Bring on the Technology!

Every year I seem to find myself with a focus for the school term.  Last year I was obsessed with organizing my classroom and making routines habit, for myself and my students.  I am pleased to report that the goal was fairly successful.  I shared my goal with the students at the beginning of the year.  And every time I did something new or changed something, I would tell them, "This is all a part of my goal of being more organized."  It eventually got to the point where the students commented to me, "Oh, this is part of your organization goal, isn't it."  (Nothing wrong with transparency.)

This year my goal is to integrate more technology.  It started with my request to teach an art class using computers, was granted.  So, not I have to figure out how to conduct a class exclusively on a computer.  All our art will be computer based.  The hitch, my district does not own a licensing agreement to utilize Adobe Suite or even Photoshop.  So, I am being resourceful!  Step one is just using what we have, learning how to use PowerPoint to present information and using Paint to create images.  I will eventually phase in online programs like Prezi and Pixlr.  So, the students will get a taste of more sophisticated  media.   

My next hiccup is how to keep the vast majority of the work "paperless."  I want to have reflections, discussion boards and assignment turn ins all online.  In comes the world of Edmodo!  I originally wanted the students to use Blogger to do all their "paperless" work online.  But, my district has blocked the site.  So, a colleague suggested Edmodo as a format to do most if not all of this.  So, I am going to try to get my computer class, as well as my traditional classes logged on to Edmodo.  I figure I can have students contribute to discussion boards and maybe do some writing assignments online. 

So, the technology goal is to have one class almost entirely online and paperless and my other "traditional" art classes utilizing technology several times a month, if not weekly.  Time will tell how my grand plans turn out.