Journal #7

“All Aboard” by David and Margaret Carpenter

This article describes the process in which teachers, administrators and learning specialists come together to develop new and innovative ways to incorporate technology into the curriculum. Teachers from every grade level were brought in to provide their own input and be as active as possible in this campaign for change. There were many tasks at hand including, figuring out the best way to instruct students of the 21st century in standard based schools, improve curriculum overall, discuss differentiation for gifted and struggling students, integrate technology and information literacy skills, and above all collaborate. They came up with lessons that incorporated games, a class wiki, WebQuest, podcasts, mindmaps and Inspiration. Teachers learned new technology as well, so that they could update their own knowledge within their classrooms.

Will I have access to meetings like this when I become a teacher?
I hope that there will be meetings at least once a year that can address new findings in technology that are classroom friendly. If not I could meet with the other teachers in my grade level and share ides. I could also meet with the computer lab specialist or librarian to get new feedback and see what the school has available that the students can use.

Are any of these above mentioned activities something that I would like to use?
I have mentioned before in my blog, that I like the idea of having a class blog, and after we have used the Inspiration I would like to incorporate that as well, in any of my lessons. I would also be curious to read more about podcasts and how those could be incorporated.