Gee, that was easy!

Here I am writing a blog on the Internet. My teenage daughter does this every night for hours, so I am sure this will be fun and interesting.

I am looking forward to the class "Internet in K-12." That is the reason I have started this blog. The idea is to have a space to collaborate and communicate with fellow classmates and colleagues. Sort of a neighborhood where friends stop by and chat. I find very often that the best ideas come when colleagues and I are just batting around "what ifs" and "how abouts". I cannot wait to hear comments and ideas from a new group of classmates and colleagues.

Currently, I teach first grade at Woodlawn Elementary in Sebring, FL. This is my second year full time. I am on my third career--after radio DJ and hotel desk manager. But deep down inside I have always been a teacher. I taught my little sister everything I learned every day of Kindergarten. On my first fast food job, I worked my way up to trainer in just a few months. I home schooled my kids for five years. They hated it, so I decided to go to college so I could find some kids that wanted me to teach them.

I never dreamed that information would be available to me the way it is today on the Internet. Any subject I type in brings up tons of information and great lesson ideas. I have used the Internet in class with my LCD projector to show students Plimouth Plantation and Native American Totem poles. I have my tutoring students use the Internet for vocabulary research. Every day, I project the Math workbook pages directly from the publisher's website onto the board so I can model the example problems. My students visit Game Goo and Starfall for reading skills games.

As for other technology, I use PowerPoint presentations every day. My students use CAI for math and reading practice and remediation.

Through this course, I hope to learn more uses and applications for the Internet. I also hope to gain ideas to share with all grade levels as I (hopefully) move into a position as a Tech Resource Teacher in the future.