It is obvious

How can we continue to integrate technology into education with the economic challenges that we are facing- because we have to. In a perfect world educators and students would not have to deal with this. We could teach, our students could learn and testing would be a mute point because of course our students would be learning everything they need to learn. The reality is that we need to pull up our boot straps and become more fiscally responsible and creative. With teachers and staff being let go due to lack of funds, schools under increased scrutiny to test students to prove that they are "learning" and an economy that has many in this country questioning spending anything extra on education - is technology in education a necessity and can the technology be integrated for less cost and as effectively?

The answer is "that depends". Many schools are set up very well to pull back financially in their expenditures because in less leaner times they invested in computers and other technology. Other schools that have had harder times or have not made the jump to the 21st century will find it difficult to find money in their budgets for technology. On a more positive note, technology costs have come down significantly in the past years. The technology resources that are available for free or for a small cost are out there if you are willing to search. Does it take some time to find these resources? Yes it does. Do I feel that this is part of my job? I do. Of course I would love to use the latest, greatest and easiest technology. It is however not prudent in these economic times. If in my own household and in the community, the state, and beyond we are being asked to budget better, it is fair that we in our schools have to do the same.

Where do we go from here?

Gloom and doom! Entire staff are being fired from schools. Layoffs of teachers and support staff for economic reasons in the United States are being realized every day. The economic divide is increasing with more children living in poverty than ever before which effects their learning and their future. Throwing money at schools is not the answer and neither is major education reform. We have to think about education in a more broad way. Education is a part of our society and culture. There has got to be a bright side to all of the negatives.
I would like to see real critical thinking about how to change fundamentally our society. It is true that the powers that be (government but also school administration and boards) affect positively or negatively the lives of our children. Ultimately our society needs to decide how we can do right by all members of this country, rich and poor and those in between.
It should not be ok that people that want to work cannot find a job, families are homeless, without health care and cannot take care of their kids. Once these things in society are addressed than education reform can move forward and the youth in this country will be better off. Our society will be better for it as well.
The question remains, where do we go from here? Will society become more divided testing our humanity or will it pull together for the common good of all? I wish I had the answers but I do remain hopeful.

Late to the form! 2nd grade quiz

There are so many excellent applications to do with students that can be integrated into the curriculum. I stumbled upon one that has been around for a few months (a year?) or longer and tried it this week.

I have made a google form for the 2nd grade classes I teach. It is very easy to make and an excellent tool that I will use on other occasions. I had taken surveys that other professionals had done using google forms but this was my first attempt at trying it myself. You need a gmail account to do this. I simply made a link to the form and put it on the website that I use for teaching every day. I accessed the results back in my google documents immediately and print them out for the classroom teacher to review with their classes if they would like. There are so many uses for a form that really your imagination is the limit!

Why? It's a good question.

Yesterday a very effective and technology savvy teacher became frustrated. We were working together on updates to her website. In the past 5 years we have had many changes in technology applications and it does seem ridiculous to continue to teach and reteach simple things that really just need tweaking.
Our elementary teachers have used Appleworks, Microsoft Word, First Class and now Pages to make weekly newsletters for classroom communication. Each of these applications have had extremely different ways in which to save and upload to our district website. Images, calendars and other assorted extras that make a difference to how the website looks are changed too. The teachers just want a way to have a website without needing an advanced degree in technology and can be changed in a few minutes time.
User friendly (in this case teacher friendly) technology is critical if you want people to be enthusiastic partners in our quest to partner with school, community and parents.
Often I have asked myself if new is better. Many times I have thought that applications from the not so distant past did a remarkable job in keeping things simpler and user friendly. I can agree most heartily with my fellow educators in regards to wanting to keep things for longer than a year or two. One just gets proficient at using something and just as fast, something new comes along and we have to change AGAIN!!!!

a thought about winter

For the past week or so I have taken a break from updating this blog. I am not a daily photographer- never was and most likely never will be. I thought perhaps that the challenge would be of interest to me. This time of year is not my favorite. I hope to photograph more outdoor things when the weather is warmer.

Winter is tiring- driving, dressing for the cold...it is not my season. I can appreciate its beauty but it is enough now. I am ready for spring, longer daylight and warmer days.

There is nothing profound to say about this. I can feel in my body this yearning and desire for growing plants, migratory birds flying north and no ice (except in my drink) and melting snow. I want to go on walks again and not feel the biting winds. In a short time, spring will be here, followed by summer and fall. When winter comes again, I will wish for it to be over soon.