And so it all begins

Well I have finally decided to jump into the world of blogging and I am very nervous yet excited about my new adventure.  First let me tell you a little bit about myself.

I have taught for 21 years, and I started in special education in a self-contained resource room in Missouri.  When my family moved back to OH, I started teaching in Dublin.  I met Bill from Literate Lives and we started team teaching, which lasted 9 years including 7 years in fifth grade that is where I currently am teaching.  I have been friends with Bill and Karen, Franki and Mary Lee at A Year of Reading  and that is where I learned about blogs.  Without their encouragement and persistence I am sure that I would not have leapt into the world of blogging.

As far as technology, for many years, I was the last one to try anything new with technology.  Actually I avoided the whole idea of technology after my tech specialist told me the fans on the roof interfered with my wireless signal. However, technology became a part of my school day last year because I was curious when I heard so many of my students talking about WIKIS, photo booth, I movies, GarageBand, and I Tunes etc.

My journey started last September with WIKIS and continued with joining a professional book club in the winter focusing on Troy Hicks' book The Digital Writing Workshop. After reading this book and listening to the discussions, I decided I wanted to really push my technology learning and I started to investigate iPod Touches.  Last spring, I wrote a Dublin City Schools grant for a class set of iPod Touches and got 25 iPods for my class to use this fall. Every student in my class will have access to their own iPod to use at school and home.

This summer I have explored and researched how to begin to use iPods in my classroom. I plan on writing about my journey with iPods including the good, the bad and the ugly.