Fine Tech in the Classroom

Thank goodness for my PC Card!  I am fortunate to have a husband who is as crazy about tech as I am, so we budget for our wireless cards.  He travels a lot and often finds that he cannot get a connection in a hotel in which he is staying or the company he is visiting has to give him permission to use their internet - so - the wonderful PC wire card is great.  I am able to check my email (not the schools - down) and get to my Google docs where I have a lot of my information stored.

 Today, we are back in school and as usual after a long break, all internet and email is down.  I have been unable to get into our district’s email for over a week.  I don’t know why, in this day and time, that a business (and yes, a school should be run as a business) can operate without their internet service.  If this were a business, the employees and management would be jumping up and down and work would grind to a halt.  As educators, we change what we planned and move on without stopping (well, I didn’t, I have my PC card - and I was able to get to that Brainpop movie and to Discovery Eduation).  The teachers are unable to enter their attendance or enter grades and the secretary cannot run report cards.  I know they are frustrated. 

I finally used my eBeam with my students today.  Mind you - I teach 4th grade gifted in an urban school - so they can be easily impressed.  I hooked up my laptop and projector and connected the eBeam - magic!!!  First, I had a tour set up on Google Earth (which none of them had ever seen) and they were so hooked.  When I went up to the board and touched it to start and stop - they wanted to know how I did that.  Then I pulled up a doc and drew on it and changed the color and then highlighted with the stylus - it is so cool.  I have not used a whiteboard before - we have none in our school -so this was new for all us.  I have a lot to learn still on operating this but —- Kudos to eBeam.

I am so excited!  My eBeam has been delivered.  Each year I try to purchase a new piece of technology for my classroom.  Because I’m not in a Title I school (even though I teach children from other Title I schools), there is not money for the school to purchase new technologies.  The school district also has been leaving it up to the individual schools to come up with the money for these technologies.  Well, if you are in a lower middle class socioeconomic school, the money is just not there from the parents.  So, because of this, and a generous hubby, I bought it myself.  Anyway, I digress.

I chose an eBeam over a SMART board because I can move it around.  It’s portable and works on any white surface - even the wall.  I am fortunate to have a white dry erase board to project on in my classroom.  If I get moved to another classroom (which happens yearly) I can easily take it with me.  When I do demonstration lessons at other locations, it can easily travel with me.  I can’t wait for the students to see it in action.