10 Things Every Teacher Should Know About Technology

1. Be willing to experiment with technology. Have an open mind about it.

2. Take some time to learn what is available for you to use, and practice using it. Take classes or ask for recommendations from people you think are "techie".

3. Ask your librarian for help if you need it!

4. Don't be scared of technology- embrace it and let it help make your life easier.

5. Use it to enhance your lessons and to simplify grading.

6. Let students explore on their own, but be available to provide guidance.

7. Get to know your school's technology specialists and be on friendly terms with them- they will be very useful to you.

8. Accept that some of your students may know more than you do- use this to your advantage rather than feeling bad about it.

9. Accept that technology is constantly changing and you will need to work hard to keep up.

10. Realize that not all parents will be on board if you are doing something that they might consider to be risky, such as blogs. Give them plenty of information about what you are doing and why to allay their fears.


I didn't really change anything from my previous list done at the beginning of class- I just expanded on a few things (in boldface). The biggest thing that changed for me was my perception of new technologies- I am now more comfortable in experimenting with different applications, whereas before, I wouldn't even had tried. I am also a lot more aware of what is out there and how I might be able to use it in the library or in my daily life.

Online Public Access Catalogs

This was an interesting week for me. I had never thought much about OPAC systems (other than the one we use at school) until I was forced to look at different types. I never knew there were so many types and options out there. We use Follett Circulation Plus at my school and I felt that it was fine until now because I didn't know what other systems were like. Now that I have seen different systems, I'm not sure that what we have is the best. I chose to research Alexandria and there were a lot of things I liked about it- mainly it seemed very suited to very young users (I work in a K-3 school) with it large, clear icons for easy searching. I also liked that it had cover art for many titles, summaries, reviews, e-books, and related websites. We don't have the web option at the elementary level, but do at the middle and high school. I never even knew about that until this week and I think that it's great to be able to connect to a related website right away. I found out my information about Alexandria from their website and through the listerv on MSLA, which I finally joined. I have to admit that I didn't speak with a rep or find out how much the system cost because the librarian I work with didn't want me to contact them directly because we are not in a position financially to change systems and she didn't want them calling and bugging her all the time once they thought we might be interested in it. But I was able to try it out online and I thought that it had a lot of great features. Like I said, Follett does what we need it to do, but Alexandria looks a lot more fun and exciting and has a lot more great features.