Integrating the internet into our regular classwork is not an easy task for most of us.  Besides finding the materials we can add to our curriculum, we have to learn how to use several computer programs all at the same time, organize our new resources and plan ways to teach all of this to our students.

Many teachers find the challenge of doing all that overwhelming!  This group of Jenks teachers, however, accepted that challenge in March and took part in a hands on after school workshop in telecommunications at Tolman.  Here's a quick look at what went on in the training sessions.

The four day workshop gave teachers a guided introduction to the fundamentals of working with computers in class use and planning:

• the copy and paste function


• net searching


• setting up and using e-mail


• saving files and graphics from the internet


• opening and moving files in different programs

Two of the most important things we learned was that working with computers can be fun .... and frustrating at times.  We made all of the mistakes our students will be making when the new computer lab is ready to run next month: programs closing without saving information, net searches with no results or with 2,585,000, leaving out one little period in an address and going nowhere fast.  But the exciting things we can share with our classes made the effort worthwhile.