How have you used technology to enhance your productivity and professional practice, your reflection as an educator, and your leadership and collaborative skills?

In my school, particularly my wing, I have become the go-to-guy for how to's and quick fixes of technology.  Sometimes it seems that every minute technology saves me, I spend two minutes helping out others. And by heliping I mean doing it for them while they complain about "not getting computers".  Collaborations with colleagues have become difficult in this sense because it's very frustrating to help someone who doesn't want to try, (especially when they demand it of their students all day!).  On the flip side, many teachers including the math and reading specialists and occupational therapists have tested my early flash games. Besides testing, some have let me incoporate their likenesses into the programs.  You can enjoy these games by clicking these links; 1oo skip counting chart, motor skill building mazes, and greater than/less than/equal to.  In this sense, my colleagues have been very valuable as supporters of my technological advancement. Another valuable resource that I have come to depend upon is the internet forum.  Sites like ActionScript.org and Flash Kit allow users to trade information via searchable threaded discussions.            I have also incorporated my assessments into a form letter that I sent home with report cards. (It was really easy to do using this tutorial for the technical stuff. In the future, I would like to acquire the screen recording technology to create my own online tutorials for my colleagues.) It not only provided valuable concrete data for me, but also for the parents.  The form letter was the catalyst in the restructuring of our report cards, which a colleague of mine and I designed in Excel.           Another really helpful timesaver has been doing my plans for the week using this schedule which I created with Word.          When I reflect back on what I am doing, have done, and am planning to do, I ask myself if I am fulfilling my responsiblities to the students, the profession, and the community. (State Department of Ed, 2oo7). Holmes, B amd Gardner, J., editors. (2oo6) E-Learning: concepts and practice. London: Sage Publications. MIStupid.com (2oo7). Micorsoft word mail merge tutorial.  Retrieved August 28th, 2oo7 from http://mistupid.com/technical/mailmerge/index.htm. Ormrod, J. E. (2oo8) Human Learning 5th Edition. Upper Saddle, New Jersey: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall. State Department of Education. (2oo7).  Connecticut Code of Professional Responsibility.  Retrieved July 2nd, 2oo8 from http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/PDF/Cert/ethics/tchr_code.pdf. Wikipedia. (2oo8). Internet Forum. Retrieved July 2nd, 2oo8 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_forum.

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