Project Overview
1. Description of "Our Community"
Our community revolves around our school, which is a private, all special education facility serving students with multiple disabilities through both day and residential programs. We are located in Haddonfield, New Jersey, just a few miles east, across the Delaware River, from the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Our community extends to include the families and hometowns of our students, many of whom come from small surrounding towns in Camden, Gloucester and Burlington Counties. Many people from this area commute to work in Philadelphia. We all enjoy the variety of sports, entertainment, recreational and historical attractions the city offers.
This area of South Jersey is both residential and commercial. Geographically it is primarily flat, with small creeks and marshes feeding into the Delaware River. While there are still some small farms and wooded areas, development and construction is ongoing.
2. Summary of Our Project
Our project is about foods which began in the Philadelphia area. After making a list of these foods, we realized we couldn't cover them all so we selected some of our favorites from Philadelphia and included Campbell Soup Company because it began in Camden, NJ, directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. Several of our students live in Camden.
We used information from a variety of resources: Internet sites; field trips (Bassetts Ice Cream store, a local cheesesteak restaurant); speaker/presentation (Coleman Poses visited and talked about the history of ice cream, and his Chilly Philly Company); and interviews (some in person during field trips, one using a speaker phone). We sampled foods during field trips and at school. We conducted a soup survey among staff, friends and family, and held a classroom taste test. We emailed major businesses to get permission to use their trademark logos on our web pages. For March, we organized a large display in our school's front lobby about our research.
Before trips or interviews, students prepared questions to read off index cards. Immediately following some activities, students wrote or dictated their own thoughts and impressions. Many students also worked on drawings to illustrate specific foods. One student used a digital camera to photograph items. With guided direction from staff, students discussed findings and summarized main points they had learned. Several students chose specific foods and acted as the primary researchers. Their findings were then reported to the group.
Students voted on different colors and style elements for the web pages. Some helped develop and edit graphic images and photos. A Teacher Assistant took a photo of the Philadelphia skyline for our opening page.
Once uploaded, students reviewed the web pages and corrections were made. Seeing documentation of their own experiences and work in this format was very special and rewarding!
3. Our Computer and Internet Access
A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home: 56%
B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom: 1
C. Connection speed used in the classroom: dedicated line
D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet: 3 years
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
While we had emailed businesses early to seek permission for use of trademark logos, we did not hear from several. We followed up with snail-mail requests and then received additional responses.
The film from our field trip to the Bassetts Ice Cream store was temporarily lost for more than a month! Our teacher was planning on returning there after school to re-shoot the photos, but then she found the missing roll of film.
Since students had limited access to a school scanner, staff scanned student drawings and photos at home.
There were technical problems with some images not showing on the web pages. A computer teacher from another school looked and figured out the problem (some images had been named using uppercase letters). Once the images were renamed using lowercase, and the source code updated, all images showed!
Because students exhibited a wide range of skill levels (speech, reading, attention span, memory) staff had to reinforce basic concepts and information through guided oral discussion and use of pictures and examples. Language terms were usually simplified. To prepare for trips and interviews, staff assisted students in determining questions to ask, and then wrote these on individual index cards for students to refer to. Some students participated independently in related writing activities, while others best expressed their thoughts through group work or dictation. One student used pointing to make choices when voting on web site colors, fonts, pictures, and participating in the taste test.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
I felt happy about the CyberFair project. It made me feel special. (Samone)
I thought CyberFair was fun. I am excited about seeing my name on the web site. I learned a lot. (Steven)
The project has been a success. It was perfect and I enjoyed it. Yes, I will definitely do this project again next year. (Kyle)
6. How did your activities and research for this International Schools CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
Our project addressed several of New Jersey's Core Curriculum Content Standards: Workplace Readiness (use of information, technology, and other tools; critical thinking and decision-making)); Visual and Performing Arts (use of arts elements and arts media to produce products; process of critique); Language Arts Literacy (reading, writing, speaking, and listening standards); Mathematics (data analysis); Social Studies (experiences in democratic process).
Our school program strives to help students with disabilities apply information and concepts in practical, real-life situations. This project presented many opportunities for doing so. Some of the specific skills addressed in addition to those mentioned in the formal standards included: appropriate speech and language communication, social interaction and behaviors, peer collaboration, trying new experiences (taking the Hi-Speedline train to Philadelphia), computer skills (keyboarding, Internet searches, printing, graphic and web site creation software, saving/backups). Special vocabulary terms introduced and discussed during this project included "trademark", "logo", "bibliography", "chart", and "survey".
This project also helped our students get some historical perspective on common foods they enjoy and take for granted. All the company business web sites had a history section where they explained how their products began. These Internet sites were excellent resources, plus email contact links made it very easy for us to ask permission for trademark use. We could not have as readily discovered or covered all this information using traditional teaching and learning methods.
Project Elements
1. What information tools & technologies did you use to complete your CyberFair project?
This project made use of the following tools: PC computer, printer, scanner (done by staff at home), and cameras (traditional and digital). Software included: MSWord, MSExcel (used by a student to create soup survey chart), Adobe PhotoShop 5.5 (used by two students for graphic image prep and editing), and Adobe GoLive (web page construction).
Other tools included Internet sites, a speaker/presentation, interviews (some in person during trips and one using a speaker phone), email correspondence, thank-you letters, a soup survey we designed and conducted, a classroom taste test, and food samples throughout the project. The different company Internet sites were especially valuable for all the historical background information they provided. The field trips, interviews, survey, taste test, and food samplings were also important as hands-on concrete experiential learning activities.
2. In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person?
Our project provided students with a variety of experiences where they represented our school, explained their project, and gathered information. They met and interacted with Coleman Poses when he visited and gave a presentation. During field trips (Bassetts Ice Cream store and the Yellow Submarine restaurant) students asked prepared questions and sampled the product. They participated in a conference interview call (using a speaker phone) with the owner of Philadelphia Soft Pretzels. Students surveyed other people at school and their own families to find out the most popular soup.
Several students participated in emailing businesses for permission to use trademark logos. They also wrote thank-you notes to Coleman Poses for visiting us, and to Whitman's Candies for the extra information and candy samples they sent us.
After the web site was uploaded, students enjoyed getting feedback and sharing their project with family, friends, and others at school.
3. What has been the impact of your project on your community?
Our project provided opportunities for others in our community to meet our students and to observe them participating in learning about the real-world. This serves as good PR for our school and, in general, for individuals with disabilities. Through positive interactions like those we experienced from having a speaker visit our school, taking field trips, to conducting interviews and corresponding with large businesses via email our students demonstrated what they CAN do.
This project also gave our students the opportunity to be recognized within their own school. Many students, staff and visitors enjoyed the related display students assembled in our front lobby. Having a web site as the final format for our work gives all (family, friends, school staff) easy access to review and appreciate the entire project. Family and friends who live at a distance can also readily enjoy the results.
Exposure to new people, places and experiences helps our students expand their world and encourages them to want to know more.
4. How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?
We had very positive experiences with various community resource people. Coleman Poses readily agreed to visit us to give a presentation about ice cream history, answer questions about his own Chilly Philly Ice Cream company, and share some of the product. Likewise, Jeanne Sidorick of Philadelphia Soft Pretzels was very generous in arranging for a phone conference interview during one of her busy mornings.
During field trips to a Bassetts store and the Yellow Submarine restaurant, employees were friendly and took time to answer all our students' questions. The Yellow Submarine even provided free drinks!
Following written requests, Bassetts Ice Cream, Breyers Ice Cream, Campbell Soup Company, Kraft, Tastykake, and Whitman's Candies all generously allowed us to use their registered trademarks in our Web site. Whitman's later sent us a box of candy which we enjoyed.
Teaching Assistant Liz Samson took a photograph of the Philadelphia skyline for our opening page.
Learning Consultant Susan Powell worked with several students creating some of the computer graphics and rollover navigational elements. She constructed the Web site pages.
When we decided to make a display for our front lobby showing off parts of our project, other staff and friends helped by loaning items. Craig Attix, teacher of our Custodial Skills Class, even varnished a bagel, an Italian roll, and a soft pretzel so we could use them in the glass display case.
5. Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)
This was the third year we've worked on CyberFair and our students enjoyed reviewing, reflecting and comparing to previous years' projects. We booked a weekly time in the classroom schedule to work on our project and were able to comfortably space out the work over several months.
The topic of food was an easy one for all to maintain interest in. Students especially enjoyed the field trips and taste tests!
During the fall, we discovered Chilly Philly quite by accident while surfing the Internet for information about Breyers and Bassetts. Coleman Poses responded quickly to our email and agreed to visit our school to speak about the history of ice cream. He even brought some of his product for us to taste. This got us off on a very positive start.
We were all very surprised to find out that Philadelphia Cream Cheese doesn't come from Philadelphia at all! We decided to include this information in the web site because we're sure many other people think that it does.
It was wonderful to get such positive responses from all the large businesses we contacted regarding use of trademark logos. We were pleasantly surprised to get a follow-up letter from Whitman's with additional information about their product and, later, a generous box of candy.
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