I am new to blogging, so please forgive me if I don't make a lot of sense. I just recently got my first teaching job as a teacher for a Head Start classroom in Dubuque, Iowa. While I love my new job and the interaction I have with the students, there are a few concerns that I have. For example, my classroom has no computers- which to me is a vital aspect of teaching. Is this normal for a federally operated program? Also, I am in charge of a program called the Wrap Around Program, we received a grant for this program, but there seem to be no rules or regulations written anywhere to go by. Again, this seems odd that a federally operated program has no written rules. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can find information on this situation? Thanks

Flash Rehab
My class is currently using flash, a projector and interactive whiteboard to create a rehabilitation program for use in our local hospital. The idea came about when a community member was temporarily disabled in a horse riding accident. We have worked with local physical therapists to develop a series of visual and physical tests which require basic and advanced nuerological functions. We are in the beginning phases of this project, but the amount of student interest and involvement has been amazing.

I am looking for ways to use technology in my primary classroom. With many of my students not yet reading or writing, this seems like a daunting task. I recently was awarded a grant for a SMARTBOARD. This is a major advance in my classroom. I have not learned all the ins and out of it yet, but I am learning. The students love using it for handwriting practice and website learning games.

Innovation and technology was the subject of my professional development day today. We heard amazing things from our speaker, Alan November. One of the things he stressed was how China and India are teaching children to invent. That the children in the US lack this skill. Alan November said in his keynote address today, "There are more gifted children in China then total children in the US. How will our students be able to compete?" (Alan Novemer, Key Note Address, January 21, 2008) We must use technology to bring out the creativity and critical thinking of our students.

I look forward to reading more posts about how other educators are using technology.

My school district does provide a significant amount of technology for every classroom. We are allowed 4 computers and one teacher computer for each classroom. The teacher computer is hooked up to a television so we may show streaming videos and PowerPoint if we chose to. I find the use of this technology in my classroom amazing and use it everyday. My use of the technology ranges from showing streaming videos, to presentations, or just having directions for the next activity posted. I also have my students work in groups and they can research using our class computers. Technology is the students’ second language, so if you relate lessons to technology, children are not only interested but retain the information much better.

It's nice to see that student involvement is amazing. It appears that students have found something that they like doing and could relate to. By engaging the therapist, you are able to bring a real life situation into the picture and provide greater student involvement, along with better results.

George R.

I am a kindergarten teacher who has several computers and a document camera with a projector in my classroom. I have my students use phonemic awareness programs on the computers to support reading skills. The document camera is a new tool in my classroom this year. I use it to show examples much like I used to use an overhead (hope that makes sense). I also use it to show student work. It works great to enlarge anything and project it so that the entire class can view it at once. Does anyone out there have any other ideas for how I can use these items? I am always looking for new ways to enrich my students educational experience.

I am a science teacher. I teach grade 7 students. Concerning the use of technology in our classrooms, I consider it a vital step. I use computers and SmartBoards in my classes a lot. I have been trained to convert my lesson (or parts of it) to a “computerized” one and I found it very effective and interesting. As a science teacher, it’s very important to post pictures, streaming videos and scientific animations to students during instructions. I use this technology since two years. Excuse me if I consider myself an “expert” in smartboards. I help fellow teachers during workshops and training sessions to work effectively with it. I am helping my school in building an electronic archive of Flash educational animations, pictures and many other educational materials. In addition to using this technology in visual presentations, I use it for students’ assessment. I create small pop quizzes that students can undergo in groups. I benefit from its ability to reinforce cooperative learning. I do this by creating a page for every group of students to monitor their work during sessions. They love it and become motivated, especially when they see this dancing monkey jumping to sit in their group when they get a correct answer.

I am a science teacher. I teach grade 7 students. Concerning the use of technology in our classrooms, I consider it a vital step. I use computers and SmartBoards in my classes a lot. I have been trained to convert my lesson (or parts of it) to a “computerized” one and I found it very effective and interesting. As a science teacher, it’s very important to post pictures, streaming videos and scientific animations to students during instructions.
I use this technology since two years. Excuse me if I consider myself an “expert” in smartboards. I help fellow teachers during workshops and training sessions to work effectively with it. I am helping my school in building an electronic archive of Flash educational animations, pictures and many other educational materials.
In addition to using this technology in visual presentations, I use it for students’ assessment. I create small pop quizzes that students can undergo in groups. I benefit from its ability to reinforce cooperative learning. I do this by creating a page for every group of students to monitor their work during sessions. They love it and become motivated, especially when they see this dancing monkey jumping to sit in their group when they get a correct answer.

During a staff meeting this year, a social studies teacher talked about how great blogging is and how he is using it in his classroom. I had no clue what he was talking about or how blogging could help my students as I didn't even know blogging existed. This teacher set up a blog with his various classes for reviews before tests. He would post each individual question from a review and the students could go into the website and answer the review question or ask a fellow classmate about the question. This may be a little bit harder in math classes where writing mathematically takes some time; however, I am excited to give it a try after learning how beneficial and exciting this can be for my students.

Are there any math teachers out there that have done anything similar to this? Or does anyone else have an idea for incorporating technology into a math classroom?

Thank you in advance! Jenny

I teach Computer Technology and multimedia classes.(9-12th grade) A recent assignment is for our multimedia class to make videos for the students who are transitioning from the elementary to the middle school and from middle school to high school. The students love this opportunity to share information they have learned with their younger friends and relatives (we are a small school). Additionally, our web design class is making web pages for each teacher in our school so that parents and community members may access classroom assignments and teacher notes. Our science teachers seem to be the most adept at using technology outside of the business dept. They have their students make movies using Windows movie maker about cell development and they use their smartboards all the time.