Teacher Leader

I can be a teacher leader for technology integration in my school in several ways. First of all I am part of the Business Department and many of the teachers come to us for help with technology already. I am going to start to include more of the technologies that I have learned about into my classroom. I want to have my students start a blog and use that on a weekly basis in my Careers and Digital Tools classes. I am going to invite professionals to Skype with my Careers class about their careers, education, and skills needed to be successful. I am also going to work on getting email or another form of communication like Twitter allowed for our students in school because it is not allowed at this time. I think if I can successfully implement these technologies into my classroom and students are learning, having fun, and being prepared for the 21st century word will spread to other teachers. I would be willing to help other teachers learn about these new technologies in a one-on-one environment or in a group setting. Just today the question came up in the lunch room – what are your thoughts on letting students have their cell phones in class? The immediate response by almost every teacher in the room was – that’s crazy, why would we want to allow that? So they can openly text each other? Allowing students to have access to their cell phones in class could open up so many possibilities with these technologies. I am willing to be the trial classroom and pass my findings on to other teachers in the building. I just want to best prepare my students for the future and I feel that exposing them to technology in school is a great way to do that.