My MEIT Technology Top Ten

10. Digital story creation: This is a really great addition to both my teaching and personal life. My students loved creating digital math stories as well as iMovies about their heroes. For our class, I created a story about my husband's grandmother, and it has inspired other family history ideas.

9. Podcasts: These were a fun new addition to my classroom this past year. My class had a great time creating podcasts about novel characters and the stock market.

8. Internet Videos: Before this program, I had never spent much time on YouTube. I thought the videos were all junk, created by people with too much time on their hands. I now know how many great, educational videos are available on sites like YouTube, TeacherTube, The Futures' Channel, etc. They have become a regular part of my lesson planning.

7. Social Networking: I am currently addicted to Facebook, and I now understand the pull it has for kids (and adults!). While I have not used it in my classroom yet, I think it has been a great experience to learn about how it works.

6. Wikis: Before our program began, I had never heard of a wiki. This past school year, I used one constantly with my classes. It is such a great tool for "discussion", collaboration, and organization. The students were really excited about sharing their thoughts about various topics on the wiki.

5. Blogs: Like digital storytelling, blogs have been a wonderful addition to my teaching tools. They have also been a lot of fun on a personal level. My class created a book review blog which was a success. While I still really haven't taken to blogging myself, I have developed a real interest in reading many blogs. Bloglines has been a great help in managing what could be an overwhelming amount of information.

4. Photo sharing sites: Again, personally and professionally, I have gotten a lot out of my experiences with Flickr, PhotoBucket, etc. While I haven't yet used them directly with my students, I have created albums with pictures taken in my classroom. I do have some ideas in mind for using them with the students next year!

3. Web 2.0 Tools: The availability of open source resources for almost anything you can imagine was totally new to me. In the past, if I needed something, I would go to the store and buy a program. Now I go look online for a free version!

2. Project Based Learning: Students seems to respond so much more positively and learn so much more when they are working on a real-world project. When problem-solving is encouraged and technology is used as it is in the work world, as a tool/resource, it gives the children skills they will be able to use no matter what technology looks like when they are adults.

and finally...

1. GOOGLE: I never realized Google was more than a search engine! Now I use all the programs constantly. Google Docs, for example, has become a regular, everyday tool in the classroom. The ability to collaborate without being together physically is great.