The Spring 2007 Classroom Grant judging is completed! Congratulations to ten lucky winners who will each receive over $3,700 in prizes. Click here to see the applications from the runner-up finalists!

Here are the grant applications of our five Grand Prize winning teachers.

Nann Thomson, New Britain High School

New Britain, CT

LESSON TITLE: Seeing is Understanding

I am a Family and Consumer Science teacher in an urban high school of 3300+ students. I teach a two-year culinary arts sequence using the National Restaurant Association’s ProStart curriculum. The text aptly describes the course content: “Becoming a Restaurant and Foodservice Professional”. Therefore my students are not only learning the basics of food preparation, but other topics like nutrition, sanitation and safety, business management, and preparing for a successful career. This diverse curriculum is an ideal platform for using technology to enhance student learning.

Fruit & Vegetable Project*, A Jigsaw
Learning Objectives:
By the end of the project students will:
• be able to effectively operate a digital camera, utilizing the Digital Camera Basics workbooks
• be able to effectively utilize MultiMedia Lab V software to create projects
• understand the characteristics of various vegetables and fruits, including their identification, uses, cost, physical characteristics, descriptions of flavor and integration in typical dishes
• create a poster using a digital camera and Tool Factory Workshop software
• create a slide or slides for integration into a MultiMedia Lab V presentation for the entire class to view and learn

Students will be introduced to the new technology available to our class at the beginning of the school year. In preparation for covering the chapter on Fruits and Vegetables, students will receive an assignment which will require them to hone research and writing skills, and utilize their new or developing skills in the use of technology. Students will visit a large local supermarket (some for the first time) to see the produce display. Through the cooperation of the manager of the local store, our students will be allowed to touch and photograph the produce, thus creating a permanent record of the visit and a visual means of identification of the foods. Students will use Multimedia Lab V to create a presentation, with their photographs illustrating the slides which contain text derived from their research.

The entire “jigsaw” slide presentation will be shared with all students in the class and made available to the other teachers in our department, who study fruits and vegetables in their Foods classes. The presentation can later be duplicated, and by editing out the name of each fruit or vegetable, can be made into a study/review tool for student viewing before their assessment on the material. (Or it can become an assessment tool itself.) Finally, using Tool Factory Workshop, a hard copy of the presentation can be published, which becomes another reference resource for the classroom.

*Please note: this same project outline can be used with other topics that our curriculum covers, such as “herbs and spices”, and kitchen equipment, particularly since students who aspire to being successful in the kitchen need to be introduced to many food products/equipment that they are unfamiliar with at the beginning of the course.

Each year a group of students from my classes compete in the Connecticut ProStart Invitational, either cooking (two identical dishes, within one hour, with no electrical appliances) or in a knowledge bowl. If successful, we compete in the national ProStart Invitational. In the culinary piece of this competition students have to prepare a three-course meal under the same conditions. The students are graded, inter alia, on how identical the two dishes (display and judging plates) in each course were prepared and plated. Having a digital camera and attendant software would allow the students to evaluate how well they were meeting this requirement during practices, as well as providing for post-practice discussion regarding the technical aspects of the platings and whether they should make changes to the presentation or garnish.

Having the technology available to my students will also allow them to complete other projects embedded in our curriculum, such as creating a resume (using Tool Factory Workshop). They can also incorporate photographs into their portfolios, which could be maintained digitally. They will be able to complete additional projects to reinforce their learning, such as illustrating appropriate and inappropriate dress for interviewing (using a digital camera and Tool Factory Workshop); creating cleaning schedules, job schedules and tracking food purchases, orders and sales in our kitchen (using Tool Factory Workshop); creating flyers, posters and menus for kitchen sales (using Tool Factory Workshop); and creating “Jeopardy”-like questions and answers for use in chapter reviews in a slide show format (using Tool Factory Workshop /Multimedia Lab V).

In an effort to utilize an authentic assessment of student learning, a two-hour portion of my students’ final exam is a food production assignment in the kitchen. A digital camera and attendant software would be invaluable to me as a teacher as assessment tools for recording students’ food preparation techniques and ability to mise en place.

I believe that the possible uses for the technology represented by this grant are nearly endless, and all of them would enhance the learning that takes place both inside and outside my classroom and kitchen. For the visual learners and special education students in my classes, they present another way to deliver instruction, which can help them succeed. I thank you for your consideration.

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Project Budget:
Bus: $53.00
Carrying Cases (3) @ $19.99, $59.97
P-11 Photo Printer $149.99
2 Print pack (ribbon and paper for 100 4x6 prints) $77.98
CD-R’s ~$40.00
CD Burner (external) ~$65.00
256 MB Memory Cards (3); @$90.00

Judges' Comments:

"I enjoyed this idea because the teacher has a clear vision of how to use the cameras and software. It is clear exactly how the students will benefit from the camera and software. "

"Cool project that has real life relevance. Utilizes the digital cameras in a way usually reserved for Art classes (smart!) "

Baton Rouge, LA

LESSON TITLE: CSI: Chemistry Student Investigators
Many of today’s students are intimidated by chemistry. Sure, they want to get into the lab to learn how to blow things up, but few enter the class with the confidence and courage needed to achieve skills necessary for success. For many chemistry students, chemistry is a massive wall and they feel that they do not possess the stamina needed to scale the wall. This attitude of fear or hopelessness sets a climate of failure for these students’ academic year. Throughout my years of teaching, I have witnessed these same fears place a stronghold on students’ science scores not only in chemistry, but also on the GEE21 Louisiana state exit test and the Scientific Reasoning portion of the ACT. I know that the more the students work with or manipulate the data that they generate, the more that they will understand data that is presented to them in the future. These fears are present when confidence is lacking. Students can build confidence through experience and experience through role playing in the laboratory. In the words of Bill Cosby’s Fat Albert, “If you’re not careful, you might just learn something.”

The CSI television series (three in all) are very popular across the nation and many careers have been pursued by interest generated through watching the exciting episodes. CSI: Chemistry Student Investigators gives students an answer to “When are we ever going to use this?” and “Why are we doing this?” By embedding chemistry content into scenarios that students must investigate, teachers can bypass the fears and tap into an already present interest.

CSI: Chemistry Student Investigators

Episode 1: Students are grouped into academically heterogeneous groups and don the persona of laboratory investigators. They are informed of the latest case that they will be working on. Student investigators must construct testable hypotheses and design the experiments which they will use in their investigation. These lab investigations will occur throughout the year and will be linked to the chemistry comprehensive curriculum GLEs. Topics will include density, substance identification, stoichiometry, percent composition, solution concentration, titrations of acids and bases, and organic chemistry and be presented to the laboratory investigators in the context of a mystery that they will solve through their experimentation. The student investigators perform their experiments, generate data that is collected with hand held computers, and take DIGITAL PHOTOS and MOVIE CLIPS of their procedures with OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAS. Software is loaded on the hand helds and along with TOOL FACTORY WORKSHOP WORD PROCESSING and MULTIMEDIA LAB V on school computers allows students to graph, make tables, memos, and notations for the next Episode of the project.

Episode 2: The groups of student investigators sync the data, photos, and movie clips generated by their investigations with the aid of TOOL FACTORY WORKSHOP and MULTIMEDIA LAB V software into their computers. They organize the data and create visual representations such as graphs and tables. They then write their lab reports using TOOL FACTORY WORKSHOP WORD PROCESSING in the required format of the lab by which they are employed.

Episode 3: Student investigators compile the separate components of the data from their hand held computers and DIGITAL CAMERAS as they begin construction of their personal laboratory DATABASE or electronic lab journal using MULTIMEDIA LAB V software to log the cases on which they have consulted. Over the school year, the electronic journals demonstrate proof of the investigators’ growth in lab experience, and more importantly, their maturation in understanding not only chemistry, but the underlying skills necessary to master scientific inquiry and technology.

Episode 4: Investigators convene to discuss their cases and findings and present their electronic lab reports orally as the result of the MULTIMEDIA LAB V created journals are shown via a projector to their investigator peers.

Timeline: This cyclic project will continue throughout the year with each of the 11 units in chemistry; scientific inquiry skills will be reinforced during each unit. August and September will host investigations based on general technique, density, separating mixtures, and problem solving. October-physical and chemical properties and changes. November-chemical changes and identifying substances. January-reactions and conservation of matter. February hosts percent composition and colligative properties. Unknown concentrations of solutions will be determined in March and in April acid-base titrations will be performed. Energy changes will be observed in April. May will host biochemical investigations and the year end final presentations of the lab journals created using the Olympus digital cameras, Tool Factory Workshop, and Multimedia Lab V software.

One goal of CSI: Chemistry Student Investigators is to remove fear of science from high school students. The project will allow students to replace the reticence that they exhibit with open-minded invigoration and excitement and create a feeling of “I can do this” and “Let me show you!” CSI: Chemistry Student Investigators will turn students onto chemistry and generate pride in their academic work. Students who achieve this goal will exhibit positive attitudes and pride in their work.

The second goal is to provide a bridge over the chasm of chemistry content-specific GLEs and science inquiry GLEs in the chemistry comprehensive curriculum. While the content of the investigations are rooted in the eleven chemistry units, the investigations and roles that the students will assume are based on the scientific inquiry area of the curriculum. The pacing guide does not allow time to focus solely on scientific inquiry although mastery of these GLEs provide the foundation on which all other concepts are understood. The curriculum is packed with eleven units which are also packed with theory, history, and problems to be mastered by each student, and then there is the separate unit which must be addressed throughout each of the other eleven units. The scientific inquiry GLEs are of extreme importance to each unit, but could easily get squeezed out by concentrating on content specific GLEs. Students who achieve this goal will exhibit a growth in understanding how science works including writing testable hypotheses; designing investigations; recording, organizing, and displaying data appropriately; using technology to enhance laboratory investigations; identifying safety procedures to be followed when in the lab; analyzing conclusions from an investigation; choosing appropriate models to explain scientific knowledge.

The third goal is for students’ chemistry, GEE21 Science, and ACT Science Reasoning scores to increase as they gain knowledge of science through inquiry and manipulation of data so that understanding scientific processes are more easily achieved. These scores can easily be compared to previous scores of students and individual students’ past ACT science reasoning scores.

The three top priorities of our school improvement plan are: thinking and reasoning skills, learning to learn skills, and expanding and integrating knowledge. CSI: Chemistry Student Investigators addresses each of these needs by getting students involved in an active learning role and engaged in the construction of their body of knowledge through scientific inquiry.

The comprehensive curriculum for chemistry hosts a potential chasm between content-specific Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) and the scientific inquiry GLEs which must be covered throughout the year. Although the scientific inquiry GLEs are of utmost importance to the understanding of scientific processes, they could easily get squeezed out of the curriculum because they are presented only once in the curriculum. CSI: Chemistry Student Investigators is designed to address each scientific inquiry GLE many times throughout the year.

Both formative and summative evaluations will be made. Formative evaluations will be made on each student as they work together in the laboratory. Student investigators will be graded by performance rubrics that feature the anticipated results of each activity or question from the labs, graphs, data tables, and oral presentations at the conclusion of each case. Oral lab report presentations will be made to the entire class by academically heterogeneous groups at the conclusion of each lab activity. Electronic Lab Journals will also be graded by a rubric before they are burned onto discs for each student to keep as a record of his year in chemistry.

Summative evaluations will be made at the completion of each unit.
The electronic lab journal will also provide evidence for an improvement in School Improvement Plan’s Thinking and Reasoning Skills as one observes the students’ products from the beginning of the school year to the end. The School Improvement Plan’s Learning to Learn skills will also be evaluated by examining student performance in chemistry, their scores on the science portion of the GEE21, and scores on the science reasoning portion of the ACT. Students scores across the curriculum will be evaluated to determine the progress of the students. Expanding and Integrating Knowledge skills featured in the School Improvement Plan. The electronic journals will also feature an introspective area where students will reflect upon any changes in their perception of their fear of chemistry, their scientific understanding, and how they feel that they have progressed throughout the year.

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Project Budget:
1 Olympus FE 230 Digital Camera 199.99
4 1G memory cards 34.99 each
4 Universal AC Power Adaptors 39.99 each

Total: 499.91

Judges' Comments:

"I loved this proposal. I was a student that hated science, mostly because it made no sense to me and was incredibly boring. This teacher is making chemistry interesting and exciting. I think using the cameras and Tool Factory software will make science much more enjoyable."

Sonja Mix, Thomas Dale High School

Chester, VA

LESSON TITLE: Poetry Alive! Interpreting Poetry Using Digital Images
During my teaching career, I can predict my student’s responses when I tell them that we will begin a new unit reading, analyzing and discussing poetry. After a few minutes of moaning and the occasional “Oh Ms. Mix, anything but poetry,” and the most famous question of them all, “Why do we have to study poetry? What does poetry have to do with my life?” It is easy to conclude that most students do not appreciate poetry. I designed this project with the intentions of making poetry come “alive” by using traditional teaching methods with technology.

Lesson Objectives:
•Understand how different camera images and techniques convey the tone of a poem
•Learn to film using video and still images to convey poem’s tone.
•Understand that poetry is a way of expressing one’s innermost feelings and be able to express their own feelings through this medium.
•Understand and appreciate how a poet’s message is conveyed through the use of various poetic techniques/devices.
•Appreciate how memorization and recitation of poetry can aid in self-expression and self-confidence.
•Understand effective rate, volume, pitch, and tone for the audience and setting,

A team of English students will take the role of a production company and will create a 4-5 minute film using the digital image as a medium for interpreting students’ original poems. Three classes will be working together in order to complete this project: Creative Writing, English, and The Actor’s Studio.

The Creative Writing students will write original poems using various poetic techniques to convey a specific tone. These tone words include awe, cynical, didactic, jovial, mocking, quizzical, reflective and indignant. The English students will use these poems for their image projects. A team of English students will take the role of a production company and create an original digital film interpreting the poem using the DIGITAL CAMERAS. Each production team will be paired with a student, from the Actor's Studio class, who will recite the poem.

Each team will recite, interpret, and create digital still images and short video clips using various camera shots and techniques. The TOOL FACTORY PAINTER will be used to enhance the images using the various special effects. The students will use these still images and video clips and create their movies in Windows Movie Maker and create MPEGs. At the end of the project, the students will use TOOL FACTORY WORD PROCESSOR and MULTIMEDIA LAB V to create their poetry and film interactive projects on the internet, so other students will be able to view the projects. Each group will give a brief presentation of their films discuss the artistic decisions made after examining the language of the poem.

LESSON SEQUENCE

Stage One: The first stage of this project is for the Creative Writing class to write poems based on specific tone words. The creative writing teacher will give specific instructions on how to work with language and use specific poetic techniques to reflect a specific tone.

Stage Two: While the Creative Writing students are creating their poems, my English students will be given a lesson on how to identify a poem’s tone. They will read and analyze several poems and the poetic techniques used to convey the tone of the poem. In the next step of the project, I will show the students examples of how still and moving images can reflect the tone of the poem. In this stage of the project, I show them several soliloquies from Shakespeare’s plays as a demonstration of the different ways in which image is used to interpret the soliloquies. I will use scenes from Macbeth, Othello, King Lear, Twelfth Night, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Richard III to show how various film techniques are used. These techniques include lighting, framing, set design, use of color, costume, and camera techniques.

Stage Three: I will divide the students into five groups which will consist of a Producer, Director/Camera Operator, Storyboard Artist, Set Designer, Film Editor. The Producers will meet with me and we will create each group. The producers are responsible for planning, organizing, and disseminating information to their group members. Also, they will help their group members with their roles. The Producers will use the TOOL FACTORY BANK MANAGER to organize the image bank that the students will create during the course of the project. Before the students begin work, they will choose a poem from the Creative Writing class and discuss the word choice in the poem and how it reflects the tone. Listing these important words will be the foundation of their project. The Director is responsible to document the narrator of the poem as well as the character traits that he or she possesses. Then he or she will decide on the camera shots and techniques that support the tone of the poem. The Set Designer will make the decisions of the setting and costumes to capture the mood of the poem. The Storyboard Artist will document the sequence of events of the images, the set design, and the camera techniques. The editor will use the Storyboard to edit the images and video into the Moviemaker program. The editor will also be responsible for creating the opening image, credits, and closing credits of the film.

Stage Four: Once the group has made its artistic decisions, they will need to choose an actor. The production team will choose an actor from the Actor’s Studio class. The group will work together and discuss their artistic decisions.

Stage Five: The groups will start to film using a mixture of still and video images with the DIGITAL CAMERAS. FRESCO will be used to add special effects to the images. Once the images and video clips have been created, the film editor will retrieve the images from the TOOL FACTORY BANK MANAGER to import the images into Microsoft Windows movie maker and create a MPEG movie. After the films have been created, they will use the MULTIMEDIA LAB V to create their own WebPages. On the webpage they will include the text of the poem as well as the film.

Stage Six: Each group will present to all classes, Creative Writing, and Actor’s Studio. At this stage, the production teams will present to all the classes involved. They will give a brief presentation of their artistic decisions, as well as answer questions that the other students might have about their films. Every student will have an evaluation sheet and give constructive feedback for each project.

Stage Seven: All the films will be burned on a DVD and given to each student. The films will be posted on the Internet so other teachers will be able to use these projects in their own poetry units. For example, the students from other classes could read the poems and watch the films and write an essay explaining how the film does or does not capture the tone of the poem.

This type of project gives the students a personal and hands on experience dealing with the language of poetry. Using the digital image to aid in their interpretations will help them analyze, discuss and interpret other poems that they will read.

Supplemental Material:
Each student will receive a packet for this project. I will include handouts on Copyright laws, story board design, background music, Introduction to editing, framing, and video titles. These worksheets will help focus and organize students so they can work independently. After each group meeting, the students must complete a Self-Reflecting survey. This survey helps them stay organize, keeps me up to date of the group’s progress, and gives me an evaluation tool for each student.

VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING:
English
•The student will plan, present, and critique dramatic readings of literary selections (9.1)
•The student will read and analyze a variety of poetry. (10.5)
•The student will use writing to interpret, analyze, and evaluate ideas. (10.10)
•The student will make a 5 to 10 minute formal oral presentation. (12.1)
•The student will evaluate formal presentations. (12.2)
•The student will explain how the choice of words in a poem creates tone and voice. (12.5)

Computer/Technology
•The student will demonstrate proficiency in the use of technology. (C/T 9-12.2)
•The student will demonstrate knowledge of technologies that support collaboration, personal pursuits, and productivity. (C/T 9-12.5)
•Use available technological tools to expand and enhance understanding of ideas and concepts. (C/T 9-12.6)
•Use technology-based options, including distance and distributed education, to collaborate, research, publish, and communicate. (C/T 9-12.9)

Visual Arts
•The student will produce works of art that demonstrate the experimental application of the elements of art and the principles of design. (AI.3)
•The student will recognize and identify technological developments in the visual arts. (AI.4)
•The student will demonstrate the use of technology and electronic media as artistic tools. (AI.5)
•The student will identify and examine symbols in works of art and discuss possible reasons for their use. (AI.18)
•The student will demonstrate in writing the ability to support personal criteria for making visual aesthetic judgments. (AI.28)

Theatre Arts
•The student will understand and apply principles of technical theatre by demonstrating knowledge of the technical components of theatre¾set, properties, lighting, sound, costuming, and makeup (TI.4)
•The student will demonstrate acting skills and techniques, including vocal control, stage movement, script analysis, and rehearsal techniques representing selected styles, by making vocal and physical choices that represent characterization, conflict, and production style; performing a fully rehearsed and memorized role; and, incorporating suggestions from the director.

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NOTE: Because of our limited server space and because the students are not allowed to save their projects on the computer’s hard drive, it is important that we have an external hard rive to store the projects’ images and videos.

•G-Technology G-Drive mini - 100GB Ultra Portable FireWire-800 Bus-Powered Hard Drive - 5400rpm - Titanium $ 248.95
•LaCie d2 DVD+/-RW with LightScribe 16x External FireWire-400 DVD Burner with Toast Titanium 7 $ 169.95
•100 DVDRs $40.00
•DVD Labels $20.00

Judges' Comments:

"Well thought out, objectives clearly defined, entertaining/creative, students will be engaged- TOOL FACTORY software well utilized."

"Extremely well devised proposal! I appreciated the different roles the students could take in the project. I also was impressed with the different software chosen to assist in the project."

Terry Henry, P.S. 256 - Benjamin Banneker Elementary

Brooklyn NY

LESSON TITLE: The Best of Bedford Stuyvesant
As grant coordinator, Mr. Smith, our technology teacher and I collaborated to submit this grant. Mr. Smith wrote this project for his fourth and fifth grade technology club. We would like to do a documentary about our community- called The" Best of Bedford Stuyvesant- our Community." Our school is in the Bedford Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, New York and many of our students live in the neighborhood. Too often, our community is depicted in the media as a bad community, filled with all the ills of the world, poor housing, drugs and crime. This is what the children hear and have come to believe. I would like to use this project to help my students learn about the wonderful community they live in.

The students will be immersed in the documentary from beginning to end. They will do research about the blocks they live on. They will work in teams of three. Each team will knock on doors and using tape and digital recorders will talk to people about how things were on their block many years ago. The teams will use the digital cameras to take photographs of the people they interview.

In addition, the teams using the video function of the digital camera will go out into the bedford Stuyvesnat community to do filming. The students will film in two areas of interest. First, they will film historical sites of Bedford Stuyvesant,such as the house where Laurence Fishburne lived. They will film churches that have been in the community for a century or more. The students will film historical parks and landmarks such as the Magnolia Center which few people have heard about. The students will do research on these sites and using Tool Factory Word Processor and the Tool Factory Database they will type and record all the information they collected doing their field trips.

The second area of interest, is the everyday life that makes Bedford Stuyesant come alive. They will document their trips to the corner store and talk about what makes our corner stores unique. They will film the neighborhood on weekends and show how it comes alive as people hang up their work clothes and put on their weekend gear to enjoy the neighborhood.

The project will be put together in the form of a film documentary, “The Best of Bedford Stuyvesant.” The students will use Multimedia Lab V along with the Tool Factory Word Processor and Database to prepare the film. When the project is completed, the documentary will be shown to our school and the P.T.A. After, we have received their feedback, we will invite our local community and politicians to come in and see the film. We hope to be able to have it shown throughout our community, at other schools,our local community board and our Community Education Council. In addition, we will put together a web-site using Tool Factory Front page to be able to share our information with other schools and organizations.

“It takes a village to raise a child,” a motto that Benjamin Banneker Elementary school stands by whole heartedly. Knowing that our school is part of that village, it is our responsibility to not only educate and inspire a child for life, but our community as well.
We want to give our child the hope they need to be successful. By being able to have our children put together a film about them, they will see and learn that in spite of what they see and hear on the local news, Bedford Stuyvesant is a wonderful place. It has a rich culture and history and they can be proud of the community they live in.

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Project Budget:
3 memory cards $90
1 box of Audio cassettes $20
3- tripods $120
2- Black/Color ink cartridges pkg $130
Photo Paper $50
Rechargeable batteries $40
3 camera cases $50
Total $500.00

Judges' Comments:

"Students will engage in real life learning and build a well needed sense of community. This is a project everyone can be proud to be a part of.... "

"I love the concept of it and the pride it will install in the students."

Amber Wagnon, Huntington High School

Huntington, TX

LESSON TITLE: Through Our Eyes

Learning Objectives:

By the completion of this unit and final project my students will:

• Acquire skills which enable them to successfully use technology equipment such as digital cameras.
• Develop the skills and knowledge necessary to develop and create a web-site.
• Further develop their reading and writing skills.
• Further develop their abilities to work in groups.
• Further develop their communication skills.
• Develop a personal understanding of what it means to be a productive citizen.

Through Our Eyes

“The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros is a novel that addresses many important themes, but none more important that poverty. By simply talking about a world problem does not teach my students as much as a hands-on problem solving project would! Upon completing the novel my students will tackle the final project “Through Our Eyes.” Through this three week project my students would complete the following activities:

1. My students design a canned food drive that benefits our local food bank “Second Blessings.” This will be accomplished through groups of students from each class period working cooperatively together to accomplish their specific assigned task.
2. My students will use the TOOL FACTORY WORKSHOP to advertise the food drive in the school and community.
3. From the planning stage to the completion of the project my students will document their progress, work and experiences by using the DIGITAL CAMERAS. This will include working in the classroom, the actual food drive and finally delivering the collection to our food bank. The DIGITAL CAMERAS will also be used to document interviews of classmates and community members.
4. Students will develop their writing skills through out this project by using the TOOL FACTORY WORKSHOP’S to write journal entries which detail their experiences of working in groups and giving back to their community. TOOL FACTORY WORKSHOP will also be used to create and edit the interviews complete by students.
5. Upon completing the delivery of the collected food my students will return to the classroom to create their final product, a class web-page created by using TOOL FACTORY HOME PAGE.
6. Students will use the photos taken with the DIGITAL CAMERAS and the personal narratives and interviews written using TOOL FACTORY WORKSHOP to create a web-page that details the results of the canned food drive.
7. The photos used to forever record the experiences of this project will be enhanced by using WHOLE CLASS FRESCO and MULTIMEDIA LAB V.
8. SHOWCASE NIGHT: The community will be invited to the high school campus when the students will reveal their web-page and present first hand speeches on the affects of this project. The DIGITAL CAMERAS video abilities will be used to document this night. The students will edit the video and create a personal DVD for each student.
9. The equipment used for this project will be re-used in future years to ensure that our freshman students are exposed to a unique learning experience that will mold them into industrious students and leaders.

The “Through Our Eyes” project will have a lasting impact on the students who participate as well as our community. My students will develop necessary real world and job skills by learning to use technology to create a final product. They will develop communication skills, have the opportunity to showcase their creativity and use critical thinking to work through obstacles. But most importantly the estimated 130 high school freshman who will participate in this project will come away with a new perspective on what it means to be a productive contributing citizen. Furthermore, our community will be affected greatly. Not only will our local food bank will see an increase in their food supply, but most importantly our community members will be able to see the work of our students through the web-page. I believe that this web-page will shed new light on our students, their goals and abilities, while at the same time inspiring our community to partake in more projects which benefit everyone.

THIS PROGRAM WILL FOLLOW THE TEXAS ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS FOR ENGLISH I.

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BUGDET:

MEMORY CARDS FOR EACH DIGITAL CAMERA: $30.00
$90.00 TOTAL
ONE CASE OF COPY PAPER TO CREATE FLYERS, ETC. FOR FOOD DRIVE $50.00
DVD-R’S TO CREATE STUDENT DVDS THREE 50-PACKS $20.00 EACH, $60.00 TOTAL
THREE OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA STARTER KITS $ 39.99 EACH
119.97 TOTAL
COLOR INK CARTRIDGES $20.00 EACH
$60.00 TOTAL
THREE CAMERA BAGS
$60.00 TOTAL
MONEY FOR SNACKS, PROMOTIONAL ITEMS FOR SHOWCASE NIGHT
$100.00

ANY ADDITIONAL FUNDS WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE HHS ENGLISH BUDGET AND OR THE TEACHER

Judges' Comments:

"I've seen a lot of units developed around this novel, and this is one of the best I've seen. Well rounded across the board- and extremely important work."

Read the applications of the 5 runner-up finalists.