Contributors

Technology Newbies Contributors All contributors are graduate students at Walden University.

Erin is a seventh grade math teacher in Washington State. Although she has tried to use technology in her classroom, she is having a hard time making it useful rather than using it as "extra work". She would really like it if our Wiki was a place to gather resources for all different grade levels and subjects. She thinks that she would find it most useful if we could post lesson plans or ideas to use technology in the classroom. [|Erin's Blog]

Coleen teaches fifth grade in South Carolina. She loves using technology in her classroom and find it is a great way to engage and motivate students. Her students have used blogs, video conferencing, digital cameras, videos, SmartBoard, and several web 2.0 programs such as [|KerPoof], as well as the regular desktop applications. Wikis are new to her, so she's really excited about experiencing the Wikiworld so she can incorporate it into her classroom. [|Coleen's Blog]

Susan teaches 7th - 9th grade math in Montana. She previously taught business for many years and was lucky to have a classroom full of up-to-date technological resources. Since switching to math, her resources are extremely limited and she's waiting //impatiently// for an interactive whiteboard and, with any luck, a mobile computer lab that she can use to get her students started with all of these fantastic Web 2.0 applications we've been learning. She will at least have a mounted projector this year that she can connect to her own computer to use for a multitude of things. Currently the only computer lab she has access to is on the other side of campus, as her lab went up in flames last year when her high school burned to the ground. She is especially interested in our wiki providing links to math and technology education sites, blogs, wikis, games, lesson plans, or anything else that gives her tools for enhancing her students' learning. [|Susan's Blog]

Travis and is a 5th grade teacher in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He felt pretty tech savy until this course began and we started using blogs and wiki's. He feels somewhat lost, but it has made him understand some of his students' frustrations when trying to teach them something new. He teaches in a school that is two years old. When it was built, they equipped each room with the latest technology such as permanent SmartBoards, overhead mounted projector and DVR players. This past year he spent quite a bit of time teaching his students how to use the Microsoft Office package. With his students, he has used Excel to graph progress with Accelarated Reader goals and Publisher to create state brochures. He felt the students learned quite a bit, but now he has so much more to offer them with blogs and wikis. [|Travis' Blog]

Christine is a 7th grade life science teacher in Stafford, CT. She is going into her fifth year of teaching. She also enjoys coaching JV cheerleading in Wethersfield, CT. She enjoys water sports and anything outdoors. She is excited about this program, this class, and our wiki. She is happy that we are using wikispaces, as she has one for her class. She is already familiar (notice she did not say an expert :o)) with it. [|Christine's Blog]

Kim Ellis teaches kindergarten in a Title 1 school in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She began utilizing technology with her kindergarteners last year and quickly realized that the use of technology in the classroom is invaluable. So far, she has only done digital storytellings using video, paint software, podcasting, and digital photos. Next year she is looking forward to building a class website, having a class blog for collaborative projects, and also a wiki space. She is amazed at how engaged the students are when a little technology is implemented into a lesson or a unit. She was pleased to find that even 5 and 6 year olds can learn how to use the technology tools and are excited about being part of a digital project. [|Kim's Blog]

Robby Culpepper is a high school video and film teacher in Suwanee, Georgia. He also coaches baseball and helps out many of the sports and clubs at school with their marketing and video needs. Robby recently returned from a trip to Europe, where he proposed to his girlfriend, so now he is planning for the upcoming school year, working on graduate level classes, editing some wikis and planning a wedding. Robby has a computer lab for his video classes, so he implements many different technological tools in his video courses. [|Robby's Blog]

Hello, I’m David Crouse. I hope to be a kindergarten or first grade teacher in Virginia Beach City Public Schools this coming year. I've been substitute teaching pretty much full time, working towards my B.S. and really loving all of it since 2004. I am married and have two boys 8 and 11 (or as I like to call them my edupigs... got a new lesson? try it on the edupigs) I love to use technology in the classroom. In the lower grades it is even useful to do things differently with technology because it helps to overcome the 10 nanosecond attention span that the students have.

Our schools are serviced by a citywide network through which we get internet access, email etc. and lots of filtering. (I think it is amusing that the symbol for adult content in their filter is the red circle slash symbol applied over the naked lady mud-flap image what genius.......) Anyway. We generally have 3 desktop PCs and one laptop in each room. The rooms are wired for sound and video and have a mounted projector on the ceiling. We have generous screens to project on and document cameras instead of overheads. Each class has an RF wireless keyboard with a thumb mouse and a separate handheld mouse as well. There are also the usual VCR/DVD machines and a combo cd-tape player. We have closed circuit TV in the building and cable TV (woo hoo). Each class has a B&W laser printer and there are color lasers in the teacher work rooms. There is a laptop card with wireless internet that can be checked out and brought to the rooms. We have alpha smarts but really I don't know why! [|David's Blog]