"Enrichment 2.0: Gifted and Talented Education for the 21st Century"

Enrichment 2.0 focuses on the growth of opportunities in the classroom and the movement from pencil and paper work to a world where students have the opportunity to constantly collaborate with each other through Web 2.0 resources - "includ(ing) wikis, social bookmarking, aggregators, podcasts, collaborative documents, and blogs" (Eckstein, 2009, p. 60). The Enrichment 2.0 program utilizes these tools to create enrichment activities for gifted and talented students.

Included in the article are many web resources for teachers to utilize - del.icio.us, trailfire, diigo, etc. and a brief statement explaining the benefits of these sites. Also included are sites from which teachers can access podcasts - The Discovery Channel (http://www.discovery.com/radio/podcasts.html), The Education Podcast Network, NPR, NASA, National Geographic (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/podcasts), and History: Colonial Williamsburg Past & Present.

Eckstein, M. (2009, Winter). Enrichment 2.0: gifted and talented education for the 21st century. Gifted Child Today, 32(1). 59-63. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=10&hid=7&sid=27efc4ad-d6f9-442a-beb4-44db1e23b503%40sessionmgr4.

Blog Reflection Post - C

There are a plethora of ways that a blog can be used in the classroom. Students can be given the chance to respond or reflect on a question or topic. For example, in order to jump start a conversation about writing, a language arts teacher might ask students to respond to the question "What are qualities of good writing?" The class can take these ideas to expand on during the next class session. Teachers can also use blog as a tool for organizing resources for students to use when using the internet. While talking with a classmate on Wednesday, she commented that she teaches second grade and can't just send her students out to find information. She has to organize the sites into a user-friendly way for the students to access. By having students visit one site, this streamlines the process and allows for more productive work time.

Outside of the classroom, there are so many great blogs for entertainment purposes. Personally, I regularly visit two blogs - the personal blog of a friend of mine and Cake Wrecks, a website devoted to professional cakes gone wrong. I think that blogs offer a place for people to share aspects of their lives with their friends, share stories in order to help others in similar situations, or provide readers with sheer entertainment.

Teachers and students each have specific roles when blogging in the classroom. Depending on the type of blog being used, the teacher or student may be responsible for the creation and upkeep of the blog. However, if a student is responsible for the upkeep of an academic blog, the teacher has a responsibility of monitoring the blog for appropriate content and relevance of the blogs.

Examples of ways that blogs can be used in the classroom:

• I helped create and pilot a single-gender math program in my county. Many people ask questions, looking for answers to questions related to its implementation, processes, and success. A blog could be created to document the year, also giving students the chance to offer their own views through writing blog posts for the site.
• As an extension to a unit on persuasive writing, students could use a class blog to share examples of persuasive writing and persuasive media. Students could post their own persuasive writing - essays, editorials, reviews, etc. They could also use it to review examples of persuasive media or other persuasive writings, while linking the media/document to their blog. After students have posted their ideas or writings, they could comment on other student's posts, and the teacher could use these to propel classroom discussion.
• In order to have students think about vocabulary and the new words that they see in their daily reading, students could be required to post one word they they've come across, including definition and sentence, to the blog each week.
• Similarly, students often aren't sure when or where they'll be using math in their lives. In order to get them thinking about math in the world, they could be required to post bi-weekly the ways that they see math in the world. Other students would have to post their own responses to these posts.
  

Blog Reflection Post - B

I really liked the ability to share websites with other people. I tried to add websites that would be beneficial to other teachers, as well as myself. We come across great websites so often, and they are just forgotten. The blog provides a place to organize these websites for future reference. It also allows us to organize sites so that other people can use them. If, for example, your blog has a focus - i.e. math, language arts, single gender education, middle school, etc - other teachers interested in that subject could go to your blog, knowing that there would be sites of interest there. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to blog and see the blogs that others have created. I like the opportunity to collaborate and share ideas with other teachers.

Blog Reflection Post - A

I learned that blogging can be used in so many ways in the classroom. It can be used as a tool for reflection, to permit the teacher to see what the student has garnered from each lesson or reading - as used with this course. I also like the ability to use blogs to organize websites for classroom use. Rather than having to write them on the board or direct students to them, inevitably having typos and choruses of "Mine won't work!" to deal with, you could use a blog posting to corral all of these sites together. I used our group's blog as a site for participants to visit for links to copyright free music and images during the digital storytelling project.

As a learner, I was excited to discover the capabilities of the blog and the resources out there that can allow other documents to be incorporated into the blog. One site that I was led to by a colleague was www.shareslide.net, which allows the blogger the opportunity to embed PowerPoint presentations, documents, etc. without just having to copy and paste lengthy word documents (i.e.: proposals) into the blog. This is evident in my digital storytelling reflection post (blog 9).

I have had blogs of a personal nature before, so I was surprised with the ease in which a professional blog takes shape. I was concerned that this blog would become sterile, with none of my own voice showing through. However, I was surprised to learn that a little bit of me is hidden in there, among the academia.

Blog 11 - Project Based Learning Project

The project based learning project has been the most daunting of the projects in this class. Since the start of the project, I've felt as though I'm treading water, just trying to keep my head above water, unsure where to turn for help. Our original group, Techy Teachers, was unfortunately disbanded, and we were each placed into a different group. It's been tough since we had created a group dynamic that worked, and we were lucky to have a group of four committed students. We each did what we needed to, when it needed to be done. It would have been nice if we could have just volunteered to be project leader for a second project and stayed together.

In addition to having to acclimate myself to a new group, this project is a large undertaking. I do find it to be highly beneficial, however, to the learning of the students. Unfortunately, I am creating a project for a content completely unrelated to mine - project over 5th grade social studies standards, while I teach 8th grade math and language arts. I would have preferred to complete all of this work for something that I could actually use in my classroom.

In addition, I did have a family crisis in the middle of this module, and that has been an additional struggle in completing this project ... and completing it well. I look forward to seeing the end results for my group!

Project Based Learning Proposal, Including Rubric for Student Work

7464 Pblproposal Ecb

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Presentation Board for Proposal

7464 Pbl Displayboard1 Ecb

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PowerPoint of 5-day Lesson Plan (Taken From Proposal)

Bill To Law Powerpoint

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Example of Student Comic Life

Bill To Law

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Example of Student Poster

Law Poster

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Blog 10 - Emerging Technology That Supports eLearning

Being that I am currently involved in eLearning through this online class, this chapter really resonated with me. There has been a lot written about using eLearning opportunities in the public school. I know that our high school offers "eLearning (opportunities) for advanced study and remediation" (Egbert, 2009, p. 211) for students to use in order to recover credits or obtain credits for classses. Each time that I read about these opportunities, I am torn between my own interest in taking online courses and trying to figure out how my own students fit into the role of an eLearner. Egbert (2009) states that "eLearning ... often requires students and teachers to have different skills and understandings than face-to-face classroom learning does" (p. 207). I am not sure if the students that I teach have the dedication and structure to be effective eLearners. I struggle with getting my own students to complete their work when we are working in a face-to-face setting, so I do not know how they would get their work finished if I wasn't hanging over their heads, constantly prodding and reminding them to turn in their assignments. I would love to talk with teachers who've used these types of learning opportunities with a successful outcome.

Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: essentials of classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

"Digital Storytelling Finds its Place in the Classroom"

In this article, Tom Banaszewski discusses his use of digital storytelling with his fourth and fifth grade students. He describes the procedure that he worked through in order to have his students create meaningful writing and storytelling. The students were given the task of writing about "a place that is important to her or him" (Banaszewski, 2002). They took their thoughts about and used iMovie to create a digital story.

As a way to get students to create a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end, Banaszewski provided them with several questions that were to be addressed in the body of their story. These questions addressed the memories, feelings, and the "difference [that] this place makes" (Banaszewski, 2002). By addressing these questions, the students were able to create vivid stories relating their special place to the reader.

In addition to the "how-to's" of iMovie, Banaszewski also discusses how these movies helped create a learning community within his classroom. In order for students to feel free to write about something as personal as their most important place, "all must value each other's ideas and support the belief that hearing place stories from everyone benefits the entire class (Banaszewski, 2002). Banaszewski modeled the process for creating a story and sharing it with the class, thereby instilling the idea of trust and supporting each other.

Banaszewski, T. (2002, January/February). Digital storytelling finds its place in the classroom. MultiMedia Schools. Retrieved from http://www.infotoday.com/mmschools/jan02/banaszewski.htm on October 27, 2009.

Blog 9 - Digital Storytelling

Being the project leader for the Digital Storytelling project really felt fulfilling. I've done my parts for the other projects, but it was totally different being on the "leader" end of it. A classmate and I were discussing our role as project leader for the Digital Storytelling project. She made an excellent point about feeling an ownership over this project. I agreed whole-heartedly with her. While I did my part for the other projects, it's a completely different feeling to have been responsible for the creation of this great workshop.

One thing that I really like about Movie Maker is the ease in using the program. It really is a super easy program to use - merely dragging videos, images, and sounds into place. Everything is very user-friendly, merely right clicking to adjust the effects, etc. It's a program where things are where you'd expect them to be. Want to adjust the fade effects on your sound clip? Well, just right click on the sound file. So simple. It was really beneficial walking through the creation of a movie during our optional session. This really helped me in the creation of our workshop and the step-by-step procedures that we included.

My group was so great to work with on this project. Each member is eager to do what he/she can in order to help with the creation of a successful workshop plan. I enjoy working with this group because each member has something great that they bring to the table, and this helps us with the delegation of the parts of the workshop plan. I am nervous about having to join another group and learn new personalities and dynamics.

I have included the proposal in this blog. I used www.slideshare.net as a resource for embedding these documents into the blog. It's a simple software to use, and I look forward to opportunities to use it in the future.

The project proposal:

7464 Digstorytelling Ecb

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A PowerPoint for use during the presentation:

Moviemaker Powerpoint

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A handout to accompany the PowerPoint presentation and for participants to have for review:

Moviemaker Instructions

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A rubric for use on student created movies:

Moviemaker Rubric

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A survey for participants to take after the presentation, also available online:

Moviemaker Survey

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Blog 8 - Emerging Technology that Supports Creativity and Production

One thing that stood out to me while reading Egbert was the creative thinking process. Egbert (2009) describes the process through three stages. The first stage is “Warm-up” (p. 133) focuses on getting students excited about an activity using prior knowledge and ideas. The second stage “Deepen expectations," is where the “teacher leads students to become more aware of the challenge that they are facing” (Egbert, 2009, p.133) meaning the teacher is in a guiding role in showing students how to face their challenges. The final stage asks teachers to “extend the learning” (Egbert, 2009, p. 133) by showing student how they can connect the information to themselves so that they can try different ideas. I felt that this shows how easy yet involved the creative thinking process can be viewed. It opens up creativity to the student using their own knowledge and helps them see that they are capable of creative thinking.

Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: essentials of classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Blog 7 - Resources for the Classroom

I was talking with our school's math coach, Lynne, this week, and we were discussing the availability of resources and how they can be organized to best meet the needs of the teachers. There are tons of resources out there! From websites to collaboratively created assessment, there is an abundance of resources for teachers! She was reviewing the Wiki of a math coach in our county, and were discussing the pros and cons of the site. Lynne is also creating a Wiki for the math teachers at my school. We talked about ways to make it user friendly. One weakness of the Wiki that we were discussing is the lack of organization. It's important, when organizing resources - websites, created tests, etc - that there be some sort of structure to the website. Whether organized by grade level, unit, or standard, there has to be a structure. I am eager to see how Lynne organizes the Wiki for our school.

Blog 6 - Emerging Technology that Supports Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Critical thinking is something that we all desire of our students. However, it's something that requires so much preparation on the part of the teacher. We have to lead our students towards creating good critical thinking skills. In her book, Egbert (2009) outlines ways in which we can help to create "critical thinking opportunities" for our students (pg. 107).
1. Egbert (2009) prompts teachers to "ask the right questions" (pg. 107) if we are to hope for critical thinking. Surface questions (ie: what is an integer?) merely serve to see if the student can recall a piece of information. However, they need to answer questions which require them to "meet standards for critical thinking such as clarity, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, and logic" (Egbert, 2009, pg. 107). Rather than asking students "What is an integer?", we might ask students "What are examples of where integers are used in the world?".
2. Egbert also suggests that, in order to prod our students to think critically, we should "use tasks with appropriate levels of challenge" (Egbert, 2009, pg. 107). I think that this is something that, whether we do it or not, teachers certainly know to be true. We want to ensure that tasks are "neither too challenging nor too easy for the student" (Egbert, 2009, pg. 107). Through the use of grouping, technology, types of tasks, variety of questions, expectations, and differentiation, we can provide these challenging, but manageable, tasks for students.
3. As a way to help our students develop their critical thinking skills, Egbert (2009) suggestions that we should "teach strategies" (pg. 107) that help our students to think about their own decision making. By helping students learn to question themselves, we are teaching them to think critically about the world around them.
4. The final guideline offered by Egbert in order to develop critical thinking skills is to encourage the curiosity of our students. As Egbert explains, children often think critically through their own curiosity about the world; "however, in classroom settings they are often ignored, whether due to curricular, time, or other constraints" (Egbert, 2009, pg. 108). We have to allow students to keep asking questions of the world around them .

Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: essentials of classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

"How to Use Comic Life in the Classroom"

In the article "How to Use Comic Life in the Classroom," Charles Thacker presents many ways that teachers and students can use comics in the classroom. The article touches on the fact that many in the field of academics see comics as being an inferior mode of literature. However, Thacker goes on to explain that "comics have some great uses in the classroom and in a variety of curricula" (2007).

Thacker gives specific examples of how students at different levels can benefit from the use of comics in the classroom. From the non-reader using comics as a way to "help provide practice with sequencing as well as concrete to abstract transitions using illustrations instead of written words" to the older more advanced student using them as "a stepping-stone to more complex and traditional written work" (Thacker, 2007). One major benefit of the comic is the ability to consolidate a lot of written text into a single comic cell. This can be a great resource for the reluctant or poor reader.

The staff that Thacker works with have been using Comic Life as a means of "facilitat[ing] student participation in assignments that traditionally would have been written assignments with little to no imagery included" (Thacker, 2007). He further explains that they use Comic Life as an alternative assignment to the book report. This gets students much more excited about and involved with the literature. He also includes several other options for the use of Comic Life in the classroom, including "timelines, historical figures, instructions, dialogue punctuation, character [or] plot analysis, storytelling, [and] teaching onomatopoeia" (Thacker, 2007).

The article is concluded with an in-depth explanation of Comic Life and how to create your own comic using the software. He provides the reader with step-by-step instructions on each of the features of Comic Life: the layout, the speech bubbles, the effects, and more. Even though I'd completed my own Comic Life, I learned more on how to use the features within the program. This section of the article makes Comic Life even more user-friendly than it already is.

Thacker, C. (2007, March 8). How to use comic life in the classroom. TechEd: Technology in Education. Retrieved from http://www.macinstruct.com/node/69 on September 25, 2009.

Blog 5 - Comic Life

I loved using Comic Life, and even more, loved looking at the different Comic Lifes that people have created! This software was so simple to use and not at all intimidating. I started out creating a comic that documented the day my son was born. It was super fun to use!! I then created my comic about finding the length of the hypotenuse - using a peanut field as the connection to Georgia. I enjoyed looking through my own pictures and finding those online when needed to add interest and fun to the comic. One thing that I did find difficult was trying to import things from Word - text for math or images. I was able to get around this by writing the math down, then taking a picture of it with my laptop camera. Overall, the program was very easy to use, and I enjoyed creating my Comic Life presentation.

I think that this would be an awesome software for students to use to create projects for class. It is also a program that yields a finished project in very little time. In my classroom, I could show the students how the program works or create a group comic on the Promethean Board. We could then go to the computer lab to have students create their own. It would be so awesome!

My Georgia Themed Comic Life:

7464 Comiclife Ecb

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My "just for fun" Comic Life about the birth of my son:

Ian Comic Life

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Blog 4 - Emerging Technology that Supports Communication and Collaboration

I have always struggled with how to implement effective communication and collaborative tasks (aka group work) into my classroom. This chapter provided a lot of great information - albeit dense - on how to effectively plan, develop, and analyze the tasks.

One thing that I especially liked was the information given on planning effective projects. Since "the planning stage is the most crucial for creating a successful project," I think that this is the area that teachers should spend a considerable amount of time addressing (Egbert, 2009). Within the chapter, Egbert provides a table in which she outlines the steps for planning, developing, and analyzing"technology-supported communication" (Egbert, 2009).

During the planning stage, Egbert states that "teachers should make sure that the process and outcomes are specific, relevant, and based on goals" (2009). I think that sometimes teachers get wrapped up in creating a project, merely for the sake of doing something different from the normal routine. It's so important that we, first of all, look at the goal/objectives that we hope to address through the instruction. Then we look at creating assignments that meet these goals. Without the goal, the assignment is pointless.

When developing a project, we should "observe students and make change in the project as necessary to meet student needs and curricular goals" (Egbert, 2009). Sometimes, when a teacher has spent ample time creating a project, he/she has a blind eye to the weaknesses of the assignment. It's critical that we are able to view the project from an outsider's perspective and make changes as needed from day-to-day or even from segment-to-segment. I know that I have had to alter an assignment from one segment to the next, and I imagine that I'm not alone in this.

Finally, a point that I felt was so critical to the successful implementation of a project, is that "analysis ... should be conducted by all participants. Participants should also take part in evaluation" (Egbert, 2009). This is a critical way to give the students ownership of the assignment and their role in it. Egbert goes on to encourage teachers to wrap up the assignment through "appropriate closure" activities (2009). The closure is so often neglected once the assignment is complete. I think that putting the materials away is the idea of closure for some teachers, but it's important that we provide a summation of the activity so that our students know the "why" behind the assignment.

Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: essentials of classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

"VoiceThread Extends the Classroom with Interactive Multimedia Albums"

I read the article "VoiceThread Extends the Classroom with Interactive Multimedia Albums," taken from Edutopia, to learn more about VoiceThread and how it can be further used in the classroom. The author, Laila Weir, focuses on Bill Ferriter, a sixth grade teacher in North Carolina, and his experiences using VoiceThead in his language arts and social studies classrooms.

Our students spend a lot of their free time online - from email to My Space to gaming. Bill Ferriter chose to tap into something that the students already like to do and began using VoiceThread as a way to "steal some of their online minutes" (Weir, 2008). He began by posting VoiceThreads and having his students comment on them. They were not required to comment; commenting was entirely voluntary. Ferriter noticed that on some of the slides he would have dozens of comments, and he would have hundreds on others. These comments created a dialogue between his students that branched into moral and ethical conversations surrounding these issues.

One thing that Ferriter noticed was that the students from class who are generally timid really shed their shells on VoiceThread. They were able to really think about their comments and have a chance to express them without being overshadowed by those students who always speak out in class. Another benefit to the VoiceThread conversations that Ferriter experienced is that "multiple conversations [can be] going on at once" (Weir, 2008). Whereas the classroom conversation is directed by the teacher and linear, the conversations online can be free to take off into many different directions, as the students decide what they'd like to say. In addition, he brings up a comment in class each day, and he and the students evaluate what "makes for a good or bad comment" (Weir, 2008).

The VoiceThreads that Ferriter uses not only reinforce classroom topics, they also reinforce writing skills as the students are given a chance to free-write their thoughts on these topics. As Ferriter states, asking students to get out paper and pencil and write can really isolate students, but having them express their thoughts in a dialogue engages many more students in excellent conversation.

Weir, L. (2008). VoiceThread extends the classroom with interactive multimedia albums. Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/voicethread-interactive-multimedia-albums on September 21, 2009.

Blog 3 - VoiceThread Project

I chose to complete my VoiceThread as a way to provide practice problems where students would be finding the area of polygons. I created two word problems which would require students to use a variety of skills. In my first problem, students will have to recall the area formula for rectangles in order to calculate the area of the bedroom floor. This problem could easily be extended by having students calculate the cost of carpet.
The second problem is a slightly higher skill level than the first. Rather than simply calculating the area of the triangle, the student has to call on their reading skills to ensure that they find the area of the five triangles that the spirit squad is going to make.

When beginning this project, I was nervous to try out a program that I'd never seen before. Based on the clip shown in class, the program looked as though it would be complex to use and require a lot of computer skill in order to comment on the VoiceThread. I thought to myself, this would be too complex for students to use and would require a lot of training for the student. However, once I opened the program to view and comment on a classmate's VoiceThread, I found that it was super simple to use. I was able to easily create my problems in Word and paste them into VoiceThread.

In addition to utilizing the VoiceThread technology for the first time, I also used my laptop's camera and microphone for the first time. Who knew how simple it was to utilize the cam and mic! (My husband has been having fun with them - and all of the camera tools - since discovering their simplicity!)

As I was creating my own VoiceThread and viewing the VoiceThreads of my peers, my own mind was racing with ways that I could utilize this in my own classroom. I teach two content areas - math and language arts/reading - and I was imagining ways to use VoiceThread in both of these areas. In my math class, I would love to use this as a way to reiterate the lesson given in class or as a way to post examples worked in class and as another option for paper and pencil homework assignments. By posting a problem for students to work and post their responses to, they would still have to practice the skills but in a cool and new way.

In my language arts/reading class, I could see using this tool as a way to work on student writing and adding details by having students call/type/record their thoughts on a VoiceThread. I could also see my students creating their own VoiceThreads as an alternative to traditional book reports. How cool would it be to have students create a VoiceThread as a response to reading The Outsiders or The Giver? They could take their own photos, record their own thoughts, summarize the story elements, and pull elements from the internet as a way to approach a book report from a whole new perspective.

I consider myself to be fairly technologically savvy; however, my specific area of "savviness" is not in automatically knowing how to do things, but in my ability to navigate and my willingness to try new programs. In creating my VoiceThread, I found that these skills came into play.

Blog 2 - Emerging Technology that Supports Content Learning

In the beginning of the chapter, I really appreciated reading about the three types of knowledge outlined for the reader: declarative, structural, and procedural. The way that Egbert described the ways in which these types of learning relate to each other and meld together made me evaluate my own teaching. I tried to focus and reflect on my own teaching to evaluate the type of knowledge that I'm helping to impart on my students.

One statement that stood out to me in the reading was that "different ways to learn and teach content might be necessary across disciplines" (Egbert, 2009). As a teacher of two contents - math and language arts - I thought about my own teaching and how I approach these very different areas in different ways. The way that I present the material in the math class is much more straightforward and procedural; however, in my language arts classroom, I tend to approach the material in a way that allows the students an opportunity to be more creative. This allows them the chance to develop their own learning through their writing and the delving into the literature. It made me realize that I should create more opportunities in my math classes for students to develop their own learning and knowledge.

After reflecting on my own teaching and the information presented in this chapter, one of the biggest ideas that I will take from the chapter is to create meaningful knowledge through the use of more advanced ways of learning rather than through lots of memorization and other means of declarative knowledge. As Egbert expressed, "instead of content knowledge being only the forebear of other types of thinking, gains in content knowledge are a result of those types of thinking" (2009).

Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: essentials of classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Your blog is looking great! The educational article and websites are good too. Keep it up.

Technology Implementation Programs

Fox, C. (2009). More than machines. T.H.E. Journal, 36(6), 23-26. Retrieved from EBSCO on September 8, 2009.

This article describes how two school systems utilized federal, state, and local funding to implement technology initiatives. Both school systems experienced positive results for their students and have expanded their programs to additional grade levels.

Chesterfield County Schools in South Carolina initially implemented the STEP (Student Technology and Education Proficiency) Initiative sixth grade classrooms at Plainview Elementary School and McBee Elementary School and seventh grade classrooms at McBee High School. These students were issued laptops. Students with financial needs were also provided with free installation and a special $5 monthly Internet plan at their homes. In addition to the laptops, classrooms were equipped with many digital components: cameras, interactive whiteboards, projectors, among additional resources.

The high school in Pennsylvania's Southern Columbia Area School District utilized funds through the CFF (Classrooms for the Future) Program, starting in 2006. In this program, state funds provide the school with various technologies including interactive whiteboards, laptops, printers, etc. Each math, science, social studies, and language arts classroom is provided with a laptop cart. The school chose to use their own funds to provide each special education classroom and the media center with a laptop cart to expand on the CFF program.

More importantly, both programs provided technology coaches to help them with the implementation of the technolgoy and provided resources. This seems to be the common denominator among programs that are not successful in the classroom. When they are dumped into a sea of technology, the training acts as the raft for teachers to cling to until they get the hang of it! Without this training, the technology remains unused and teachers become frustrated.

Both Chesterfield County and Southern Columbia Area's school systems saw an increase in student achievement, learning, and test scores. Chesterfield County also reported a decrease in discipline referrals. After this success, Chesterfield was issued a federal grant and the program was increased to include eighth grade students at McBee High School last year and includes all sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students in the county this school year (09-10). Southern Columbia Area has expanded their program to include seventh and eighth grade students at the middle school this year.

Through utilization of state funds and cooperation with AT&T, Chesterfield County was able further expand their program to install LCD monitors and WIFI service on all of the school busses. They use these in order to enhance field trips and also to show short videos that enhance classroom instruction and deal with issues from bullying to study skills to environmental issues. They also will be able to use the internet on their laptops while on the school bus with the WIFI capability.

One student in particular is profiled from the Chesterfield County School System - a fourth grade student with cancer who spends much of his school year in a homebound educational setting. Through the STEP program, the county was able to provide him with a digital camera and laptop. He is then able to interact with the class, follow along with his teacher's lesson in the classroom, and feel as though he is in the classroom with the other students. What a great way to utilize the technology to really help this child excell in the classroom! :-)

One struggle that both school systems are facing in the continuation of these programs is the funding. Many of the initial grants and funds have expired, and the schools are having to find the money in other places. However, they have both committed to finding additional grants and stretching the money that they do have in order to keep the programs going.

Welcome: Goal and Purpose

Welcome to the world of technology in an 8th grade classroom.

I have created this blog as a resource for my MEDT 7464 class. I have previously created blogs as a means of documenting various aspects of my personal life. Although these types of blogs serve a specific purpose, I am excited about the chance to use a blog in an academic setting. I am eager to utilize this as a documentation tool for my learning in how to implement technology into the classroom. I also look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with my peers regarding their uses of technology in their classrooms. I foresee using this blog, not only as a place to document my learning, but also as a place to discuss real application in my own classroom.

Blog 1 - Definition of Technology Integration

Technology integration is the process by which we introduce our students to the appropriate technologies that they will need to effectively navigate the world in which they currently and will one day live. As teachers, it is critical that we use the available technology to enhance our lessons and create deeper meaning for our students. We need to integrate technology not just to teach information but to create in our students the ability to critically analyze information and use the technology available.
It is important that we recognize the importance in not using all of the technology at one time. We need to also create in ourselves the ability to censor the technology and only use what will truly add meaning to our lessons. We need only use the technology in order to develop higher order thinking skills and critical literacy within our students. With teachers constantly receiving training in how to integrate technology into the classroom, we are able to pass these skills on to our students. Our students live in an ever-changing environment, and it is important that they are prepared to engage with the technology that they will come into contact with throughout their lives.