Thing 23

This has been an amazing and interesting journey that has opened my eyes to the myriad of free tools available to everyone - including educators. As a Jr. High teacher, I believe I need to make a special effort to be on top of new tools to introduce to students. A new techo-tool can be a great hook for a project that makes use of it! I think prior to this experience, I just assumed that anything worthwhile to use with students online, beyond a video link or website to view, came in an expensive software package. I could not have been more wrong.

I've always known that we must include technology in our curriculum to make it relevant to students' lives today and the future jobs for which they will be competing. But I wasn't aware of all of the free tools available. Free is fabulous! But the cost of technology still begins with decent equipment, and it becomes all but impossible for schools to afford the latest and greatest in these times of frugal budgets. Eventually the files become difficult for the older processors to load, and the students get extremely impatient. Many have the latest computer or Ipod with highspeed wireless internet at home. They aren't used to waiting when working on the computer and between slow speeds and blocked sites, I have several who prefer to do all of their computer work at home if possible. I would really like for everyone to be excited about using technology in school. There's no easy solution. Wouldn't it be nice if NCLB also contained funding for every student to get a laptop computer and regular upgrades? I can dream, can't I?

The other issue I see at school is the fact that our net-nanny blocks many of the tools - Flickr and blogspot are among those that will not even load. I'm not sure how we can solve this problem, but I will investigate and see if we can't get around it somehow. I'd like to offer blogging at school, so those without a computer at home woudn't have to write on paper. :-(

On a personal level, I will use Flickr for my photos. I'm especially excited about storing genealogical family photos and the potential to share with other family members. I also like the idea that they are safe from computer crashes! I can use it for school photos as well.

Professionally, I can see much potential in the tools. I have already used a blog for my students in their study of Romeo and Juliet. I'm very happy with how the experience is going with Literature and hope to try this format with other subjects in the future. I also plan to introduce my students to Google docs. Too many times, students have left their work on a flash drive at home and unless they remembered to save the work on the server, they cannot continue with the assignment. More than once there has also been a problem saving files to a flash drive. Google docs would definitely solve this! I can see the potential in wikis for students, but want to experience more of them myself. Once I get more familiar with wikis, I may also suggest that students form one to work on group projects from home.

I will be going back over these 23 Things often in the future because there is so much packed into them and I will continue to learn, reexamining the tools and exploring more of the many links. But I also need to remember that other tools will be evolving ,and it's up to me to keep up with new innovations. One way I can do this is with my blogline connections - especially the one covering what's new in Ed Tech! Once I find something useful, I owe it to my fellow faculty members to share the information - perhaps on a CMA Wiki - so we can improve learning for all CMA's students.