Since starting the program, I can definitely say that my classroom has become more technology savvy, because of the cool tools we have learned in class. I believe that my team teachers were also affected and have incorporated technology as much as possible, for example all the teachers on my team have an Edmodo account for their classroom.
I think I was at an advantage, since I teach 8th grade and my students were issued out mini laptops, which made it easier. I am now thinking of how to incorporate technology the way I did this year for the upcoming 8th grade students with only 4 classroom computers... :/

Laura, that has been one of my setbacks with the mini laptops that were issued to our 8th grade students at our campus. I spent more time teaching BASIC skills ( such as how to save their documents, center the title) to students that I did not have enough time to teach them the 2.0 tool that I was trying to utilize. I'm not saying all of my students were behind in that area, but I had more students that needed the help compared to the few students who have access to laptops at home. That makes a big difference and was quite obvious to see the students who were a bit more tech savvy. I think creating a class that teaches them the basic skills would be beneficial to all teachers (core and elective as well), but I think it can even start at the Elementary Level! Once they reach Middle School, we should be integrating technology in ways that will help them in High School and even College material!

WOW, Pedro! This video was amazing and just took my breath away! It is just incredible to see the potential technology has! I have seen some of those images already in movies, and movies that were introduced a couple of years ago. I'm not sure how specific I can get with the technology, but I can only be certain that technology will improve over time and become more and more innovative. It's fear of the unknown and exciting at the same time!

So true, Adriana! As educators, and future MTT's we can see the positive things that will come up with tablets. But Itza is right too, technology changes so fast that we need to change with it too! (kind of intimidating) :/

I began using EDMODO in my classroom because of how highly Esther spoke of using it in her own classroom. I was hesitant at the beginning, but once I became familiar with it, it was so easy and I have incorporated fully in my classroom. I loved it so much, that I helped my team teachers to use it in their own classrooms, and so now all of our students use EDMODO for their content area classes. It makes grading, sending notes, creating quizzes so much easier and easily accessible. I also appreciate that parents can log on at home using their Parent Code, so they can oversee their child's work.
It is true what Elva and Itza mentioned about internet access at home, so what I do with those students is either give them an extra day to finish the work in school, or they need to use the Computer Lab after school hours to finish their work.

To be quite honest, I had never used EBSCO, and after using it, based on Adriana's suggestion, I was amazed at the quantity and quality of information available. I too, am quick to use Google and only use a couple of other search engines (because I'm so used to them). I was impressed at the ease of the research, viewing my article. I am always looking for ideas when it comes to Reading Comprehension Improvement with my own students, and I found so many useful sources with EBSCO. I completely agree with you, Adriana, having the students use the available, useful, resources that the district allows us to use, we, as the teachers can feel satisfied that our students are using reliable ones. Thanks!

I completely agree with the article and know the importance of the roles that Administration plays on our campus. It also reminded me of the STaR Chart Survey, if Administrators were fully engaged and followed through (even after), it would be a more reliable source to use. I think of teachers in the classroom, we MODEL! MODEL! MODEL in everything we do, to show our students the appropriate way or what is expected, same thing with administrators - It starts at the top!

"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." - Richard Steele
"Today a reader, tomorrow a leader." - Margaret Fuller
"Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers." Harry S. Truman

As far as I can remember, I have always loved reading and my goal each year as a teacher, is to have more students, each year, gain a passion for reading. I have always believed that if a student is a great reader, he/she can be successful in all content areas.
I have always taught my students to be active readers by making inferences, underlining, making personal connections, re-reading using their pencil and paper with the passage. I want to be able to find more ways to integrate reading and technology. So far, I have been successful by using Diigo, uploading text passages and uploading reading activities to their Edmodo account.
Tell me your thoughts on this topic plus tell me any additional resources you have used in your own classroom.

I definitely have a different point of view today from when I started last semester. I joined the program with hopes of learning new tools and ways to integrate technology for myself. I am now eager and love to share everything I know with my students and my colleagues. Little by little I am gaining the confidence to come out of my "shyness shell" and become confidant in myself to help others. I truly love to see my student's reactions when they come across a "cool" tool. It definitely helps that our students (8th graders at Veterans Middle School) were given access to mini notebooks, which makes technology integration a little easier. I am grateful to have joined the MTT program, for the growing confidence and new technology training I have received.

Thanks Shannon, for sharing this website with us. I found the Wii Remote - Interactive Board fascinating. It shows you the creative minds that are out there. The video I want to share deals with improving and motivating our "at risk" students. I think it is safe to say that we all became educators with student success being our main priority. I know I got a reality check when my classroom was not the "picture perfect" scenario they talked to us about during college (LOL). What we have in our classrooms are students with different backgrounds and their own struggles they carry with them. The video I am going to share is inspirational, because it allows "at risk" students to use their creative sense and ultimately become skilled, productive members of society. The video is about a training institution in Toronto, called The Remix Project. This project provided resources for those students who don't have it. The program allowed students to enter with the options to excel in recording arts, creative arts, or the art of business. It also shows the success stories of these "at risk" students. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

http://www.blog.ted.com/2010/12/17/fellows-friday-with-gavin-sheppard/