SchoolHouse Mac is a K-12 teacher's Mac user group, formed in response to a need for help using the Macintosh in the classroom and in response to a need for more programs, art, ...everything!, to use with it. We've been gathering public domain and shareware programs, tools to use to develop more, and lots of art and information for nearly three years now.
Our major effort is to publish Teacher's Mac‚Ñ¢, a user group "diskletter".....an informal, electronic publication.
Teacher's Mac‚Ñ¢ is a "diskletter" in the sense that it is a newsletter on a disk. Putting a newsletter on a disk makes it possible to send out lots of useful programs and other files along with the newsletter and keeps expenses down.
Teacher's Mac‚Ñ¢ is informal because it's primary focus is presenting information, ideas and how-tos from a variety of sources including BBSs, other user groups, and teachers. We are not as concerned with polish as we are with getting as much of the enormous amount of information available to you as possible and with generating more. We can include resources from a variety of sources because we are a non-profit user group charging you a distribution and membership fee.
We should also point out that we are not as concerned with the latest thing and the most uptodate equipment as we are with the most USEFUL material. While we have material of interest to "Techies", we are teachers first.
Teacher's Mac‚Ñ¢ is electronic in that it is not available in paper form, rather it is available on an 800 k disk (or selected BBSs) along with up to 1100k of programs, information, lesson plans, how-tos, art and so on. Suggestions and directions for the programs included on the disk are written up in "This Month's Programs" as needed.
Included programs and other material are found or developed by teachers in their own efforts to use Macs in the classroom. The content will vary from issue to issue, but one thing is definite, teachers will find useful programs and information with every issue.
We also hope that Teacher's Mac‚Ñ¢ will serve as a collection focus, inspiring teachers to share their ideas and plans for using the Mac in the classroom with other teachers. Teacher's networking with teacher's can generate lots of ideas.
Approximately 1100k of material is included on an 800K disk by compressing the files. An easy to use extractor is included on each disk along with printed instructions. (Note: Be sure to move the files to your hard drive before extracting. The 800K floppy does not contain enough extra memory for the process.)
Program Library
A second activity is to collect useful, effect programs and other resources. So far, we've collected nearly 5000 files, mostly compacted on over 500, 800K disks and organized by category. We charge a $4.00 per disk duplication fee ($6.00 to non-members). In collecting these files, we've made an effort to discard those which don't work or are not appropriate for school use. Every third issue of the Teacher's Mac, contains SchoolHouse Mac's latest catalog.
ClipArtCollection
A third major acitivity has been gathering a large collection of public domain clipart in three different formats. Our favorite is the SuperClipArt Collection, seven disks containing nearly 7000 clip images in stacks, and other material. The costs of those disks range from $4.00 to $10.00 plus shipping to members. The 10 X 10 Art Disks are huge collections of art in paint file format, compressed on HD disks for $10.00 plus shipping per disk. We also have our original ClassRoom ClipArt We also want to encourage programs and teachers to continue developing good education programs by encouraging payment of shareware fees.
Samples of all 7 SuperClipArt Stacks have been uploaded to AOL. Look for
CartoonClipArt
SecondSemester
TinyClipArtSampler
Fantasy/SciFiClipArt Sampler
NASA ClipArt Sampler
ELTeachClipArt Sampler
State ClipArt Sampler
The last has the most recent list of our art resources. All of these files were uploaded to the education software section of AOL
Other Resources
We’re also developing other resources for teachers. These efforts have been a little slower, but are progressing. We’ve uploaded the following to AOL
The Freedom Stack - A collection of over 30 English, French, Indian, and American documents and speaches relating to freedom including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Iriquois Constitition, some Abe Lincoln speaches, Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream...” speach and others.
Science Teachers Lab & Demo Stack - A collection of over 400 ideas and lesson plans for K-12 science teachers.
Getting Started - A collection of essays about HyperCard for teachers who want to learn more about it.
Mars Observer Stack - Information about NASA’s Mars Observer Satellitte from NASA.
Hubble Space Telescope Stack - A large stack of information downloaded from NASA about the Hubble Space Telescope.
Benefits of Membership
Members of SchoolHouse Mac will receive the two catalog issues of Teacher's Mac‚Ñ¢, which will contain our most recent catalog, the diskletter and approximately 1000k of the best material and programs we have gathered in the previous months. Members will also receive mailings keeping them informed of events.
Membership Dues
Membership dues are $14.00 a year. Or membership is included in the $27 subscription fee of The Teacher's Mac‚Ñ¢ which is published six times a year. A sample issue (with catalog) is available for $5.00 (Both the sample and the issue would become part of your first year if you choose to subscribe.) Send inquiries, subscription requests, etc., to SchoolHouse Mac at the address listed at the end of this chapter. Membership dues, Teacher's Mac subscriptions, and other catalog prices are valid through August 30, 1994. Please inquire after that.
