A typical day in my classroom includes hands-on activities or outside learning activities. I love to incorporate videos and the online digital lessons our online book provides. My motto is that science should be fun while learning and the best way is through exploration and experiments!
I work in a rural school in North Carolina where the free/ reduced lunch rate is over 80%.
Our school receives very little funding for instructional supplies and materials, let alone any for technology. Most of our computers in the media center are 10 years old and the operating system is Windows 98 with the occasional system updated to XP. Our population dynamics are about 45% Caucasian, 45% African American, and 10% Other. Unfortunately this school is located in a poor community where the majority of students do not have Internet access or can't even be offered by an internet company because of their location. We are surrounded by corn fields and cows. Even though most of my students are born into poverty, they are resilient and resourceful. About half of my students help their parents farm their land, a quarter of them live in dilapidated houses in a very rough part of town, and the other quarter could live miles from any neighbors.
My Project
Our school system understands that technology is the key for our students success and instead of buying hardback books, our district bought licenses for online textbooks with multiple digital resources. This is a great idea, if you have the technology to offers students to use. I do not have any computers in my classroom and our teachers share two computer labs throughout the school with one computer lab designated for the online program SuccessMaker. This makes it extremely difficult to access our online books. I have to make screenshot copies of the online text so my students will be able to read and interact with the textbook. If I have a technology station, I will be able to allow my students to login to their online textbook and digital lessons our textbook provides. Students will also be able to use educational apps such as, dictionary.com, brainpop, NASA, and schoology just to name a few. I have a million ideas to incorporate technology; I just don't have the resources.
I teach very bright children who just need the resources to succeed.
Most of my students do not have computers and the only access they receive is at school, which is minimal because of our technology resources. We all know that in order to succeed in today's society, you need hands-on experience with technology. Tablets in the classroom can help them get that experience. I want to give every opportunity my students need to succeed in life and this will help them get one step closer.
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