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Learning technology on the Job

Looking back at Teaching


Ms. McGinn became a "Techie" in 2003

To understand changes in technology is to recall my years of teaching.
In 1981, my middle school science-math teaching career began making class sets of worksheets. The school copier, a "mimeograph" OR "ditto" machine, rolled our "carbon" sheet paper lesson, feeding a stack of papers through a "purple ink" crank roller.
[source: Commons Wikipedia.org]
My teaching instruction relied on chalk on the chalkboard. Also, lessons were written with erasable markers on clear acete sheets and projected onto a front screen via an overhead projector.
In 2000, I renewed my educator certificate. I attended a community college computer class to learn basic HTML coding. With my maiden name spelled SCR, I typed SRC (source code) and that coding error took me 4 hours to find and correct. I HATED CODING !
As a middle school math teacher, I believed I'd never code another web page.

Never say Never !

In 2003, I was recruited by an assistant middle school principal who knew my integrity, working with him at several schools. I accepted a position as a computer technology teacher. Both my IT sons teased me, "Are you joking? You barely know how to turn on a computer!"

First 2 weeks, without students, I opened boxes in the "old office" vault. There was a discovery of $30,000 Carl Perkins Grant equipment and my job was to create a technology curriculum for 8th graders. I began with step-by-step instructions for myself, then created hands-on work stations as projects.
The first WORKSTATION I created was html coding to build web pages.

Class "PC"
Computer
and Camera

INTERNET,
a.k.a. "world wide web"
Student projects were not published therefore FAIR USE copyright applied to images, sounds, etc.

WORK STATION:
Code HTML web pages


PC running
"Windows XP"

WORK STATION:
Photography


Floppy Disk saved photos
as digital files to be
uploaded onto computer.

Class "Mac"
Computer
and Camcorder

WORK STATION(s):
Electronic Music
CADD room design

WORK STATION:
3-minute MOVIE


Small enough to fit in your hand record on mini-DV tape

Convert Digital file
to VHS storage tape


MINI-TAPES converted to VHS tapes to view in a VHS player

Semester, elective class for 8th graders, was designed with rotation of assigned crew. They were limited to a schedule for work time and then must move to the next project, finished or not.

Each work station evolved as I learned along with my students.

WORK STATION: WEB PAGE CODING... Using PC, Windows "XL" desktops, students followed written instructions, "Recipe 4 HTML" lessons to create web pages. (I revised these over several years.)
WORK STATION: PHOTOGRAPHY... On a Sony Mavica MVC-FD75, students snapped digital photos and uploaded their floppy disks onto the PC. , then coded images on their web pages.
WORK STATION: 3-MINUTE MOVIE... After outlining storyboards, crews filmed with DVD camcorders with mini-tapes, then uploaded video files to edit clips on "Apple" bubble computers. Completed projects were uploaded to the digital camcorder then converted to an anology VHS cassette. Students limited to 3-minute movies due to memory storage limits on "Apple" computer. Then transfered that file to a VHS tape. Best movies were selected to broadcast on Wed morning across the school's donated "Channel One" TV sets.
OTHER WORK STATIONS: ... airflight simulator, Lego robotics, cameras with floppy-disk memory. Loaded on the "Apple" computers was basic software for electonic music project and CADD room designs.

Inside the "old office," our classroom equipment was exposed on the ground floor with a full wall of windows. So, the last class period, each day, we stowed our equipment on carts inside the walk-in vault.
In 2016, my instruction included worksheets printed on the computer printer or on an "IBM copier."
Teachers could connect their laptop to a computer projector that displayed on the front screen. Also, the projector showed 'Internet' videos.
Chalk on the chalkboard was replaced by a "smart board" that allowed touching the "white board" with animated lessons.

Note: In 2025, I lost my new I-16 phone in the mall. I never realized this was my digital appendage. I now appreciate the storage of my contacts and the GPS "Google" maps.

GranJan McGinn has 25+ years
middle school classroom experience.

ARIZONA PUBLIC SCHOOLS:
Window Rock School Dist.
Sunnyside Unified School Dist
Tucson Unified School Dist.
Toltec Elementary School Dist.

Education, a gift to yourself.

COLLEGE DEGREES:
M.A. Univ. of Arizona (Tucson)
B.S. Slippery Rock Univ. (Pennsylvania)
 HTML coding is a skill and the foundation of web page design, like "phonics" is to reading.
< - Note: Website coded with "Recipe 4 HTML" curriculum. - >
< - copyright 2018 by J a n e t - S - M c G i n n - >