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Need Teaching Resources? Opportunity 'Knox'!

Web site name: Homepage of Pattie Knox
Web site URL: http://viking.stark.k12.oh.us/~hck/cgi-bin/homepage.cgi?id=ptk1nc
Web site creator: Patricia Knox, Greentown and Orchard Hill Elementary Schools, North Canton, Ohio

Patricia Knox, a technology support specialist for students in grades one through five at Greentown and Orchard Hill elementary schools, is a "grand" Web Wizard -- she designs and maintains Web sites for two schools, in addition to keeping up her own home page!

Why did Knox create her first Web site? "Originally ... to see if I could!" she tells Education World. Actually, Knox recognized the potential of online resources as soon as her schools were connected to the Internet. She also saw that teachers did not have time to locate the best online resources for their students. "I initially created the school Web sites," she says, "as a safe, non-threatening way of helping teachers find information that was relevant to their classroom curriculum. "The Theme Units and Online Activities page [at each school site] was created as a means of helping classroom teachers find valuable resources quickly; it was the first section of our Web site to be published," recalls Knox. "It is still our most popular feature. Teachers really like having a site their students can go to in order to find screened resources about particular subjects."

Educators entering Knox's Web site will want to jump directly to the Links Page for Patti Knox. From there, they can tour her elementary school sites, her online projects, and her thematic units.

"I think the reaction that has pleased me the most has been from parents and family members," Knox told Education World. "One student's extended family in Colombia checks our Web site frequently to see what she is doing in school. If we can make even one family feel more connected to our school, I feel that our efforts are successful!"

Article by Cara Bafile
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