New in 2004-2005

• New CyberEnglish9 teacher: I am pleased to welcome Ms. Laurie Haag to Sheboygan Falls High School. She comes to us with a great enthusiasm for the CyberEnglish idea.
• A238 is now a dedicated computer lab for CyberEnglish. The switch from laptops to desktops was made for several reasons. For one, the laptops were becoming increasingly expensive to maintain for CyberEnglish: hardware maintenance, wireless connectivity, and technician time were all straining the technology budget. Secondly, the need for more flexible computer use was pressing. As CyberEnglish students leave 9th grade, they become part of the technically literate student population and they want computers to continue learning in the integrated way they have become attuned to. Freeing up the laptops helps. Also, because of curriculum changes, another classroom is now a new computer lab. Sheboygan Falls High School students will have greater access to computers than ever before. Our new lab/classroom provides us with some advantages, but also presents us with some challenges. The room is not "re-arrangeable." We cannot as easily facilitate face to face discussions, for example.
• This year, CE9 students will not necessarily remain with their first semester teacher all year. The semester switch will be a new situation for us. The good thing is that Ms. Haag and I will have a better chance to get to know more of our 9th graders. As a result of this schedule change, links to all CE9 students' sites are on one page now instead of separated by teacher. This will mean a little more browsing to find a student's web site. We urge parents to add the url to their student's web site to their favorites.