Blog Post 1: Technology Strengths and Weakness

Technology is a tool that needs to be used and integrated into the classroom.  It is very important as an educator to increase our knowledge and skills.  We should also be willing to learn and adapt in order to meet the needs and raise our level of competence to that of our students. 

I am a Kindergarten teacher in a small community that is outside of the largest city in Texas.  Our school enrollment is 553 students in grades Kindergarten through 5^th grade.  The total number of students in our district is 26,983.  Our district strives to provide the students and staff with access with the latest technology.  Each summer, teams of teachers from the various schools are selected to attend INTERACT Academy.  This is a week long intensive training where teachers learn how to use technology and integrate it into the classroom.  This summer, I was fortunate to make our school’s team and attend INTERACT Academy. It was amazing!!  We were immersed in technology driven instruction.  It was an eye opening experience and I am excited to use what I have learned in my class this year.  I am no expert but I am willing to learn and adapt and of course ask for help and not be scared to ask questions. I like the idea of using technology to enhance my students learning and allow my students to share their understanding in a creative and meaningful way. 

This year, I am planning on using more technology in my classroom.  Since I teach Kindergarten, there will be a lot that they cannot do on their own at first.  But of course with practice and time, I know that my students will be to develop wonderful products through meaningful activities.  These are some of my technology strengths that I will be using in my classroom:

·        Movie making programs – Movie Maker and i-Movie

·        Beginner to Immediate level on the usage of the Promethean Board for games and interactive flip charts

·        Very comfortable with my use with i-Pads and i-Pods for work stations and various apps for storytelling and for math

As for my weaknesses, I feel that I just need to overcome my fears and just do it.  Our district has a wonderful team of technology specialists and it is their job to assist and train us in technology instructional strategies for the classroom.  I am looking forward to using Activ-Votes and Activ-Expressions with my kids.  I also want to use our technology specialist as a work station in my classroom and have her assist me in having my kinder babies create products and expand their use of technology. 

For my continuing education on technology, I am going to continue following and reading blogs of technology driven educators who are using technology in innovative ways in the classroom.  I am going to look for teachers at my school who are using technology in their classrooms and ask how did they do that?  Teachers are always learners and I am going to be the best learner that I can be!  It will only make me a better teacher and my students better 21^st Century learners.