout the process of going through the tutorial and it kept making her wonder how the students would handle the program if it was hard for her. She wondered if she should find something more basic for them instead of working with Illustrator, but then she kept thinking that she just had to learn enough to teach them how to do some basic drawing and then they would figure out more things on their own. Her students in the past had always taught her that they are capable of just as much, if not more, than she is at any time. After two days of doing nothing but working with Illustrator, she had figured out how to draw and paint some basic artwork. She had enough to entice the students and to get them going on their own. After she managed to learn the skills, she was mad at herself for even considering something less powerful than Illustrator. Anything less complicated would also have fewer opportunities for advanced learning. In the end, Kirsten was able to teach the students in one week, the concepts it took her 40 hours to learn, and the students had less trouble than her because Susan and Kirsten were there to facilitate and answer questions.

One of the big challenges in this unit was in helping students understand how to express their own thoughts and feelings in the products they published. Part of the challenge was for us to focus on helping students present their ideas when it was sometimes so difficult just to get them to complete any project at all. Another part of the challenge was getting kids to recognize what was appropriate to say in a card that would come from the school to the whole community. We told the students that their cards should represent their own messages, but one student wrote a rap poem that was inappropriate and we felt it could not be published. The student was upset and said that he had met the criteria of expressing his true thoughts and feelings. We went through a class session on the issue of writing appropriately for specific audiences, but it didn't solve the problem with that one student. Another student did write a rap that presented similar ideas and emotions, but without totally offensive language; his was one of the most powerful cards.

Onto:

• What New Technology Adds