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Searchlight On Character is a division of Ocean East Publishing which was established in 1991 by Bill and Michelle Willis. Michelle serves as Ocean East Publishing's Director of Project Development and has been the creative force behind all of the Searchlight™ interactive programs. She has a Master of Education Degree and taught Middle School Health Education for 11 years, High School Life Management for 4 years, and was a Middle School Curriculum Coordinator for 3 years. She also served as the Director of Religious Education for St. John of the Cross Parish in Vero Beach, Florida from 1992 to 2007, and holds a Professional Certificate in Catechesis from the Diocese of Palm Beach.
The company's first publication, Reclaiming America's Children: Raising and Educating Morally Healthy Kids was the result of Michelle's many years of experience as a sixth grade public school health educator and her concern regarding the escalating behavior problems she experienced in the classroom. Her research led her into many areas and issues which were both alarming and enlightening. As the greater picture emerged, she became more and more concerned with the implications this information held for parents and educators alike. She wanted to share her research with others, and so Reclaiming America's Children was published. For many years Michelle was involved with the development of health education materials for her school district. During that time she authored several health education booklets which were integrated into the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade curricula.
Students |
Teachers |
Learning Engagement: Students need and desire a learning process that engages all their learning faculties. The use of interactive strategies, such as sound, images, movement, response mechanisms, and "real time" feedback, encourage students to focus on the presentation and remain actively engaged with the content. |
Engaged Students: Teachers appreciate and desire a learning process that engages and keeps students on task. When using computer interactives to transmit the content, students do remain "on task." The teacher's role is freed up and transformed from "giver of content" to facilitator and guide. They can spend more time helping students process and integrate what they learn. |
Student Accountability: This may not be universal to all students, but there is no doubt that being held accountable for learning is a strategic requirement for most students if they are to place importance on particular content. Unfortunately, the typical American student quickly discounts the importance of content that doesn't need to be turned in for a grade or on which he or she will not be tested, etc. For this reason, all Searchlight™ programs have carefully crafted curriculum support materials which accompany them. These materials are strategically designed not only to help students extract the rich content and meaning of the electronically presented material, but also to stay engaged, remain on task, and be held accountable. Because of the program design, it becomes quite obvious if students are "off task" or "not engaged." They simply must stay engaged in order to complete the assignments. |
Assessment Capability: Teachers must have concrete methods for grading students and assessing their progress. In some states it is now against the law for a teacher to assign a grade without very clear and undeniable standards based on evidence of student productivity. Searchlight™ Interactives are always developed with accompanying curriculum support materials which are carefully designed to provide two very important elements: student accountability and teacher assessment capability. While the content is transmitted electronically, the support materials* for each Searchlight™ program are very traditional: student worksheets that must be completed and turned in, quizzes, crossword puzzles, concept mapping activities, and even unit tests, as in the case of larger programs containing multiple steps, lessons, or modules. All of these support materials are provided "copy-ready" for easy duplication. Answer Keys are also always provided. |
Important Question and Consideration Regarding The Program Support Materials: Can a program be used as a "standalone" without the curriculum support materials? Here is Michelle's response:
The answer is yes, but this is NOT recommended. The Searchlight interactives are educational tools, strategically crafted with a built-in learning system. However, the rich, dynamic content of a given program cannot be effectively extracted without the curriculum support materials that are designed to guide the learning process. The Searchlight programs are not games! Computer games have a particular motivating dynamic built into them, and yes, they are certainly important and effective learning tools. But because the Searchlight interactives are not "games," it is not likely that students will be motivated to stick with them without some form of built-in accountability. Certainly teachers, being the highly gifted individuals they are, can develop their own support materials, but "why re-invent the wheel?"
Mailing Address |
Phone |
E-mail |
|
(772) 563-9457 Monday - Saturday 9:30 am - 7 pm |
Michelle Willis: sales@oepub.com |
All rights reserved.
Web Design: Michelle Willis
E-mail: sales@oepub.com