Website I Created for My Future Classroom

Hello! I just wanted to share with everyone the template I created for the website I am going to be using for my future classroom. I used a Google site which is free and very easy to use because the basic template is already created for you. If you want to see a great resource that could be used in your classroom click here.

Free and Accessible Technology

I am sitting at work right now and working on my blog. I think that right there is enough to make a post about. I am on my new smart phone (Droid2). It was very easy for me to access the CEP wiki as well as the blogger site. While I was sitting here trying to think of a topic to post about I realized it was right in my hands.
I find it very ammusing that I can do this from my phone so effeciently. It led me to think about my future as a teacher. I think that the free technology tools I have learned about in and out of classes are some of the best tools a teacher can use.
These tools are great for students, teachers, and parents alike. Not only are they free but they are also incredibly accessile... Even from a mobile phone. It is important to keep tools like this in mind for students/schools that may have lower socio-economic backgrounds. Many students, parents, and teachers have mobile phones even if they do not have access to a computer all of the time.

Everyone Should Watch This

"Taylor Mali on what teachers make"

We were shown this video in my TE458 class. Although that class is a poetry class, I really though anyone in CEP452 would appreciate this video as well. I also think people should share this video with others (teachers or not). I enjoyed it. Let me know what you guys think.

Things That I have Been Pondering

I spend four hours a week in a second grade classroom. This semester I have learned a little bit more about special education and I have learned a large amount about assistive technology. With this new knowledge, the past couple of week I have been thinking about some new things while spending time with my second graders. I find myself coming up with many questions while I am teaching, helping, and observing the students as well as their teacher. Some of my questions are:

• Why isn't there more technology available for these students?
• Is there anyone here that knows how to use the technology that is available? 
• What should I do in my future classroom if I don't have much technology available?  

And the question that I want to focus on purely because it gets the most rise out of me:

• Why isn't the technology that is available in this classroom ever being used?

In this classroom there are three functioning desktop computers, books on tape (with headphones), Leap Frog reading books and the oldest one of all - an overhead projector. Does this class have as much technology as other classrooms I have spent time in? No. Some schools I have spent time in have laptops available, Smart Boards and more. However, what deeply troubles me is that none of what I listed above is ever being used. I used to wonder if the computers even worked until one day my CT asked me to Google something for her. I went to the computers to log on but low and behold there was a password to logon. Guess who didn't know the username or password? Yeah, you guessed it: the teacher of that classroom.

This really troubles me because she has such a valuable tool available. Not only does this computer offer things such as Microsoft Word for a student who would rather type or speak into the computer but this computer has something HUGE: the internet. I just don't understand why this tool is not being used for these students. There are a large number of students in this classroom that I know would benefit from some assistive technologies. I am at a real loss here. I decided to Google this topic and actually came to find many other people wondering the same thing. I also came across a couple websites with tips on encouraging teachers to use technology.

I guess I am really just wondering some of your thoughts. If anyone would like to offer me some insight here it would be greatly appreciated. Also, is there a way for me to address this question with this teacher without crossing any lines?

Digital Texts

I first read The Battle to Define the Future of the Book in a Digital World and it made me realize some negative aspects about digital text that I had never had before. For example, the digital texts have potential to take away some of the many great things about books. Also, the big companies could get a leg up and certain types of books (about different cultures, for example) may not be readily available. I am not so worried about the security problems because like Lynch said, it's not music.


Once I read the other article, Best Practices in Accessible Text, all of those doubts just didn't add up to the benefits that can come from digital texts. It seems to me that even if the worst possible things in the first article actually happened that the many benefits would still outweigh them. Simply being able to resize the text can change a students (or anyone's) reading experience entirely. Another simple tool is having texts read aloud for readers. There are many other great things that can not only help the people who need it but digital texts also allow for readers to simply have preferences.


There is no telling what the future will hold with digital texts but in my opinion, it definitely holds some great things.