Other background information on the disk includes quotes from children talking about art, information on multiple intelligences, biographies of artists to accompany the lessons, reasons for teaching visual arts, a list of resource books and lists of materials required to teach the various lessons. The binder contains the lesson plans, principal activities, assessment strategies, self-assessment sheets, tracking sheets and overhead projector acetates. Although this resource is aligned with the Grade 3 expectations of the Ontario curriculum, it is useful for more than one grade and can be cross-curricular. It is one-stop shopping for lesson plans and all related materials for a complete and effective year of visual arts teaching in Ontario. Mary Storey is the information technology consultant for the York Region District School Board.
Some inventive educators meet the challenge by designing aid programs with a variety of software.
This licensed program for educators executes a self-loading, independent Microsoft Access file and associated databases. Teacher's Partner includes a wide selection of planning and reporting venues, including a template of the ministry report card with active fields that link up to comment databanks. Originally designed as a personal planning and reporting tool, Teacher's Partner was shared with other grateful educators, which led to Jackson's small business, Leading Education. The productivity suite is contained in one CD-ROM with hyperlink navigation and all ministry expectations for Grades 1 through 8. Shared student and comment data must be transferred through a standardized process on three-inch disks.