Geeky Girl’s Teaching and Technology Tips

Welcome to my first post on this all-new blog. I’m excited that you’re here reading this and hope you’ll check back often.

I am an elementary school Teacher-Librarian who has developed a fascination (and perhaps a slight addiction) to Web 2.0 tools over the course of my wonderful Masters degree program through the University of Alberta. Web 2.0 tools are a terrific way of infusing technology into our teaching practice in a practical, engaging way that can help motivate students to learn. My final capping project for my degree will focus on how the use of these tools can hook reluctant-reader male students into participating in literacy activities. I truly believe they can. That being said, however, I see the benefits of integrating them into lessons with ALL of our students, in every subject area across the curriculum.

We need to consider that most of our current elementary students have been using computers for most of their lives – for some since they were still in diapers. They use technology as part of their everyday life for entertainment, information and communication. Media/technology guru Doug Johnson says it well when describing his own son: “The computer to him is about as remarkable as indoor plumbing is to me. He is constantly “connected” via iPod, cell phone, keyboard, digital videocamera, or game controller”. As educators, we need to recognize that students want – probably even need – to be using these tools as part of their learning at school. They need to be integrated into the curriculum in a meaningful way – not just using technology for the sake of using technology, but as powerful tools which can transform learning, driven by good pedagogy. If you don’t want to take my word for it, please watch this fabulous podcast/presentation by Doug Johnson from the 2007 NECC conference in Atlanta, Georgia. It is wonderful and speaks volumes!

My hope is to use this blog to introduce interested readers to some of the fabulous Web 2.0 tools which I have come across, and tell you about some of the ways in which I envision them being used effectively in classrooms. I encourage you to try them with your students, and reply to me through this blog to let me know how they worked. Share your lesson ideas, successes, frustrations, and excitement! We’re all life-long learners here!