New TA TEKS

The State of Texas has come up with new Technology Application TEKS to be implemented beginning the 2012-2013 school year. I have included a snapshot of the TEKS here. To see a more complete document, please see the following document. New TATEKS

Technology Quiz

Technology quiz – This 10-question test from Edutopia helps you assess your computer knowledge: http://www.edutopia.org/quiz-tech-savvy-teaching

Medical Technology WORKS!

I’m back at work after a car accident that put me in the hospital for a week, and home for over 2 months. The coolest thing about it was that Medical Technology put me back together. I had a large gaping wound in my shoulder that the healing process was sped up with a woundvac. That sped my recovery up 10 times what it would have been. To check out more on V.A.C. therapy go to http://www.kci1.com/KCI1/vactherapy . Then there is the technology that happens in surgeries as well. So after 3 surgeries, 1 month on a woundvac and lots of Physical Therapy later, I’m typing with two hands again!

How Technology Affects our Lives

How Technology Affects our Lives
This is a huge topic, and one that First Graders are learning. How do dwindle this down to a manageable size. How about how Technology Affects our School?

 From Card Catalog to Computer Searches! 

• Library: Let’s look at the library, no longer do students search through the card catalog for books, instead they find a book by using a computer and search by keyword, author or title. Books are scanned with a computer and barcode, allowing the librarian to keep track of records with ease.


• Lunch:  Lunch count sent to the cafeteria by a computer to minimize wasted food. Students don’t have to carry money around, they have an id card to scan to keep track of their bills which parents can pay in advance!


• Storing Information: Teachers are able to store lesson plans and student records for years. No longer is it one handout that you can’t change, digital resources can be manipulated to fit different students. Attendance tracking throughout the school and even across a whole district now is made much easier with computer software.


• Communication: Emails from teacher to teacher, and home to parents make communication fast and efficient! Teachers and schools have websites where they can share information of upcoming events and even post newsletters instead of always sending home paper copies.


• Collaboration: Students and teachers can share files and resources with each other. Share thoughts and ideas through digital journals and blogs. The sky is the limit with how much technology collaboration a class can do with others.

As you are thinking of how Technology Affects YOUR life. Consider the following questions:
 How do you retrieve information from technology?
 How can technology be used to organize your thoughts?
 How can you use technology to demonstrate ideas?
 How can technology be used in measurement?
 How can technology be used to solve problems?