I enjoy using technology in the classroom, no matter what class I am teaching… Teaching has changed from August 2002…
So my first year of teaching, I didn’t have a computer of my own until 9 weeks in. I had a wonderful teacher next door – she had earned a laptop for her classroom, so every morning she brought it over to me…. so I could check roll and take grades….. Yes, you read that right, checking roll was to be done on the computer BUT I didn’t have a computer yet. That’s what happens when you are a new position and school started in August but the budget doesn’t start until September…..
Our district had given us opportunities for adding technology to our classroom by workshops. My first opportunity was to earn a printer. I participated in some Saturday trainings over using a gradebook online. As a district we hadn’t started using one yet; however, as a tutor at a local university, I had created a spreadsheet for our learning lab to keep up with the tests that the students would take with us. I had set up the main part of the program, pages for classes, names, test grades, and averages. We were able to save it (to floppy disks, LOL) and give to the professors. Later, we added hyperlinks to move along the pages, by alphabetical order and classes. — so the opportunity to use an online gradebook was exciting. I went to 2 weeks of Saturday workshops (before kids… just saying) and I earned a printer…. YEAH!! However, I didn’t have the computer yet…. but a few weeks later I did get the computer for my room. My next opportunity was through Intel Teach the Future, I learned how to create a website and earned a scanner. Both of these opportunities gave me the chance to visit and learn from teachers that were in different hallways and different subjects than mine – as a brand-new junior high teacher in a multi-building campus — this was extremely important. If I hadn’t had these opportunities, I wouldn’t be the teacher I am today — or the cook — I got some great recipes!)
Teaching Re-Imagined 