Mary Beth Hertz (@mbteach on Twitter) is an elementary computer teacher in Philadelphia, PA and a regular blogger on Edutopia. You can read more of her work on her own blog at Philly-teacher.

One of the hardest things to teach, in my opinion, is research. I have been teaching in a computer lab for going on five years and I have never taught research the same way twice. This is partially because I never teach anything the same way twice, but it's also because each year I learn something new.

Mary Beth Hertz (@mbteach on Twitter) is an elementary computer teacher in Philadelphia, PA and a regular blogger on Edutopia. You can read more of her work on her own blog at Philly-teacher.

If you are a connected, networked educator (or even if you're not), it's easy to begin comparing yourself to all those online examples of excellence in ed tech. "Look at the way so-and-so is using blogging with his or her second graders!" or "I love how this person uses Skype to bring experts into their classroom!"

Mary Beth Hertz (@mbteach on Twitter) is an elementary computer teacher in Philadelphia, PA and a regular blogger on Edutopia. You can read more of her work on her own blog at Philly-teacher.

As a tech integration specialist and a computer lab teacher, one can imagine that I have a special place in my heart for bringing current technologies into the classroom. At the same time, I find that sometimes pencil and paper do just as good of a job.

Mary Beth Hertz (@mbteach on Twitter) is an elementary computer teacher in Philadelphia, PA and a regular blogger on Edutopia. You can read more of her work on her own blog at Philly-teacher.

As schools bring more technology into their classrooms and teachers strive to put more technology in their students' hands, schools are also planning more and more time for teacher training and ongoing professional development for implementing these changes.

Mary Beth Hertz (@mbteach on Twitter) is an elementary computer teacher in Philadelphia, PA and a regular blogger on Edutopia. You can read more of her work on her own blog at Philly-teacher.

As an urban teacher whose students are often lacking access to a computer and the Internet at home, I have strong opinions and experiences with the digital divide. I decided to do some research to see where my students fit into the current trends.

What is the digital divide?

If you ask most people to define the digital divide, most of them would answer that it has to do with those who have access to technology and those who don't. Ten years ago, they would have been right. However, over the last ten years access to technology has become more and more ubiquitous.

Mary Beth Hertz (@mbteach on Twitter) is an elementary computer teacher in Philadelphia, PA and a regular blogger on Edutopia. You can read more of her work on her own blog at Philly-teacher.

As elementary level teachers, we are charged not just with teaching academics, but teaching social skills as well. "Ignore bullies and tell an adult if you feel threatened," "Don't talk to strangers," "Treat people the way you want to be treated." You're probably familiar with phrases similar to these if you teach the younger grades. Young children are still learning the norms of social behavior and how to handle strangers.

Mary Beth Hertz (@mbteach on Twitter) is an elementary computer teacher in Philadelphia, PA and a regular blogger on Edutopia. You can read more of her work on her own blog at Philly-teacher.

More and more schools are bringing laptops, netbooks, and other mobile computing devices into the classroom. Here are some thoughts on these initiatives.

Mary Beth Hertz (@mbteach on Twitter) is an elementary computer teacher in Philadelphia, PA and a regular blogger on Edutopia. You can read more of her work on her own blog at Philly-teacher.

Back in May, I asked readers to think of five things they’d done well over the last school year. I followed it up with a post on my personal blog reflecting on what I thought I did well. Now it’s time for the school year to rev up again, and I'm hoping to not only keep doing what I did well, but also set some goals for the coming year.

A recent #edchat discussion was about what amount of technology teachers should be required to know. What ensued was a great discussion without talk of a lot of specific applications or tools. I found this very telling.