With these 3 print directories, teachers can surf with certainty

tech.k12 / Joyce Kasman Valenza

Directories help us plan and locate the things we need when we need them. It would be tough to find a home without the Yellow Pages or a family room without the television listings.

A directory is perhaps even more critical for planning our use of the Web with children. With its millions of items to index, selection and quality control of Web resources are major issues. For teachers, directories can be a first step in integrated lesson planning and a major tool in designing classroom-tailored directories, whether on a Web page or simply a list of bookmarks. With limited access to workstations and limited time online, planning may be essential.

Good news: You can rely on a very small bookshelf. I count on three print directories to get me through the school year. If there was one print directory I'd want to keep near that K-8 classroom workstation or the family computer, it would be Jean Armour Polly's Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages. The third edition is just out. Polly, a.k.a. Net Mom, is a former public librarian who really does her homework in keeping up with the best of the Web. I asked her why, with so many Web-based directories, someone would want to purchase one in print.

"You can't carry the whole Internet around with you. You can share a book with others, especially people who really haven't seen the Internet. Your principal, your parents, your grandparents -- each will have their own hot buttons. It could be astronomy or recipes using asparagus," she said. Polly says books can be a "good convincer" of the Internet's value, especially if you can help a person find his or her own niche topic.

"Books are great for pre-surfing," she said. "It saves people a lot of time. They can plan their Internet adventure offline. I may not want to look up every Web page on the United Kingdom, but I could browse through the links in a book to find good starting points." And speaking of the United Kingdom, Polly's Yellow Pages devotes 111 pages to countries of the world. While most of those other thick yellow Web directories do a fine job, Polly's is really the only comprehensive offline guidebook for children, listing more that 3,500 child-friendly sites.

The book itself caters to children. "Net Files," spread throughout the 600 pages, invite browsing. These little question-and-answer quizzes include links to Web sites where children can "read more about it." Polly's readers tell her they read her book in the bathtub and on planes. "The book is fun to browse through in the same way as the Farmer's Almanac," she said. Internet Kids & Family Web Pages begins with several sections of hot lists. Among the 10 special "Don't Miss Hotlists" are: Kids Who Love Sports and Outdoor Fun, Kids Who Love Math and Science, and Kids Who Love Art and Music. All sites are carefully selected and not just fully, but entertainingly, annotated. The book also provides a bit of child-tested fun. Polly's son selected sites for the "Son of Net-Mom" hot list. Stephen Polly picks such sure-fire pleasers as the Belch Page (http://www.rahul.net/renoir); Bug Cuisine (http://www.orkin.com/html/cuisine.html); and Name That Candybar (http://www.sci.mus.mn.us/sln/tf/c/crosssection/namethatbar.html), where children are encouraged to recognize cross-sections of 24 candy bars. He bets that most will not beat his record of 18. The huge directory section is organized broadly by subject, with an index and an alphabetical list of sites. An enclosed CD-ROM offers a hyperlinked, clickable version of the book. Free online updates are available at http://www.netmom.com I use The Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages regularly to help me locate links for forthcoming classes, but at the secondary-school level, I rely on two additional directories.

For years, one has been Elizabeth Miller's annual Internet Resource Directory for K-12 Teachers and Librarians. No browsable trivia here -- this is a solid tool for lesson planning, aimed at educators and organized into 11 curricular areas. New sections have been added with links to curricular standards, organizations, professional associations, and early-childhood and special-education sites. The reference chapter offers reliable resources for use across the curriculum. The 1998-'99 edition features 1,442 Internet resources, which are updated periodically at the book's Web site (http://www.lu.com/Internet -- Resource -- Directory) When they arrive in the mail, I dig right into my updates of Web Feet, pencil-checking the sites I plan to investigate and deciding which pages to share with colleagues. Each month, I receive 20 to 24 pages of annotated Web sites to add to my color-coded binder.

Web Feet: The Internet Traveler's Desk Reference is a notebook service that offers "bookmarks in print." Each issue comes with an updated index. Continual updates are available at http://www.rockhillpress.com/webfeet/wfupdate/wfupds.htm Web Feet calls itself an "interactive print product." Readers are encouraged to suggest the topics they would like to see covered in forthcoming issues. The product is compiled by experienced researchers -- librarians, teachers and experts -- and is designed for middle and high school students, adults, librarians, teachers and parents. One particularly useful section, "Calendar Connections," offers timely sites for forthcoming observances. The November update, for instance, offered a group of links to help teachers prepare for Black History Month in February. I asked Web Feet's editor, Catherine Barr, about the value of a print directory. "Web Feet saves time," Barr said. "It takes us on average an hour to identify and annotate each site, so that with 100 sites in each issue, we've potentially saved users 100 hours searching the Web and finding sites that may not be suitable for their needs. . . . I've offered online access and intend to create Web Feet Interactive this year, but subscribers are saying that while they will want that at some time in the future, right now they need a print product that they can pass around." And most of us do pass that binder around. With its annual subscription rate of $145, Web Feet may be beyond the budget of the average teacher. But it is an important resourceto share through the school librarian or technology coordinator.

Educators and parents should consider purchasing at least one of these essential print directories:

Polly, Jean Armour. The Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages (includes CD-ROM), third edition, Osborne, 1999, $34.95. http://www.osborne.com; for updates on Web sites http://www.netmom.com

Miller, Elizabeth. Internet Resource Directory for K-12 Teachers and Librarians, Libraries Unlimited, 1998, $25, 1-800-237-6124. http://www.lu.com/Internet

Web Feet. Annual subscription $145, includes the full year 1999, plus a fully revised and updated version of the 1998 links. Discounts available on multiple orders. 1-888-762-5445 or 610-667-2040. http://www.rockhillpress.com or info@rockhillpress.com

Joyce Kasman Valenza is the librarian at Springfield High School in Erdenheim. Her column appears each week in tech.life. E-mail: joyce.valenza@phillynews.com

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