Resources that I use

As a new school year is upon us I am beginning to think about the technologies that have been successful in my classroom and which ones I will implement this year. The biggest problem that I have run into while attempting to utilize technology in the classroom is the lack of hardware. My classroom was setup with three desktop computers which is clearly not enough for all of my students.


To alleviate this problem I have procured an LCD projector and a Smartboard so that I can share one desktop with the entire class at once. I was able to borrow the Smartboard from a vendor in the hopes that my school would purchase one. I found that the Smartboard was basically an over sized mouse and that its real value was just the LCD projector. I really didn't need the board itself. While using the Smartboard the presenter casts a huge shadow on the board. Overall Smartboard does not meet the needs of my classroom.


What I had at my previous school is an Interwrite pad. This pad is bluetooth enabled and can be stored out of harms way in a locked drawer. Also, because I don't have to stand in the front of the room casting shadows while being blinded by the projector, I can actually walk around the room. I love the ability for students to use this device without having to leave their desks. This is a better choice for my classroom.




Now that I have discussed my solutions to sharing a computer with the entire class I will address how I got more computers. I simply asked our schools IT person to let me have older or broken computers for my classroom. Typically once the computers are out of warranty the school buys or leases new ones and the old ones are put into storage. I simply reformatted the hard drive of each computer and installed a smoother running operating system than Windows. My OS of choice is Ubuntu. Ubuntu even has a version made specifically for schools called edubuntu. The operating system is 100% Free and works very efficiently. I installed this on several machines and ended up with more (free) computers than free counterspace to set them up on.