Chiefland High School
Receives $2,500 Award
from Best Buy to
Enhance Technology in School Curriculum
Pictured here is Chris, Best Buy Contact, Carol Jones, Levy County Vocational Director and
Christina Smith, Business Teacher at CHS.
The grant was written by Christina Smith and the grant will benefit her Digital Design class and the entire student body at Chiefland High School.
Our shopping spree include an HP color printer, color cartridges, VHS-DVD Converter, Video Digital Camera, Video Editing Software, Music Editing Software, Microphones, Flash Drive, and memory stick. Includes 4 year warranties on printer, Converter, and Video Digital Camera.
1. How are you using interactive technology to make learning fun for your students? Tell us about the project/program, when and how it started, the interactive technology you are using, and how you know the students are learning and having fun. (250 words or less)
The Digital Design program at Chiefland High School began five years ago. The first course that students are required to complete is Digital Design I which is designed to teach students the fundamentals of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Front Page, Macromedia Flash, Dreamweaver, Freehand, and Fireworks. They also learn how to create and design a business. Digital Design 2-6 classes are set up as actual businesses. I assign coursework based on individual interests, school and community projects. Students are required to fill out daily timesheets reflecting the hours they actually worked on these projects. These jobs include our Chiefland High School website and newsletter as well as together with local business websites. Our website is located at http://chs.levy.k12.fl.us. The assignments also include using Microsoft PowerPoint to organize presentations for the football and band banquets, senior baccalaureate and the Chiefland Athletic Area Association. In addition, the Digital Design “employees” use Microsoft Publisher to create a yearly band calendar, Christmas calendar, football programs, baseball programs, homecoming programs, graduation programs, certificates, guidance postcards, “bus appreciation week” place mats, thank you cards, banners, memory books, dinner theatre tickets, baseball dinner tickets and business cards. The class charges only fee for printing services and then reinvests these monies into our digital designing business. Students earn various rewards including the realization of profits for their business, recognition at the school’s “award night,” and the satisfaction in seeing their actual project complete. Each year our Digital Design classes have been one of the “most sought after” electives. The classes fill to capacity during registration and many students, unfortunately, have to be turned away.
2. If your school receives a te@ch award, what will you purchase with the $2500 Best Buy gift card to enhance the program described in this application? Please include a specific shopping list with quantity and estimated costs of items. (250 words or less)
My Digital Design program qualifies students the experience in job fields such as Assistant Digital Production Designer, Digital Production Designer, Media Designer, and Graphic Designer, therefore I would like to enhance my program by adding video programs and equipment, music programs and equipment, and gaming design programs and equipment.
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatality FPS sound Card 279.99 1 279.99
Dazzle Digital Creator: cost $71.99 71.99 1 71.99
HauppaugeQ Fin TV-PVR 150 Personal Video Recorder:
cost $199.99 199.99 1 199.99
Dynex-100 Pack 16x DVD+R Disc Spindle 69.991 69.99
Memorex - CD/DVD LabelMaker Expert Kit 21.99 1 21.99
Memorex 120 Pack Matte CD/DVD Refill Labels White 20.99 1 20.99
JVC MiniDV Digital Camcorder with 2.5" Color LCD Monitor 349.99 2 699.98
JVC 60 minutes MiniDV Digtal Videocassettes 6 -pack 36.99 2 73.98
Logitech Premium Stereo Headset with Microphone 25.99 30 779.7
Memorex 16x Internal Double layer DVDRW and CDRW 89.99 3 269.97
2488.57
These programs and equipment will not only enhance my classroom, but our school as a whole. I have personally asked students their input on this and they have expressed a great interest in all the above programs and equipment listed. I see a need to expand our technologies and make them available to all students at our school. It is necessary for our students to be given the chance at the new technology opportunities that would help them to make better choices in the career path they choose.
3. How will these products enhance your existing program? (250 words or less)
Integrating these new products into my Digital Design program will allow me to upgrade my curriculum. Technology is constantly changing and improving, and our students need the software and equipment to stay abreast of these new developments. Our goal is to assist our students in not only becoming employable, but in being able to become employable in a job they truly enjoy. Careers in Digital Design allow students to showcase their creativity while making a more than adequate income. Most of the students in this class enter with enthusiasm and leave mastering a career they truly love; this is what makes my Digital Design program so successful!
My curriculum would be improved because these additional products would give me the opportunity to expand our State of Florida Department of Education student performance standards in the following ways:
Students would:
· Demonstrate proficiency in computer skills and digital imaging
· Demonstrate knowledge of digital publishing operations
· Perform layout, design, and measurement activities
· Practice quality performance in the learning environment
· Perform Digital Design functions and responsibilities related to the Digital Design publishing field and meet industries standards
By expanding on these standards, students would gain knowledge and experience in videotaping, video editing, recording and editing sound, and designing layouts for games. They would be able to create their own movies, create their own sounds, and create their own futuristic video games. This would also include proficiency with computers that integrate the current programs we use with our curriculum.
4. If your school is awarded a $15,000 Regional te@ch award, how will it be used to integrate interactive technology into classrooms throughout the school? (300 words or less)
Every classroom at our school integrates technology somehow into their classrooms. In history class they create PowerPoint presentations, in English class they videotape the students acting out a scene, in Spanish class they videotape an actual play performance, in Calculus they use graphic calculators and download software from the Internet. In most classes they use the computer to type papers, and most all teachers love to use PowerPoint to enhance their lesson plans for the students. We all do the best that we can do with what technologies we have. The money is just not available in our local public schools to provide all the upgrades and changes that technology has to offer.
This grant would help us provide current technologies an allow us to integrate interactive technology into classrooms throughout the school; I would like to upgrade all our current software that is most widely used. This would include upgrading to Windows XP, Microsoft Office Business Professional 2003, and Microsoft Front Page 2003. I would recommend a site license. This would then expose all students to the same technologies. I can say this because I just recently used Microsoft Office PowerPoint at another school, the format and layout of this program has changed a lot from our current programs we have now. All I can say is that the new things that you can do with the new Microsoft Office 2003 programs are AWESOME! I want to give that experience to all our students at Chiefland High School.