This interview is the second in our "Teachers' Voices" series, a monthly feature celebrating teachers who, with their students, have accomplished remarkable projects that combine literacy and technology. For more about the evolution of Teachers' Voices, visit the series introduction.

Nicole:

You’ve done some wonderful work with your second-grade classes. Tell me, what drew you to teaching?

Roxie:

My background stems from a small town in South Dakota. My father was a farmer. I went to a country school--a one-room school--and my teacher, Mrs. Neshium, was wonderful. I had her for first and second grade. That was when I first decided I wanted to be a teacher. I was teased by our hired man that I was going to be a "school marm." There was never any question that I was going to college to be a teacher, and that’s what I did.

I went to school in Minnesota, at the University of Minnesota-Morris, and then my husband and I settled into Sioux Falls, where I started teaching. And I’ve been there ever since. In 1974 I started teaching fifth and sixth grade, and now I’m doing second.

Nicole:

How did you get started doing Internet projects like Apple Bytes?

Roxie:

In 1997 I was at a summer Teaching Technology and Learning Academy that our governor had put together to educate teachers in South Dakota. In the process of that monthlong academy, I was doing a lot of my research online, and that’s how I came upon Susan Silverman's site. She was doing some type of project that fall, and I e-mailed to see if I could get on it. It was already full, but she offered to put me on Stellaluna’s Friends, which ended up being a connection between science and literature (with bats). We participated in that. From then on I’ve tried to do one of her projects every year. My classes really enjoy it.

Nicole:

How do these Internet projects support your teaching in the area of literacy?

Apple Bytes had to do with literature, and we wrote cinquain poetry and a book patterned after If You Give a Moose a Muffin, written by Laura Numeroff. It ended up to be more of a writing lesson: use appropriate style, form of writing, mechanics, usage, and conventions of language. We talked about the concept of a circle story. We worked on elements of a story: the main idea, problem, solution, cause and effect. We looked at If You Give a Moose a Muffin, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie first and kind of took those apart into the story elements. From that, the children constructed their own.

Nicole:

What do you see as the advantage of using the Internet, versus conventional classroom tools, to teach kids about writing?

Roxie:

It gives them purpose. We published the website [URL] in our class newsletter. Some of the kids sent it to their grandparents. We got letters back. It was authentic. They were doing it for a real reason. It’s just a different kind of motivation. If they have a purpose for their writing, they are much more inclined to put forth the effort. When we did the bat project with Susan Silverman it was a way to do research and read. I’d pair up a medium-ability student with a low-ability student and a high-ability student with a medium-ability student. The screen is just fingerprinted because they’re helping each other read and write their note cards. So a lot more happens in the process than the final product.

Nicole:

So, the students are terrifically motivated by these Internet projects!

Roxie:

The excitement level is high; the motivation is there; there is a purpose, and you know it’s not just for a grade; it’s going to be there.

Then once it’s done students go online and see what other classes have done, and more often than not we end up doing some of the same activities in our classroom, because the kids want to. One was Thomas’ Snowsuit, a project Susan had done. One class, for their online part, had done their ugliest outfit. So my students went to the lab and saw that, and the first thing they wanted to do was to go back and have us do it. So, it’s kind of student-driven in many respects.

Nicole:

How do you incorporate standards into a project like this?

Roxie:

When I first started the project I looked at our state standards (we have since developed our own district standards). The goal was to write for various audiences, model story structures, conference, and use technology to start writing with others. The final project ended up to be based on the six traits: the students have to have ideas and content; the work has to be organized; we talked about word choice, voice, sentence fluency, and then conventions of punctuation. The other item they were scored on was how well they worked in their group and how well their group met the guideline or deadline. [Access Roxie's standards and assessment page here]

Nicole:

How much time did you find yourself spending on the Apple Bytes project?

Roxie:

Probably not much more than you would do for any other well-prepared lesson or publishing project. The kids got together in their groups and brainstormed a story sequence, developed it; we ran it through the editing just like we would a regular writing assignment. They filled out the rubric for group work. I don’t know that it took any more time. We just fit it into our day. They were working on their group projects when I was meeting with other guided reading groups. You know, that’s the thing about technology. It’s really not supposed to be this add-on class. It’s a tool--just like paper and pencil.

Nicole:

How did you develop the skills you needed to construct the Apple Bytes website?

Roxie:

I was pretty, what I would call "computer literate" when I went to the Teaching Technology and Learning Academy. They wanted teachers with average or above-average ability. The idea was that we would come back and help other teachers. It’s monthlong, morning to night. We were in the lab until like ten o’clock at night. It’s a wonderful experience. In addition to developing our website we made connections with other people in the state; we learned PowerPoint, e-mailing….

Nicole:

Is this the first experience most of your kids had with doing something like this on a computer?

Roxie:

Yes, it has been so far. The kids are really adept. PowerPoint, for example--I was going to introduce how to do that for one of their story things. They were going to do setting, problem, characters, events of the story, and develop a slide show. I planned this whole lesson to talk them through the procedure for the program. Well, after the second slide they really didn’t need me any more!

Nicole:

The work that appears on the website is just fabulous, and the artwork really stands out.

Roxie:

Part of that is my interest in art. When the kids start to illustrate something we talk about--well, in that particular project, we talked about how important it is for the pictures to be very simple and very big and bold. So while you want detail, you don’t want little things that aren’t going to show up. We talked about ways that they could color in the pictures. So we had a little art lesson with it.

Nicole:

How did your second graders like the project?

Roxie:

There is nothing like looking at a kid’s eyes when they first see their work come up on a computer. It’s like magic!

Nicole:

And how about the parents? How do they react when they see the website?

Roxie:

Most of them are totally blown away. It is just great!

Nicole:

Have you thought about hosting your own project?

Roxie:

Oh, that’s my dream, and right now I have the skills to do it. I just need site for it. That’s something that is on my little list of goals for the future. I’ve even got two different ideas for one. Really, my dream within the next 2 years is to have my own site.

Nicole:

Do you have any advice for teachers who are sort of at the beginning point with the Internet and want to get where you are?

Roxie:

Oh, don’t be afraid to try it, and it’s a lot of fun and well worth the effort. Try something small starting out, whether it’s a pet exchange or some of Susan’s projects. Susan’s projects are a really good way to get started, because there is not a lot you need to know--everything is right there. But we have to start doing it; we just cannot not do it.