Week 5 Post

My two favorite Web 2.0 sites are Facebook and Shutterfly.

Facebook is a great resource for connecting with friends and family. It is a great way to keep up with distant friends and family, but it is also pretty great for local friends and family. You can post reminders, good news, praises, vacation photos, etc. This is so much more than you could really do if you were with someone in person. It is a great way for friends to connect, share our lives, and cheer each other on. It helps me keep up with birthdays, share encouragement, and share pictures with friends. It is a great tool for busy people.

Shutterfly is an awesome website for photo sharing. I can upload and store all of my pictures. I can also create projects with photos I can purchase, and you can share your projects by sending an e-mail link, posting them on a Facebook page, or creating a share page, which is like a blog that is centered on sharing photos. Membership, along with photo storage and sharing is free, and I have been a Shutterfly member for four years and I love it.

Week 4 Post

PowerPoint is a multimedia tool I use almost daily during instruction. I use them for new concepts. There are a variety of PowerPoint shows already made and ready for use. A very common site is Pete’s PowerPoints (www.pppst.com). PowerPoints are also easy to create and then save and use again. PowerPoints can be very basic, such as problems for a quick drill for students, or very fancy, such as photos and animations. PowerPoints can also be edited very easily. I also use a PowerPoint presentation at the beginning of the week for an upcoming events list and then at the end of the week with a recap of the week, what is happening next week, any great achievements from the week, and always a few classroom pictures. My students really love these and closer to the end of the year I add a center activity where students can take turns creating a slide for something specific that will be on the weekly shows. They absolutely love this.

Week 3 Post

There are so many technology resources available to teachers, many of them for free. The ones I listed below are just a few of the many I regularly use at school.

Drill and Practice Software – www.starfall.com
Starfall is an amazing and free reading and phonics drill and practice software. It is definitely an educational alternative to other entertainment choices for kids. Students get the opportunity to practice building words, reading words, and listening to stories in small segments.

Tutorial Software – http://www.kidsolr.com/math/fractions.html
Kids OLR provides tutorials on many math topics. I like the fractions and time tutorials. These are great for students who need some extra review and they can complete them on their own.

Simulation Software – http://download.cnet.com/Solar-System-3D-Simulator/3000-2054_4-10477538.html
If cannot take your students on a trip to outer spaced like Mrs. Frizzle does on the magic school bus, you can still take them with the solar system simulator. This is a great way to give students a visual of the solar system that is more than just a poster of the planets.

http://www.google.com/earth/index.html
No elementary school teacher should pass up the free and wonderful resource of Google Earth. This is an amazing resource. I have used it in many lessons, including math, reading, writing, science, and social studies. The students are amazed to see my house, Wal-Mart, the school, their house, the Statue of Liberty, etc.

Instructional Games Software – www.multiplication.com
This is a great resource for students to memorize those multiplication facts. I share it with all third and fourth grade parents and encourage them to allow their child to use it. It has many different styles of games and levels where students must quickly determine the answer to a multiplication fact to complete different tasks. Once a series of problems is completed proficiently the student gets a change for a short fun activity. There are several different types of games with different themes, such as race cards, painting trucks, dancing penguins, etc., and there is usually something that appeals to all students.

Problem Solving Software – http://www.hmhinnovation.com/SUP-SS.php
This is a blast from the past. I was talking to my students about this game one day and they asked me if I could show it to them. I was very surprised when I looked it up and learned that the game is still around, only in a much more modern school edition. This is a great game for geography and social studies activities for the fifty states. The students must use clues about specific states and landmarks to find Carmen.

Integrated Learning Systems (ISLs) Software – www.vmathlive.com
The VMATH Live learning system is a remediation and review math program. The instructional content is delivered, measured, and monitored through the system. The students can move through the program and they will see their own progress. They are also able to review a concept using the built-in math concept dictionary and watch short videos about the concepts at their choosing. The students login to their accounts to use the system and their progress is monitored by the instructor, and the instructor can login in and set limitations or specific reviews for the student in addition to the regular curriculum path.

Week 2 Post

My family and I have recently relocated and I recently found a job, but I have been on several interviews. Almost all of the interviews included questions about technology. While Alabama is certainly not at the forefront in the race for the best educational technology, many school systems are making great gains in available technology.

The digital divide is one issue shaping the role of technology in the classroom. The digital divide is all about the discrepancy with access to 21st century technology to students with a lower socioeconomic status. Is this a real issue in Alabama? Definitely. I have worked for three years in North Alabama at a Title 1 school that is 97% free or reduced-price lunch and 86% minority students. Just last year we got brand new technology for all of the classrooms. You may be thinking, how fantastic, and yes it is, but we were one of the last schools to get anything like it in our classrooms. Many other more affluent schools already purchased projectors and other educational technology items for the classrooms with special funds from local sponsors, the PTA, and other sources. At the school where I teach, the students love using the computer and other technology items. Many of them do not have access to a computer at their home, and if they do, it is probably only a basic computer with limited functions. Internet access can also be a very large expense for low-income families and many homes may transient access when the bill is paid, or no Internet access at all. The only other options for a student to use a computer may be to use the computer of a friend or family member which will likely have very limited availability, or to go to the local library, which requires transportation. Very few of my students have a computer at home.

Another prominent educational technology issue today is distance education. Distance education originally became more prevalent in college and university settings. It is now a regular part of high school education as a part of a program in Alabama to provide access to specific classes and electives to all high school students in Alabama. Concerns about fraud were discussed quite a bit as other states began offering online degree programs. Now there are many programs and safeguards in place to help eliminate the possibility of fraud and other things. The style of online education is evolving and I believe that online education will become the new college experience for many.


I believe one thing we have learned from educational technology that can help us shape the uses for today is collaborate. Working smarter not harder should be the goal of any teacher. With technology resources we can collaborate together, exchange lesson plans, scan and save examples of student work, create video projects and e-mail the video to another teacher to use, etc. There are so many resources out there and teachers have more ways than ever to share ideas and examples, search for lesson plans, and find various. As we go forward we can utilize new technology to help streamline all these great resources teachers can share with each other using educational technology.

Week 1 Post

My name is Heather and I have been teaching for four years. I am twenty-seven years old. I am married and have twin stepdaughters, age 9. I also have a cat named Peanut, a dog name Charley, and two fat guinea pigs named Oscar and Rufus. We all live in Decatur, Alabama. I have taught special education the past three years in Decatur City Schools. Before joining Decatur City Schools I worked for one year as a pre-k teacher at a small private school in Madison. The pay was much less than a teacher’s salary, but if it were comparable, I must say I would love to continue working there. I am currently working on a special education master's degree. Through my experience in graduate school and teaching special education, I learned that I enjoy the clinical aspects of analyzing data, researching new techniques, and studying about new programs and ideas. I also continue to follow trends in education reform. My husband has accepted a new job and at the conclusion of this school year we will be moving to South Alabama. I am excited about the change and hope to continue to teach, either special education or elementary education in intermediate grades. I would eventually like to pursue a Ph.D. and focus on educational reform and teacher efficacy. My favorite technology item is my iPad personally, and my favorite classroom technology item a Smart Board.