Man on the What??

I am an astronomy teacher at a H.S. in New Hampshire and this is one of my favorite subjects to teach.  Forty years ago today Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men to walk on the moon.  Those men are in their 70's now but made such a huge impact on where we are today in our space exploration and where we are headed in the future.  

I had dinner with my parents the other night and we were discussing the fact that we are going back to the moon.  My dad wasn't quite sure why we would go back there if we have already been.  But after talking with him and explaining the innovations that have happened in technology in the last 40 years he was a little bit more receptive to the idea of going back.

Do you remember this night?  I was not born yet but I bet it was amazing!  I have seen the news clips and the recaps but please feel free to comment and tell me what you remember.  It is always nice to have first hand accounts to relay back to my students when we discuss the moon.

Equal Access...Is it really equal?

After doing a bit of research about equal access when it comes to technology in the classroom I found that it really comes down to two things: funding and professional development.  In order for teachers to provide an equal experience to all students in their classroom they need to know how to do that first.  Many times you hear teachers (who are less experienced in the technology world) say that they used technology by having their students word process the reports they have been working on in class.  Why don't you just drag out the typewriters and have the students use those because that's the extent of technology you incorporated into the classroom!  Don't get me wrong, students need the experience word processing documents, but using a class period or more to do this isn't really applicable any more.  

So how do we get teachers out of this mind frame and have them use technology more effectively?  We teach them!  What a novel idea!!  If we want our students to use technology appropriately we teach them how to use it (hopefully) but if we want our teachers to use technology what do we do?  We plop a computer in their classroom and say "here you go...use this!"  But there rarely is instruction on how to use the computers effectively and equally in the classroom.  The school districts need to hire people who know how to use the computers in the classroom effectively and they need to be able to convey this to teachers. This should not be the "tech guy" in the building, they have enough problems to worry about!  This should be someone who is paid to help teacher integrate technologies into the classroom that all students will have access to and an equal experience.  This should be part of every teacher's professional development, they should have to learn how to use the resources that are available to them.  If there is video conferencing materials at the school, utilize them!  If there are mobile carts with a class set of computers on it, use them not only for word processing, but for other things too... web quests, research methods,  digital storytelling, blogging, and voice threads.  These are resources that are very user friendly, are free and may not require the students to have internet access (if their parents will not allow them internet access).

The second problem with trying to give all students equal access is money.  Many districts can not afford to have computers in all classrooms and ones available to all students.   In order for all students to have equal access to technology a district needs to be able to provide that opportunity to the students, through funding, classes, and seat time.  If the students do not practice using the computers they will not be as skilled as using the computers as other students would be.

I look at an article called "Ensuring that Students Have Equal Access to Technology".  Check it out at this link:

http://tie.smartlibrary.org/newinterface/segment.cfm?segment=2349&question_id=26910&from_segment=2244

To evaluate or not to evaluate?

Why should a teacher evaluate a website they are going to use in the classroom?  This is an interesting question.  There is nothing like showing a website to a class full of students to find that it wasn't exactly what you thought it was.  Teachers should always research what they are using to prevent an embarrassing mishap!  

It happens often times that you discover a website that looks amazing, full of great information, and detailed pictures.  But after doing a little bit of uncovering you find that the sight is run by a biased party.  Then you have to think:  Is this information factual?  How skewed is the opinion being expressed? Or is this an open source, where any one can post any information, factual or not?

Moral of the story...do your homework and check your sources!  Make sure that what you are showing the students is accurate, factual and unbiased.  It is not worth finding out too late that the site you have chosen is not as great as you initially thought it was!

What is Technology Integration?

What is technology integration?  I think it all depends on who you are talking to.  Some of the "oldies" may say that allowing the students to use a calculator or a computer to type an essay is integrating technology.  But I think it is so much more!  The amount of things that are out there for today's students is amazing!  

Last year, our school purchased two classroom sets of graphing calculators with these pod type things.  The students are in groups of 4 and hook up to the pod which in turn hooks up to the teacher's computer.  The teacher can have the students create a certain type of graph, have it go to the teachers computer when they are ready and the teacher can display the graph using a projector to the entire class.  The class can then analyze the graph displayed and see if their results match!  Amazing...and instant gratification (which we all know is exactly what kids are looking for).

Another piece of technology that I have come in contact with is video conferencing.  We have a room in our school that is fully equipped with video conferencing materials all purchased through grants.  In the past two years I have video conferenced with NASA scientists (for FREE..check it out at http://dln.nasa.gov/dln/) on four occasions!  The kids were amazed that they could actually talk to a real NASA scientist.  This not only got the kids involved but it showed the district how easy it was for us to do this.  

I feel that as teachers it is important to expose the students to as many technology resources that we can get a hold of.  If we don't do this then who will show them that their computer is more than AIM, Internet and E-mail?  It is our professional responsibility to show them how much is out there and how to properly use it!  So the next time you want them to do a project, don't have them make a poster, have them make a website or a blog about their topic.  It gets the student's involved and it is a lot easier carrying around your laptop rather than a huge stack of posters!

Who am I??

My name is Jaime and I am a high school teacher in New Hampshire.  I teach primarily freshman Physical Science Honors and I also have a mixed grade Astronomy class, college prep and honors level.  I just finished my 7th year teaching and I am pretty happy it is summer time.  Currently, I am working on my Master's and I had to create a blog as an assignment for a class.  I have always been pretty interested in blogging and I am glad I have an excuse to create one now!  

I have a husband, named Jay, who is a teacher also.  He teaches Special Ed, not just regular Special Ed...EH Special Ed...god bless him!  What a patient man! 

We are both track coaches, each at the high schools that we teach at for Winter and Spring Track and Field.  I also coach Men's Cross Country at a local university.  It is one of my greatest passions!  Talk about a fulfilling job!

In our spare time, Jay and I like to do a number of things.  We take an annual White Water Rafting trip with a large group of our friends each summer.  We race cars on race tracks all over the country.  Currently, we are each ranked second in the nation in our class for the Porsche Club of America Autocross event (he in the Men's class and I in the Women's)!  My student's seem to think that is pretty cool.  This seems to be a good way for me to get them hooked and listening when I can relate Physics to car racing and actually know what I am talking about!  I am also a runner!  I completed my very first marathon in October of 2008.  I am working on plans to run my second one this fall!  I can't wait!! :) 

So that is a little bit about me!  More to come later!