Spring is a wonderful time of the year - especially for Generation Y. As you know, the Gen Y model has students partnering with teachers to produce technology-infused lessons. I always look forward to this time of year when students present the fruits of their labor in classrooms across the country. The projects demonstrate student knowledge of important technology skills and their ability to share that knowledge with their teachers, peers, and community. As usual, the student work is wide-ranging, powerful, and innovative. Every Gen Y class continues to reinforce the belief that students are and always will be the single most important asset in education.
Forward,
Dennis Harper
What's New at Generation YES
Student Tech Support Takes Off with Generation TECH!
Schools are wrapping up their first year of Generation TECH, and we hear fantastic success stories every day. Many customers eager to adopt Generation TECH for their student tech support teams expressed their desire to start their programs with just a few students. We heard you - and are pleased to announce a new pricing structure to meet your needs.
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Now, every school can benefit from Generation TECH's incredible features:
- staff and student training and support
- extensive curriculum that grows with students over multiple semesters
- curriculum guide and electronic resources
- online student tools
- teacher class management and assessment tools
- online help desk and trouble ticket management system
- PLUS - an ever-deepening database of student-generated TECH Learning and Troubleshooting Resources
New Pricing:
TECH Team License: 1-8 students, one teacher - $1,200 for the startup year (renewal license $400 per year)
TECH Class: 9-25 students, one teacher - $1,900 startup year ($700 renewal)
TECH Site License: Unlimited students, unlimited teachers - $2,400 for the startup year ($1,000 renewal)
More details on the website: https://www.genyes.org/products/gentech To purchase Generation TECH, contact Sylvia Martinez at [email protected] or call toll-free (888) 941-4369.
Don't Miss This NECC Workshop - If We Build It, Will They Come?
Dr. Harper and Greg Partch, Technology Director for the Hudson Falls School District will be facilitating a pre-conference workshop at NECC about student participation in educational reform and how to ensure buy-in from this key stakeholder group. It's a great opportunity to discuss this important issue with two very passionate and informed leaders of this movement. You must register ahead of time for this event at the NECC website, early-bird rates apply until April 30! Session # SAA103
https://center.uoregon.edu/conferences/ISTE/NECC2004/registration/
Student Showcase
Kansas Generation Y School Featured in District Administration Magazine
Longfellow Middle School in Hill City Kansas is featured in the April 2004 issue of District Administration in an article called "Trailblazers." Scott Parker's Gen Y class helped teachers produce 78 technology-infused lessons this school year (check out two lessons at links below). Longfellow is in their 4th year of Gen Y. The Kansas State Department of Education has recently funded an additional 15 schools for next year bringing the total to 116 Kansas schools that have implemented our program.
https://www.usd281.com/lms/warof1812.html
https://www.usd281.com/lms/class.html
Generation Y - A Great Idea in Any Language
Brazilian Generation Y teacher Ann Valente will present a session at NECC in New Orleans in June about her Gen Y students helping their teachers integrate technology. As the website says, "... a formula do sucesso era muito simples: ter os alunos como tutores dos professores."
https://center.uoregon.edu/conferences/ISTE/NECC2004/program/search_results_details.php?sessionid=161662
https://www.escoladositio.com.br/geracao/index.html
Two Schools Complete Their Eighth Year of Generation Y
Last week Jefferson Middle School and Washington Middle School completed their eighth year of Generation Y. These two schools were part of the original Generation www.Y Technology Innovation Challenge grant back in 1996! This year, the combined forty students completed forty projects with forty different teachers. The students showed off their projects to their parents and the complexity and alignment to state standards were incredible. Both these mature Gen Y schools have created a school environment that uses technology seamlessly and find students and teachers working at a whole new level of cooperation. If you are ever in Olympia, Washington, stop by and visit these schools as they enter year 9 of the program.
https://jefferson.osd.wednet.edu/index.htm
https://washington.osd.wednet.edu/curriculum/technology/genwhy/
Tech Tips Plus
Programming? Of Course You Can!
There's no need to wait for Computer Science AP. You can program at any age, with any computer.
BASIC - There's nothing basic about it, these days you can do just about anything. Liberty BASIC ( https://www.libertybasic.com/ ) has an older version available for free, or for game programming, try DarkBASIC - "The Ultimate 3D Games Creator". The software is free for schools: https://darkbasic.thegamecreators.com/ Another way to go for games is Game Maker - drag and drop actions with a language for customizing game action. Offers reduced site licenses for schools, course materials and student guides. https://www.gamemaker.nl/
And of course, the real deal for programming with students - Logo. There are some great new versions of Logo available these days, Microworlds from LCSI has a great new multimedia version ( https://www.microworlds.com/ ) with lots of projects and new features. Starlogo is a programming language that allows exploration of massively parallel processing, which may indeed be the way the world really works ( https://education.mit.edu/starlogo/ ). Logo is also the perfect language for robots, so any would-be warehouse warriors should check this out. A full list of user groups, web links, and downloads can be found at the Logo Foundation website
https://el.media.mit.edu/logo-foundation/index.html
Save Time Creating Interactive Quiz Websites
The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is not freeware, but it is free of charge for those working for publicly-funded non-profit-making educational institutions, who make their pages available on the web.
https://web.uvic.ca/hrd/halfbaked/index.htm
Creating Powerful Visuals
Lynell Burmark is recognized as a national leader when it comes to teaching administrators, teachers, and students about visual literacy. Dr. Burmark is working with Generation YES to produce videos aimed at helping students produce high quality visual presentations. The videos will be available to Gen Y and Gen TECH schools next fall. Check out her website:
https://www.tcpd.org/Burmark/Burmark.html
News You Can Use
Speak Up Day for Teachers April 29, 2004
NetDay learned what today's tech-savvy students think about using technology and the Internet from Speak Up Day 2003. On April 29, 2004, teachers will have their say in the first ever Speak Up Day for Teachers. Schools can register to participate at:
https://www.netday.org/
Generation Y - Here They Come!
"Here they come: the fourteenth generation of Americans. Self-confident and optimistic. Independent and goal-oriented. Masters of the Internet and PC. Young adults who believe education is cool, integrity is admirable, and parents are role models." This Business week article contains an excerpt from a new book - Managing Generation Y: Global Citizens Born in the Late Seventies and Early Eighties.
https://businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/sep2001/sb20010928_113.htm
Gen Sub?
Eighth grade math teacher Bob Brems was unhappy with inconsistent results and reports from substitutes about student misbehavior. Then he had a brainstorm - turn over the teaching reins to his students in his absence. In this Education World article, Brems describes his preparation process and wonderful results.
https://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/voice/voice110.shtml
Student Media Showcase Opportunity
June 4, 2004 is the deadline for entering the 30th annual International Student Media Festival, sponsored by AECT. Eligible grade levels go from Kindergarten to College, with entry categories from animation to live action, still photography, websites, PSAs, sports and more.
https://www.ismf.net/
Jeff Conor Retires From Generation YES
Our very own Jeff Conor is off to college! Jeff took Generation Y in the 7th grade in 1998 and began working for us the very next year. Jeff has been in charge of website design and maintenance, the Generation YES Express e-newsletter, the annual Gen Y student calendar, and somehow managed to fit in going to high school. Jeff has also participated in four NECC conferences and will travel to Nebraska to deliver a featured session at the NETA conference the end of this month. Jeff graduates from high school in June and will be attending Oberlin College in Ohio this fall. Congratulations, Jeff! We'll miss you!
https://neta.lps.org/conf2004/speakers.html
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