Technology+Vision+Plan

My Background: In my 4 years of teaching experience, I have taught 6th grade Social Studies for 2 years, and I have taught 4th grade ELA and SS, which is my current position. I have been in two very different school districts. The first district I taught at was in a very low income area, with a lot of low SES students. The students did not have technology at home, with about 60% of my students having no access to a computer or internet. However, in the school we had a plethora of technology from state funding and grants. I had 1:2 laptops for my students and access to a computer lab and a technology coordinator with great ideas and lots of support. My new district is a suburban area with mostly middle class families. About 85% of my students have access to computers and internet. However, in my school we are limited with our technology. We have a laptop cart that is 10+ years old with only about 10-12 working laptops on any given day to share with 50+ kids. Our personal computers run extremely slow, the internet rarely works, and my technology laden lesson plans many times become frustrating. All of this has contributed to a little of my apprehension of using technology in the classroom, but through my masters program and blogging, I have come to realize that even with these obstacles, I can still do it!

My Technology Vision: What I want my students to experience:
 * A broad range of exposure to different types of technology.
 * Learning problem solving skills through technology.
 * Becoming tech savvy in my classroom.
 * Understanding how technology can help them.
 * Taking learning to higher levels of expansion with technology.
 * Thinking "outside the box" by using technology to exercise their creative minds.



How I plan/already am accomplishing this:
 * Interacting with technology coordinators and tech savvy teachers through the blogging world to get lots of ideas and tips (thewildthingslearn.blogspot.com)
 * Implementing "Technology Tuesdays" in my classroom where I spent 15 minutes every Tuesday introducing my students to a new technology and giving them 15 minutes to just explore it.
 * Using Schoology in my classroom-- a Facebook formatted LMS system. I am using it for online discussions, project-based learning, reflection, and as a blended OLE.
 * Making lessons where technology is incorporated to meet the objectives of the lesson, not just using technology for technology sake.
 * Letting my students explore. Letting them help decide which technologies are best and learning from them as well.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Going to conferences such as the 2013 eTech Conference in Columbus and attending information sessions on different classroom technologies.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Working on writing a grant to get iPads for the classroom.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Serving as my schools technology coordinator for our district.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">I'd love to hear about ways you incorporate technology in your classroom to make your students 21st century learners!