It has been 2 years, since I was in the classroom teaching Spanish to elementary school students. I am often asked  if I miss it. I do miss having classes on my own, where I am the one who can decide on a project and see it through from beginning to end. Do I still [...]

This year the teachers at my school are taking off with video productions. This is mostly due to the 5 Flip Cameras we have available for checkout, every teacher having a classroom digital camera with video clip capabilities and the rise in their comfort level of using programs such as Microsoft MovieMaker and PhotoStory.
Film School [...]

I have been back for almost a week from our Costa Rica and Peru adventure which was part of my school’s Global Studies program. The trip fulfilled some of the Places in the World, I want to see…  The Latin American culture is very dear to my heart, due to my bonds to Argentina, as [...]

by Lori Menger, Reading Teacher
Charting a New Course for the Upcoming Year
With the desire being to build on the successes, repair any damage from the storms, and set a course to assure arrival at the destination, the design team considered the successes and failures and set a new course for the 2008 school year.
First addressed [...]

By Lori Menger, Reading teacher
Weathering the Storms
Like any long voyage, this plan certainly encountered some storms along the way. In order to effectively evaluate at the end of the school year it was necessary to look closely at the challenges to effectively chart the course for the next year.
In Florida late summer and early fall [...]

By Lori Menger, Reading teacher
Smooth Sailing
As part of the plan the design team evaluated progress at the end of the school year, using their own observations, feedback from teacher and parent surveys, and information gathered informally during teacher evaluation conferences and staff meetings. Following are what were deemed to be the successes experienced during the [...]

By Lori Menger, Reading Teacher
Charting the Plan

Considering all the above factors a plan for the coming year was developed. The design team included two teachers, the principal, and the vice principal. It was decided the weekly computer and drama classes would be discontinued, and the time would be commandeered for academic instruction. Technology and drama [...]

Lori Menger, an amazing Reading teacher, has taken the time to document the Technology and Drama integration changes that have taken place at our school over the last school year.  With her permission, I am posting her paper here, since I feel others could benefit from her honesty, perspective and insight.
Setting Sail on a New [...]

What makes the Whiteboard Interactive?
Finding an answer to this question is very important to me. Since I first touched a SmartBoard at my friend Andrea H.’s (from EdTechWorkshop) school I knew that the possibility for teachers to use the board JUST as another dry erase board or big screen was huge. I need to find [...]

Muchísimas gracias a la dirección de la Goethe Schule en Buenos Aires, Argentina por darme la oportunidad de hablar con ellos acerca de la integración de tecnología y la alfabetización en el siglo XXI.
Gracias a Verónica D. y Heidi M. por organizar ese encuentro. Ich freue mich schon auf gemeinsame Projekte!

¿Qué es un Instructional Technologist?

La [...]