Technology in My Classroom

I'm sitting in my office at ScienceWorks today, thinking about everything that needs to be done before my calendar fills up with in-classroom obligations. The teacher packets I've planned on preparing are far from finished. The curriculum on my new classes needs to be cleaned up, and, because I'm just a bit OCD, all of the lesson plans need to be reviewed and revised to be more consistant in presentation and format. And I need to schedule about 10 more weeks of classes just to feel secure for the year.

And I'm thinking about the technology I use to help me accomplish those things. The last few weeks have really been making me think about how I take so much technology for granted, and how much of it I already use. And wondering how I can make it even more effective.

It's every where. It's how I market my classes - emails, brochures created in MS Publisher, descriptions on the website. It's how I stay organized - calendars in Outlook and on Google that sync together and can be accessed from anywhere, to-do lists written on 'sticky notes' on my Mac Book, documents created and edited in Google Docs so I can work on them any where I have an Internet connection.

Here's a list of the (computer/Internet) stuff I use in a typical week:
- MS Office - Word, Excel, Publisher, Outlook
- Google - calendar, docs, email, news, search
- Evernote - tracks research
- iPhone - phone, calendar coordination, email, text messages
- Aperture - photo organization and editing
- Dreamweaver, Fireworks and/or Photoshop Elements - website and graphics creation/editing and photo editing
- iChat, Facebook, LiveJournal - for keeping in touch with friends/classmates

Technology is a big part of how I develop and expand my classes. One of the big issues I'm facing this year is making the Illuminating Science Inquiry lessons truer to their goal of "professional development." Which means providing teachers with more information they can use in their classrooms before and after my class. Websites that provide more background information or activities they can use, lesson plans and worksheets they can use, etc. I need to understand and use technology thoughout that development, and know how to present it to classroom teachers who may not be as technologically (or scientifically) savvy.

And that's a lot to think about. But the school year is starting soon, and it's time to stop thinking about it and time to jump in with both feet and get to work.