Teaching old school

The week before spring break I was showing a video on natural selection to my first hour and then went to switch to the document camera and my projector bulb burned out!! This really is not that catastrophic except for the fact that our Techie is not in our building on Wednesdays!! Okay, I had to think quick, use the white board. One problem was that I have a promethium board and the rest of the board is covered with stuff. Okay, whip things off the board and use a marker!!! Now what do I do about the other classes and the video? No one has TVs anymore!! Thank goodness Suzanne was out of town with her students and no one was using her room. So my students got to experience science in a different room. Once I was in there her doc camera didn't focus so I did have to use the board. This was a very odd feeling because I haven't had to do this all year. I was teaching old school, does this make me a techie teacher?

Using the tools more

I have found that the more I use the tools we have learned to use in class the more comfortable I become with them. I use google docs to keep track of my GEMS attendance and our teacher and mentor hours. It certainly makes life a little easier. I don't have to create something new every two weeks when these items are due. I have been trying to get my husband use this to share information between himself and a friend that lives in Omaha! He still isn't convinced this could be easier!

I am also finding that the students seem to be becoming more comfortable with technology and online research. Students are discovering that Wikipedia is not the end all be all. They are actually looking at the references and checking them!! During my project I did find that many of the students are getting better at not copying and paraphrasing!!! Some still don't get it though:(