Technology FOR Education

By the time I attended the 2008 PETE & C, I knew two things: Web 2.0 was not a new term AND The students at my middle school weren't using it. I had been growing increasingly frustrated with what our students were doing with (or better yet: without) technology. Word processing, Google-based research, and some educational games were the extent of what the majority of our students were doing with machines that were equipped to do so much more. There was no doubt that we had technology IN education.....but we were not equipping and facilitating technology FOR education.

Although I had included a few 2.0 tools and some technology into my Language Arts curriculum over the past 8 years, there was nothing that I completely loved and, more importantly, nothing student-centered. Nothing that we were doing game them a true sense of ownership and I was growing concerned on their dependency on me to walk them through everything. I was amazed! The group that everyone was talking about being the first generation to grow up entirely surrounded and integrated with technology was having trouble with simple things like cut and paste shortcuts and creating files within folders.

I was and AM determined to change that.

Not having a formal computers class in our building, we rely on teachable moments during regular classroom work to show our students how to do everything from simple to complex computer tasks. Therefore, it seemed like I would never have a chance to show them what they could be doing with new Web Technology Tools and how it COULD BE BETTER THAN PAPER!

But, I have. And this is the record of happens from here on out.