Concluding Report
Submitted to :
Sara Schrire - English Projects / CET
by :
Simona Silberwasser- English teacher
Arnon Levi- Computer teacher
Ort Hashomron Binyamina

The general idea of the CeT-link was to produce an on-line interschool English magazine, an electronic magazine. Little did we know what it would eventually look like. It was rather abstract since neither of us, teachers, had an Internet connection or had ever used computer communication before. Despite our concerns, Arnon never worried. He was confident because he was familiar with the technical side in general and the windows/word programs in particular. We would like to point out that we find the combination of an English teacher and a computer teacher essential. It was beneficial in terms of the professional/interdisciplinary educational work since we complemented each other. In addition, taking part in a pilot project featured by innovative, experimental ideas requires a great deal of daring, will power and belief. Therefore, we needed each other’s support and collaboration in order to achieve good results.

The idea of the CeT-link was explained and presented to the pupils using the CET’s

power point presentation. That was done by the English teacher. At that point things

were still abstract because we talked about concepts such as: on line support, virtual

reporters’ cafe which are related to the Internet, a tool which wasn’t accessible in the

computer room. We did have one connection at the time which served about 1,400 pupils in the main school library. This created a lot of frustration. Meanwhile the principal promised that he would get the necessary equipment and indeed he was making efforts on all sides to obtain the budget.

In order to clarify more the idea of the magazine, Simona formed a special page with

basic questions and answers concerning the project (See Appendix 1).

The following stage was a computerized happening which we organized at school. The

“party” as the pupils called it later in their article “Ort Hashomron participation in the

CeT- link project”(Column: News and Views) consisted of a mini course given by Arnon

in which he taught express Windows/Word in one afternoon. Some of the pupils were

familiar with the programs to different degrees. We felt there was a need to bring everyone up to the same level.line. The whole event had a festive nature as the kids brought  refreshments and celebrated the break in the teachers’ room. For doing this we needed the parents’ permission. (See Appendix 2).

During that afternoon some of the kids were impatient because at least 15 were a little

bored and in general it was too much theory for them. They needed more hands on

practice. Our conclusion is that we should have done things differently, meaning work in

smaller groups and at a smaller pace. Here we need to point out that our pupils were

relatively young- We chose grade 8-an advanced English group- for the project.

The following activity involved Arnon’s general explanation about the Internet. In

addition, in the regular English class one pupil gave a lecture on the Internet. Everything

was done in theory since we couldn’t take the whole class to the library and there was a

technical problem due to which is was not possible to show the CeT-link site off line.

More about the Internet stage- the project teachers had a session on the Internet, search engines, treasure hunt, critical reading of resources and so on. At that stage, Simona used  the work pages and unfortunately it couldn’t be done otherwise. The pages were handed out in class instructing and directing the pupils as to what had to be done either at the school library or at home (for those who had connections). Then we split the class. Arnon took half the class to the library to show and explain again the Internet. Simona would  take 2,3 pupils whenever she had time to show the Internet , the CeT-link site and its different sections . At the same time, once a week, we would take the whole class into the computer room, where they started typing their articles by typing them. They were still getting to know the word processor and practicing it at that stage. It was a beginning. As teachers we felt as green as most of the pupils because we were lacking in knowledge about the Internet.

In the library we were showing the site seeing section in the reporters’ cafe and search

engines trying to encourage the use of such information sources for the articles. We

believe we didn’t do so well at that stage because of the limitations and because of the

fact that some of the pupils started becoming impatient. Nevertheless, we never gave up and carried on despite the difficulties. After all, we knew that about 12-15 pupils had

internet connections at home and the others or most of the others were being helped by

the “experts”. There was an attempt to divide them into groups. It worked in some cases

but eventually they were given the liberty to be with whoever they wanted to. Simona felt

that might even encourage them and make them really feel like getting into the real work.

The next step was the writing in the Discussion forum in the reporters’ cafe. Simona

continually encouraged the students to enter their comments, requests and use the forum as a communication tool with the other schools and among themselves.

Under the influence of this project, Simona with Arnon’s help purchased a more advanced computer and connected to the net. This was really helpful, as she could monitor what the pupils wrote and react whenever they went out of line. Moreover, she found herself very active in the teachers’ discussion forum and keen on the net in general. She thinks that once you take part in such a project, you must have a connection at home. The pupils started to relate to her in their messages in the discussion forum and even sent her e-mails.

There was a great teacher-pupils dialogue. Simona : "The project brought us closer and

the communication was educational in a broad respect English being just a tool, the notes which created the whole, the music. It had to do with ideas, opinions, ethical behavior codes on the Internet, (which was very much emphasized at that stage,) and personal touch. Isn’t it what whole language is about ?" The content of the pupils entries in the discussion forum was relevant to the project and the creation of the articles. They used the different sections on the forum in the right way . Although they abused it once or twice, which Simona and the project directors dealt with in an educational manner, we

think that they did a great job. We find that part of the project very successful.

During all that time we would still go to the computer room where the pupils typed in their

articles trying now to integrate the materials which they found in their searches at the

library or at home. We were lenient about articles that didn’t contain Internetic sources.

It was a compromise since we wanted as many pupils as possible to be active and take

part in the making of the CeT-link. Therefore, Simona accepted articles which were

simply written by the students during the computer hours. We couldn’t demand more

from all the students considering the limitations at our school.

In December we took three pupils to our meeting at CET. They were taught the HTML

language and were supposed to teach other pupils in their class. We think this was a very nice and useful idea. We think that in that meeting there should have been more interaction between the students from the different schools, which could be helpful in the on line communication between them. We found that this element was lacking in the teachers’ meetings as well. We wish there had been more interaction among the project teachers.

We think that this should be worked out a little better considering the fact that there are

only five meetings and that sometimes not everyone shows up. The pupils who were at

CET had a nice experience. There were two boys and a girl. The girl never taught anyone the HTML language perhaps because she ’t understand it so well . The boys, however, were much more active. One of them ,in fact, did a lot of HTMLing. At school, the boys were trying to teach HTML and managed only with a few boys. Then Arnon took each time half the class to show and teach HTML. Again, the lmitation of time (45 min a

week) didn’t help, but eventually about 7 boys learned HTML . Some on them HTMLed

their articles only and others including the two boys who were at CET really helped with

the HTML part.

The pupils started submitting their drafts. Simona would make corrections and they

submitted second drafts and so on until she approved the articles. Then the articles were given to the HTMLers. We had about 20 articles. It was time to send them to CET

(@rifraf) This had to be done from the library. It didn’t work smoothly, the kids didn’t

manage to send everything. Therefore, Simona invited them to her house where they did some more HTML work and sent the articles they didn’t manage to send from school.

Some of the articles, though, were sent directly from the pupils’ personal computers at

home.

At last we received the approval for more telephone lines so the computer room was now equipped with an Internet connection. Things were looking up. We were able to

send articles from the computer room as well and use the Internet. This could be done

whenever pupils went to the computer room voluntarily . The 45 min was certainly not

enough.

When the CeT-link went officially on line, we invited the JH school headmistress and all

the grade 8 home room teachers to show them the site. The students were very

enthusiastic. It was very exciting to see their work on the Internet. The teachers were

full of admiration and the students full of pride. That was a nice celebration. The project

was publicized in a local newspaper and we also wrote announcements which were hung on various bulletin boards around the school.

The Reviews stage. We would like to present here our project progress report which

was on the discussion forum in the teachers’ virtual room:

The Subject : Project Progress in Ort

Written by : Simona & Arnon

School Name: Ort Binyamina

The Message:

We had a CeT-link session a day after our meeting at the CET. I wrote the following

report the same day immediately after the lesson: 20-2-97 : In our last CeT-link session we had a discussion on peer evaluation. Since we have only 45 min I decided to have a frontal lesson and get the criteria for evaluation from the students by asking them what elements one should consider when "judging" an "internetic" article. In addition (with Arnon's help)

I used a transviewer and a screen to show one of the articles as a cue. It all worked very

efficiently. The pupils came up with all the criteria which were written on the white board.

Then we went over the review form which was presented on the screen. We talked about writing constructive criticism rather than nasty remarks. I also encouraged the students to see the positive aspects in articles they review explaining that positive aspects can be found in each and every article.

In order to avoid unpleasantness, I prepared handouts of the forms. Each two pupils

received a form. By next Thursday they have to review at least one article, fill in the form

in writing and hand it in for approval. If what they do is ok, their reviews can be submitted on line. I hope it goes well.

27-2-97 : Not all the pupils had their forms filled in. However, some did bring the forms.

That day we submitted a few reviews which I managed to go over and approve. Three or four pupils gathered around the internet computer while the reviews were being

submitted. There was a lot of noise and excitement. I was busy with those who were

sending the reviews. The other pupils were supposed to type in their articles/drafts, but not everybody was doing that. It was more of a social gathering, but I didn't mind.

When I checked the other reviews, I came to the conclusion that the pupils truly got the

message and understand the spirit of the project. After having checked all their reviews I realized that they were ready to submit reviews. In one of their reviews the kids wrote

some positive things about a certain article but eventually gave it a sad face. On 2.3.97

during our regular English class we had a heated discussion about that. Two or three

pupils started arguing with me about that, but I think that by the end of the lesson they

were convinced that one should be more sensitive. I was trying to convey a message

about being sensitive to other pupils' work and efforts as well as to their feelings. I was

even being emotional about it. One of the pupils who circled the sad face approached me at the end of the lesson and said that he would change it. During that lesson someone raised the issue of how difficult it is to be obejective when you know the person who wrote the article.

On the whole, I felt all our talking was beneficial contributing a lot to the kids'

understanding and to instilling the value of tolerance and respect for one another.

The following lesson I explicitly told the kids that I trusted them to freely submit their

reviews and so some of them did. I hope they're not being insensitive.

Last Thursday we didn't have the computer room because of school matters. A math

teacher had to have the room. Since I knew about this ahead of time I informed the kids

and asked them to bring their drafts/plans for the new or revised articles. Most of them

came with the material , got together in pairs /groups and started discussing their articles.

In addition to that, I prepared hand outs of the "Review, revision and writing of new

articles" from the work station in the reporters' cafe. This was read out loud to complete

the whole picture and reinforce again the nature of the reviewing work. It also gave a

chance to speak about deadlines so now they are well aware of it.

I sense that my pupils are anxious about writing and improving and the project in general. I think Uri's article about the internet is a good example of that. They started asking if they would carry on with the project when they are in grade 9. I said that they would. Two kids whose mothers are teachers in our school asked me to persuade their mothers to buy computers and to connect to the internet.

At a certain stage, I think it was after checking their written reviews and after discussing

the sad face ,I felt a bit of guilt for being suspicious and wanting to have everything safe.

Nevertheless, we went through a healthy process which was good for the students and

for me as well. I don't regret it.

As you can see, the pupils wrote reviews. This was done from the library, the computer

room and from home. We think that the process described in the progress report was

positive. Through the discussion on the criteria for evaluating the articles we managed to reinforce the features of an “internetic” article. Thus the pupils could really assimilate the requirements and implement them in their next articles.

The second wave articles: The writing process consisting of the searches, the inserting of pictures and links, the knowledge on HTML became easier and more concrete to most of the pupils. They certainly improved their work as well as their English. Although we still had problems such as being disconnected because the telephone bills were huge and having to accomplish all the end of school year activities, the students managed to produce some more articles of a high standard. Again, we were at a stage of having no connection in the computer room. The students were really great considering the circumstances.

Here is another project progress report we wrote at that stage:

The Subject : Project Progress (2)

Written by : Simona & Arnon

School Name : Ort Hashomron

The Message:
 

Our pupils in Het are working on their articles and they seem to take it very seriously. As

you could probably see, the first article has been sent (Tomb raider). Simona has now at home three more articles to go over. (first and second drafts).Another ais almost

finished and it's about IRC -written by Uri Maor. His article will be of interest especially

for those who are at that stage with the Internet. The computer room is not very efficient

even though the kids like going there and typing parts of their articles. We don't always feel at ease because the lesson ends so fast. There is always a little group of students who don't accomplish anything and just play. Many pupils mostly do the work from their

homes. We don't have much time. Simona is going to miss at least two meetings due to

her involvement in the Oral Bagrut Exam.

Even at this stage after we achieved so much and especially since we now realize what

this is all about we wish:

1. We had faster computers.

2. We had each computer connected to the internet.

3.We had two hours a week for the project.
 

The class is too big and we in Ort did the impossible. We should consider opening it for

those who really are interested though we're not sure. This has to be discussed with the

principal of our school. In any event, there are definitely going to be some new good

articles from Ort Hashomron. They were asked to show me the first drafts before

Pessach-only 5 or 6 did so. "I'm convinced they will have more articles by the beginning

of May."

Overall, we think that the CeT-link project is great. It certainly improved

the pupils’ English .It gave them a sense of pride. It also exposed them

to the most advanced hi-tech information technologies which served them

beautifully as a path to becoming independent learners and searchers of

information. The writing process required a sifting of the information

obtained from the internet and other sources. The graphic elements such as

pictures, color, different fonts gave a wonderful opportunity to experience

the artistique aspect. This work being of a different nature from the usual school

syllabus provided a stimulus for the students and teachers alike. We find the

work really meaningful in terms of teaching and educating in general as it was

not just writing articles in English, it was a whole production. When you

work on a production, it brings people closer and in this case strengthens the

bonds between pupils and teachers which may sometimes be grey and

routine.

The project was a pilot and as such it had some problems in general. For

example, the Internet session was too short and we didn’t manage to get

the whole idea. There should have been more interaction between the

different schools. (teachers/students). In addition, we had our local technical

limitations which presented enormous difficulties. Our principal supported

the project and was a man of vision. He kept encouraging us although he

was not completely sure about getting the needed sum of money.

As to ourselves, as I already mentioned in the opening, we encouraged each

other and devoted a lot of work and time to the project. We really hope that

the school will carry on with the CeT-link next year. However, our

conditions must be improved in order to achieve even better results and

expand the scope of the project.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people in CET with

whom we worked closely and who were always there for us professionally

and personally.