Best New Software

Volume 32, Number 4, April 2005

Joanne Troutner

Decisions, Decisions-Lying, Cheating, Stealing. Tom Snyder Productions. (www.tomsnyder.com). Grades 8 - 12. Students take the role of a teenager who has just finished her second year at a new high school in this superb simulation. Three scenarios with various ethical dilemmas are presented. One is a party where alcohol is present and parents are not. Another involves taking CDs from the workplace. The final option involves cheating on a math test. Students are required to examine their feelings and actions and to complete journal entries. A five-step, critical- thinking process is reinforced with each set of decisions. This software is truly one of the best simulations on issues of ethics currently available.

Digital Photography Workshop for Teachers. Tom Snyder Productions. (www.tomsnyder.com). Grades K- 12. Designed as a workshop for educators, this guide also works very well with students. Teacher-librarians can use the materials as they work with students on multimedia productions. Well-written tips on picture composition, and activities for using various imaging software are provided. Detailed step-by-step lessons on using Photoshop Elements, ImageBlender, Microsoft Photo Editor, iPhoto, and Simply VR are included. The workshop is rounded out with Lesson plan ideas, a CD containing a number of photos for use in the activities, sample teacher products, sample student products, and trial versions of software round out this workshop. This is another excellent example of the Teacher Workshop series of materials developed by Tom Snyder Productions.

Thinking Reader. Tom Snyder Productions. (www.tomsnyder.com). Grades 5 - 8. Designed to help struggling readers work on comprehension, this software removes the barrier of decoding and allows students to practice seven comprehension strategies. The software revolves around superb literature selections such as Tuck Everlasting, My Brother Sam Is Dead, Dragonwings, and six other titles. Each book is divided into chapters that can be read with a human or computer voice. Font size can easily be adjusted, a hyperlink glossary is included, students cannot click through the text, and the program is easy to use. The embedded activities provide practice in all comprehension strategies. A Strategy Help icon leads to concise suggestions for using each of the reading comprehension techniques. This software works well with ELL students as well as struggling readers.

Scholastic Keys. Tom Snyder Productions. (www.tomsnyder.com). Grades K- 5. This program operates within the Microsoft Office environment to make MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel more user friendly for young learners. MaxWrite puts a larger icon toolbar in place and the dialogue boxes are easier for young writers to use. Students can highlight the text and have it read to them. MaxShow contains a number of educationally oriented PowerPoint templates. In addition, the MaxShow toolbar makes developing PowerPoint presentations simple. MaxCount allows for the creation of spreadsheets and charts with a minimum amount of technology instruction. Scholastic Keys operates smoothly and is certain to be a hit with primary teachers.

Joanne Troutner is director of Media/Technology for the Tippecanoe School Corporation and owner of Creative Computer Enterprises in Lafayette, Indiana. She can be contacted at troutner@mindspring.com