Web tutorial

A Safety Harbor Middle School teacher keeps students interested in his lessons by using the Internet.

 © St. Petersburg Times, published September 14, 1999

SAFETY HARBOR -- Bill Sutschek is teaching the same kind of stuff he has taught for 30 years. It's just that he's jazzed it up a bit.

The 54-year-old Safety Harbor Middle teacher uses a virtual chalkboard for his sixth-grade language arts and earth science students. Sutschek teaches almost entirely from the Internet, with information displayed on 19 monitors on two walls.

"I really think this will be the classroom of the future," Sutschek said.

Sutschek's quest to bring technology into the classroom began after the school was wired for the Internet about three years ago. Like many teachers, Sutschek designed his own Web page. It's just that he went a little bit further.

His intention for the site, dubbed So Many Colors after a Harry Chapin song, was to share a little information about what goes on in his classroom.

"When someone comes up with a tool for me, away we go," said Sutschek, a former drama coach at Countryside High School. "It just kept growing."

Parents can now pull up a page that explains state tests such as the Florida Writes, Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills and Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test or a page that provides nine ways to help their child do better in Sutschek's class. Or they can pull up almost every lesson their child has in class and review it at home.

Plot worksheets, detailed information on how to write an essay, an essay rubric for students, punctuation and persuasive writing techniques are all accessable at the click of a mouse.

More than 30 literary works are posted on the site. Students are required to read the books, but as they discuss it in class, the tales come alive with movie clips, music or slide shows.

For Sara Bernard, 11, who is in one of Sutschek's language arts classes, having the words on a screen right in front of her is great.

"I'm not really good at language arts, plus I don't see that well," she said. "When it's on the screen, it gives me more time to write things down. When I can't see it, Mr. Sutschek makes it bigger for me. I think this is a good way to learn and it's fun."

Many classics, such as Anne of Green Gables, have been linked to other Web sites. In a segment dealing with Anne's devotion to The Lady of Shalott, it seemed only natural, Sutschek said, to link students to sites dealing with chivalry and Arthurian legends.

Dorothy Tate, an aide who assists a physically impaired student in Sutschek's class, said she has never seen a teaching style quite like his.

"I see children more in tune to learning," she said. "Their attention span is better than I have seen in quite a while. No matter what he is teaching, they stay on task because they are not bored."

Sutschek insists he is not an expert in educational methods or computers. He's simply not afraid to try something different.

The multimedia classroom hasn't cost a penny. Sutschek has collected discarded TVs and old computer monitors, a Karaoke machine with a broken tape player but working amplifier and a VCR, all of which he wired to a school-supplied computer. Sutschek controls everything from his desk, including Douglas, a talking Christmas tree that periodically takes over the class.

When it comes to learning grammar rules, Sutschek turns on the Karaoke. As a black ball bounces above lyrics Sutschek has written, students croon. Capitalization is sung to the calypso beat of Under the Sea, a song from the Little Mermaid. Then there's Grammar Rock and just plain Grammar, compliments of a Peggy Lee tune.

"I know almost all the rules already," Nicole Curl said. "I pull them up at home and sing them, too. If the rules weren't set to music, I wouldn't really know what was going on."

Students and parents aren't the only ones to benefit from Sutschek's efforts. The site also includes a place for other educators to get ideas or teaching tips that have worked for Sutschek.

After the lesson has been taught and the note taking is finished, Sutschek sometimes takes his students to another of his Web pages, one that reveals some personal information about him, his wife, Diane, who teaches at Carwise Middle, son, Freddy, pets and family vacations.

"I like knowing about him," said earth science and language arts student Matt Witte, who often goes to the Web site from home. "He's one of the best teachers I have ever had. He's real."