Teach Interactive

Since before I got into education I loved sharing things I learned and discovered - books, music, news, recipes, places to go...and the list goes on. In fact, it was that realization that helped me decide to enter the field of education when I finally reached a point in life where I could complete college. During my initial student teaching assignment, I integrated technology into my teaching in a classroom still equipped with chalkboards. We did have an old television mounted up in one corner, so I brought in my laptop and managed to dig up some cables and hook it up. Then I discovered the school did have a computer lab, so I set up my first webquest and soon had those third graders researching the history of Fresno county online. I found out later that my master teacher thought I was crazy, but it worked. I was extremely fortunate to then be assigned to Yokomi Science and Technology Elementary School with Smartboards in every room, laptops, document cameras, etc. Soon I was setting up a website for my master teacher and collecting links to online interactive resources for use on the laptops and the Smartboard. I was having more fun than I had ever had in my life. I remember the day a TV news crew was brought into the classroom to show off our new school and its technology. We put up an interactive volcano that I had found on the internet on the Smartboard and I was amazed as one of the most quiet, shy girls in the class was confidently up there using the interactive and demonstrating how a volcano worked. I decided then and there that interactive technology would always play an integral part in my teaching.

I went on to my first teaching position opening another technology filled school where I continued to collect and use interactive teaching resources before being invited back to Yokomi as a teacher on special assignment for technology. I have continued to share my discoveries (as well as those I have stolen from others) with other teaching professionals through various (mostly disorganized) means and now I have decided to try to coalesce these links into a blog where I can continue to promote my philosophy to Teach Interactive.