1. Link to our CyberFair 98 Entry
2. Link to our School Home Page
3. Date of Project: **March 31, 1998**
4. School: William Tyson Elementary
5. District: Anchorage School District
6. City: Anchorage, Alaska
7. Teachers or Classes: Mrs. Bradley, Mrs. Burtner, Mr. Ellanak, Mrs. Elliott, Mr. Kito, Mrs. Littlebear , Mrs.MacDonald,  Ms. Mullican, Mrs. Olsen and Mrs. Ondra, Mrs. Shangin
8.  How many students worked on this project? 35

		Wesley		Britnee
		Salome		Samantha
		Cheryl		Nicole
		Junior

		J.P.		Zachary
		Rosan		Capricia
		Deserae		Keith
		Rachelle

1.  
2. Their ages were: 7 - 11 years of age
3. Project Contact Email: bradley_chery@msmail.asd.k12.ak.us

Project Overview

1. We entered our Web site in CyberFair Category:
   Category # 8

Description of "Our Community"

Our community is in Anchorage, Alaska. Some people say that Anchorage is the largest native village in Alaska. There are native Alaskans from all over living here.

Our school is located on the northeast side of Anchorage in a neighborhood called Mt. View. There are approximately 400 kids in our school. Our school is called William Tyson Elementary. It was named after William Tyson. He was a man of education. He was given this title because he taught our community the native way of life. In all his years of teaching he didn't turn down one single student. Because of all the work he did in our community we honored him by naming our school after him.

The weather here might be different from where you live. Fall lasts for about a month, starting around middle of September. Usually we have snow on the ground by Halloween. The snow ordinarily stays until April. In the spring it gets wet and muddy outside. In the summer the temperature goes up to about 70° Fahrenheit. In the summer the lawns in our neighborhood are green and the trees have their leaves again.

There are lots of things in Mt. View. We have another elementary school named Mt. View Elementary. There is a big middle school named Clark Middle School. There are lots of stores and restaurants here. We have a McDonald's that is just like other McDonalds you would find anywhere else. We even have a public Library and parks that are fun to play at.

Summary of Our Project

We have learned a lot about Native Alaska culture, artists and performers. Many of these performers came and danced for our us, in the multipurpose room. Many artists came in and showed us some magnificent works of art and artifacts they had made. We took lots of notes when these people came in and visited in our school. We also went to libraries and gathered information. We went on the Internet and used e-mail to get more information. We went to the Anchorage Museum of History and Fine Art and the National Bank of Alaska's Heritage Museum to take pictures of Alaska Native art. We enjoyed learning, watching and exploring the Native Alaskan arts and artists. The students and staff have enjoyed using and learning how to use our available technology to complete this project.

Our Internet Access

William Tyson Elementary has a local area network consisting of switched/shared 10Mbps ethernet. The school is connected to the Anchorage School District metropolitan area network at 768Kbps. The connection to the Internet is provided through the University of Alaska network to Northwest Net at 256Kbps soon to be upgraded to 512Kbps.

Problems We Had To Overcome
The biggest problem that we had to overcome was getting enough time to work on the project. Teachers had to have substitutes to cover for them during their regular class time. We used monies from Title IV and Title 1 to cover the costs of sbustitutes. However, we could have used twice as many days as we had. We also had to get students released from various classes during their regular school day to work with the teachers. Some teachers were quite flexible while others were not. We found that flexibility was the key. Teachers ended up working with students one-on-one and in small groups before and after school and during lunch periods in order to assist students in getting the web pages completed.

Our Project Sound Bite

Our project has taught us a lot about the Alaskan Native's way of life and the art each culture developed. It has allowed us to connect with people from all over the state of Alaska. We have broadened our knowledge and also demonstrated that elementary students can produce material that is valuable to other people.

Project Elements

This section explains how your project addressed the project elements found in the CyberFair Assignment to Schools.

1) How did your activities and research for this International School CyberFair project support your required coursework and curriculum requirements?

Below is a comprehensive listing of student performance standards adopted by the State of Alaska which we feel were addresed in this project.

Alaska Content Standards-Technology

A. A student should be able to operate technology-based tools.

B. A student should be able to use technology to locate, select, and manage information.

C. A student should be able to explore ideas, solve problems, and drive meaning.

D. A student should be able to use technology to express ideas and exchange information.

E. A student should be able to use technology responsibly and understand its impact on individuals and society.

Alaska Content Standards-English/Language Arts

A. A student should be able to speak and write well for a variety of purposes and audiences.

B. A student should be a competent and thoughtful reader, listener, and viewer of literature, technical materials, and a variety of other information.

C. A student should be able to identify and select from multiple strategies in order to complete projects independently and cooperatively.

D. A student should be able to think logically and reflectively in order to present and explain positions based on relevant and reliable information.

E. A student should understand and respect the perspectives of others in order to communicate effectively.

Alaska Content Standards-Geography

B. A student should be able to utilize, analyze, and explain information about the human and physical features of places and regions.

E. A student should understand and be able to evaluate how humans and physical environments interact.

Alaska Content Standards-History

A. A student should understand that history is a record of human experiences that links the past to the present and the future.

B. A student should understand historical themes through factual knowledge of time, places, ideas, institutions, cultures, people, and events.

C. A student should develop the skills and processes of historical inquiry.

Alaska Content Standards-Arts

A. A student should be able to create and preform in the arts.

B. A student should should be able to understand the historical and contemporary role of the arts in Alaska, the nation, and the world.

C. A student should be able to critique the student's art and the student's art and the art of others.

D. A student should be able to recognize beauty and meaning through the arts of life.

2) What information tools and technologies did you use to complete your CyberFair project?

Every tool and resource that we used was essential to the successful completion on our project. We are very fortunate that we have access to the technology that we need. Our good fortune comes from the fact that our school is only one year old.

3) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

The students working on this project acted as ambassadors by contacting artists that they had found on the internet, artists that had done artwork for our new school and artists that lived in our local area. Some of these artists visited our school when we celebrated our "Art Day" in October of this year. Two groups of students were able to interview Susie Bevins and Larry Ahkavana. Both were artists that had created scuptures for our school. They were delighted to be interviewed and excited that their work would become a part of our museum.

We were most happy to have several parents and other family members of students agree to demonstrate their craft and carefully explain the process that they went through to create their art work. As students started to complete their pages they took their last drafts home to show to their families. Many students came back with corrections that their parents had spotted and wanted to know exactly when the web site would be up.

The most unique experiences were from our visits to the National Bank of Alaska's Heritage Musuem and the Anchorage Museum of History and Fine Arts. Students were allowed to browse through the musuems and select pieces of art that they wanted to photograph. Mrs. Hollinger at the National Bank of Alaska opened the cases, gave the kids the gloves and allowed them to move and arrange the pieces. Mrs. Abbot at the Anchorage Museum of History and Fine Art allowed students to try on native clothing and handle various artifacts. The kids felt so special to be given the trust to be able to handle the artifacts. It was an experience that they won't soon forget.

On March 31st, William Tyson students, teachers, parents, school board members, administrators and community members gathered together to celebrate the opening of the virtual art museum. Students then presented their museum in a presentation to the Alaska Society for Technology in Education conference.

4) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

We have advertised the creation of this website since the beginning of the year at our "Open House" program where we had a small multimedia presentation to inform parents of the website that we planned to build. Since then the community has responded in many different ways. Our business partner, the National Bank of Alaska, opened their museum to the children. The Anchorage Musuem of Art did the same.

We plan to have the children be participants in the Alaska Society for Technology in Education '98 conference by sharing their experiences of creating the website during one of the program sessions. They will also be hosting a "Grand Opening" for the museum by inviting their parents, our school board, local legislators, TV, newspaper reporters and local native artists. We believe that their work will create a positive note for the community and school.

The website has been registered with several search engines and other sites on the Internet.

A Unit of Practice has been created from this project and will be shared electronically with other educators through the Anchorage School District Technology website.

5) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

We would like to thank . . .

Sharon K. Abbott- Mrs.Abbott helped us find information in the Anchorage Museum of History and Fine Art.

Larry Ahvakana- Mr. Ahvakana made a metal statue of Eskimo dancers for the front of our school. He allowed us to interview him.

Susie Bevins- Mrs. Bevins made hanging metal animals sculptures and a bench for our school. She also let us interview her during our "Art Day" celebration.

Daniel Ellanak - Mr. Ellanak helped students find individual native artists in the community and on the Internet.

Gail Hollinger- Mrs. Hollinger works at the National Bank of Alaska Heritage Museum. She allowed us to take some of the artifacts and works of art out of their glass cases and take photographs with our QuickTake cameras.

Agnes Jackson - Mrs. Jackson introduced our students to the Athapascan arts of dance, storytelling and beading.

Krista Lamb- Krista performed a dance of the Haida people. She showed us what they eat, and the clothes they wear.

Bobbie Meszaros- Ms. Meszaros works with Mrs. Hollinger at the National Bank of Alaska Heritage Museum as a intern. She also let us take the artifacts and works of art out of the cases.

Meg Mueller- Mrs. Mueller has helped us in the computer lab when we needed to find information on the internet. She helped several students with editing and creating their web pages.

Sara Paniyak- Mrs. Paniyak showed us how to weave Yupik baskets.

Liz Pennington- Mrs. Pennington helped set up Krista's to our school.

Anna M. Picket- Anna Picket let us use her photo of President Will Mayo wearing his chief's jacket.

Jerry Reber - Mr. Reber was very helpful with students. He edited, helped photograph, transported students on field trips and was essential in helping us publicize our "Grand Opening" of the art museum.

Barbara Shangin - Mrs. Shangin helped us check for accuracy of information and translated Aleut words for us.

6) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises

One of the lessons that we found was that we needed a lot more time on this project then we thought we needed when we started. We discovered that many of our student's parents are working artists. We also discovered that there is limited information about Alaska Native arts on the Internet.