Final

Have you ever seen a child have a "light bulb" moment? You can see on their face that they get it. I am like that child. I finally get what EDM is all about. It hasn't been easy. I have fought it tooth and nail. TECHNOLOGY was not my friend and I wanted to make my point. Well, I changed my mind. I am a woman and I reserve the right to do so. TECHNOLOGY can be my friend.

How did this change come about you might ask? Well, it all started with a little thing called a Library Blog. You see I am a Librarian at a local Christian School. It is a job I quite enjoy. I was somewhat offended at Dr. Strange and his techonology when he talked about computers replacing books. Take away books and you take away my job. But, I have learned that I can make technology work for me in my little Library. And work for me it has. In just a few shorts weeks, I have posted summer reading, classic club lists and reviews by students, a movie with K5 on how to check out books, and listing of my VIP's for the year. My next projects are recommended reading and a VIP movie. I also hope to find authors that will SKPE in for me next year. The possibilities truly are endless.

When making my blog, I used Blogger.com, Vocaroo, Windows Moviemaker, and Picassa - all of which are FREE products. It did not cost me a dime to create my blog. You can't beat that - I said FREE!

That is not the end of the story. I don't think their will be an end. I am too excited to let their be an end. Since I started the blog, I have had students create a blog of their own because of my telling them about it. I have had several teachers comment on how they would like to create a blog for their class as well. I have sparked interest in my Headmaster in getting all elective teachers to participate in blogging. All because I was required to take this class for my education major.

The most valuable lessons we learn are often the hardest. I have always had to learn the hard way. I don't know that I would change that. It takes a lot to convince me but when you do it's lasting. I won't say I lost this battle - although technically I did. I have gained too much to have lost. Do I think technology has a place in the classroom? ABSOLUTELY!!

My blog was my Substantive Project. Check it out at KCS Library
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Only because I am required to do so, I will add that there was only one thing I would like to have learned more about that we did not cover. I would like to have learned how to use the SMARTboard. I earned one for our school this year with our profits from Scholastic Book Fair. Now I need to know how to use it and teach the others how to use it as well. Things I did not find useful - GoogleEarth. That is only because I don't really know how to make it work for me yet. I just need a trip to someplace fantastic to make me want to figure it out. I really enjoyed doing the Timeline. I created one for my son and I want to do one for my daughter. I can really see this being useful for history and science projects. Overall, I think the EDM experience was challenging yet rewarding.