Have You Seen the Wind? is an Internet resource designed to help educators and students working on weather and hurricane topics. Throughout the information on the pages about using the Internet there will be links to information in the resource which can be used to teach about weather concepts and hurricanes.

The strategies and ideas in the chart below are cumulative and build on one another. A Category 5 Internet - Using Educator is or probably has used all of these ideas and more.

Category 4

As you integrate the Internet into your curriculum you will find different strategies work best for some units or topics. Don't feel that anything found online is superior to what can be found in books or in another form. All materials have their place. The power of the resources on the Internet are found in most part through the use of interaction, presentation of up-to-date information, access to primary source experts, and availability of information which might not be included in textbooks on the topic you are covering.

Students must be taught good information processing skills and to authenticate information found online. This becomes more critical as Internet resources become more widely included and students begin to use search engines to gather their own information.

• Work with students to view and evaluate Internet sites. Several rubrics for evaluation of sites can be found online or you might create your own.
• Create a menu page of Internet links (hurricane links) which students can use for the lesson/unit. This approach maximizes the students' online time as they won't waste time looking for sites that match their objectives and will have resources that fit their level of reading/understanding. These should be sites that you previewed or that you and students evaluated together.
• Teach students to use effective search strategies.
• Utilize strategies for working with student teams and classroom centers to effectively use a single Internet connection.
• Develop materials to use with online sites which can be provided to guide student's online time.(Student Hurricane Activities) Have students develop questions for peers to use who visit the sites as well. Outlines for note taking or question sheets can be used while connected as a guide or as a follow up to an online session. Some students may even be able to publish these materials online for classmates to use.
• Publish end products or information about projects you have participated in online.

Category 5

As you begin to gain confidence and see how engaged students become when participating in activities online you will want to reach out further and begin developing your own lessons or online projects. There are several sites out there with projects which can be used as a model. If you have not participated in a project, consider doing that first before asking others to collaborate with you on a project you have created. It is helpful to have the experience of knowing what went well and what didn't from a participant's point of view.

• Consider your curriculum, objectives and develop your online project following educationally sound practices.
• Let the school community know about your project. Schools always can always use good PR and projects involving the Internet may spark others in your school or district to participate as well.
• Involve students in developing the research questions. Authentic, original research needs to be guided but students have a greater buy-in when they are involved.
• Collaborations with others can be enhanced using videoconferencing and software such as CU-SeeMe.