THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609130246
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By MARK YOUNG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 72 lines
PATI TERRY'S enthusiasm is almost inescapable.
Unsuspecting visitors dropping by her sparkling Larkspur Middle School computer lab almost don't get away.
In about 20 minutes, she can take them on a tour of a half-dozen web sites, tell them about Birdneck Elementary's School's web page, which just won an award from Microsoft, and explain that every middle school in the Beach has its own home page on the Internet.
That's just her warm-up. In the computer lab, 30 monitor screens beckon. She'll show the home page she created on her own time for city schools. She flips from page to page, occasionally tapping into ``hyper links'' that are a fountain of additional resource information for teachers and anyone accessing them.
Terry's expertise on use of the Internet as a teaching tool recently gained her the distinction of being one of only 26 educators from across the United States and Canada to be chosen to attend a symposium on the Internet held at Kirkwood Ski Resort in California.
Perched in the High Sierra mountains near Lake Tahoe, the quiet resort provided a magnificent backdrop for the five-day series of presentations, speakers and discussions that stretched to 12 hours or more each day. While some might have thought of it as work, Terry, the city's middle school computer coordinator, found every moment fascinating.
``It was an incredible experience for educators,'' she said.
The 38 who attended the conference, 12 of whom were brought in from Microsoft and Outdoor Online's clients in educational institutions, discussed how they use the Internet and the tools they need to enable them to spread the practice.
They heard from speakers who warned of the dark side of on-line access. Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center explored the use of the Internet by hate groups. And Detective Michael Menz from Roseville, Calif., shared some of his experiences pursuing high-tech criminals.
Terry said the experience was an awakening for her. ``Working in education, I'd always had a belief in the basic goodness in human nature. They helped me become more aware of the pitfalls. We must be aware of potential problems and be ultimately concerned with our students' safety.''
On rare breaks in the action, the educators could take advantage of recreational opportunities at the resort. Terry did a little hiking while she was there. ``But for the most part, I just wanted to work with the computers.''
Terry said the best part of the conference was not the lectures, or the free software she received or even the lovely surroundings. ``It was the opportunity for me to meet and talk with other educators who want to engage students in the love of learning as I do.''
The system superintendents, classroom teachers and teaching administrators like Terry, developed a camaraderie through all the hours of brainstorming ideas and will be collaborating on future projects together on their own time. Though the Sierra scenery and the high-powered corporate support were something new, Terry has been hosting her own summer day-camps for middle schools computer educators for the past three years. Last year's summer camp focus was the Internet.
The result of that camp were home pages posted on the World Wide Web for all 14 Beach middle schools. Terry's teachers voluntarily gave up some of their free time to attend these sessions and work on building home pages.
Larkspur computer resource teacher Margaret Stahl explained: ``You see the kind of enthusiasm she has? She always has it. That's why you want to go to the things she does. You come out feeling so good.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by CHARLES MEADS
Pati Terry, the city's middle school computer coordinator, taught
all 14 Beach middle schools how to build a home page on the
Internet. The lessons paid off when Birdneck Elementary School's web
page won an award from Microsoft. by CNB