The Technological Introduction

Getting a Master's in Educational Technology should mean something to you and your district when you finally walk away with that diploma in hand. The fancy paper and gold seal mean you know and understand technology as well as have hundreds, possibly thousands of ideas for using technology in any classroom, especially yours. As I approach the end of my program, I have been reflecting on all I have learned, what I have been able to use, implement, and what information I've forgotten misplaced and desire to use later.

This year is my first year teaching. I actually finished my bachelor's 6 years ago. Instead of jumping into a career, I got married, started a family, and moved around with my husband while he served our country. When he left active duty and switched to the reserves so he could be home with his family, I was able to focus on my career. That was when I started my master's program at Lesley.

I have always preferred spending my free time on the computer and as I prepared to return to the classroom, I considered what had changed and how I could 1) make myself more marketable and 2) how to use the technology that is now so widely used.

As I started the year, the only technology I had was the SmartBoard that hung on my white board. (Don't worry I've started asking if I can get it moved to a different wall. I teach math, I NEED my white board!) Within 1-2 weeks after school started, I was a 1:1 chromebook classroom.

Currently, I use the chromebooks specifically for Study Island, but I also use them for science projects (I have 1 science class), game hour on Fridays, Google docs (so we don't have to use the computer lab as often), Wiki assignments (I started a wiki and have used it a handful of times), and online scavenger hunts (I used one as a semester final before the holiday break). So far, I don't do a lot of technology usage. I know there is tons of stuff out there, but because I teach math I have struggled to come up with a solid list of tech savvy math ideas. (So if you have some, let me know.)

Here's one "list" of chromebook classroom use ideas. -> Here

Before students came back from the break, we had a PD day. A teacher from another school, who is also a previous instructor of mine from the university I received my bachelor's, came and did a segment on technology in the classroom. She presented several new ideas, most focused on English and Social Studies, since that is what she teaches. However, she did show us a blog feed list, and that is coming in very handy with my current class.

I will attach her pbworks link later this week (it's in my desk at school).