Techni-color….Technology in color

The new school year is upon us, and I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with such wonderful teachers across my district.  I have 10 schools that I work with to aid teachers in integrating technology into their curriculum.  I am a firm believer that all children can learn, we just have to find the best way to engage them.  I was inspired yesterday as the new district superintendent, Dr. Percy Mack, expressed his key points for our district which were 1) Student Achievement, 2) Data driven decision making, and 3) Customer Service.  I can’t wait to get the school year started!  My first point of contact at the schools is the Information Technology Specialist, formally media specialist.  I will contact them and meet with them and collaborate to assess the needs of the teachers at their schools.  I have 1 High school, 1 Special programs facility, 2 Middle schools and 6 Elementary schools that I service.  I want to be sure that I am providing relevant professional development opportunities for the teachers at each of the schools, as well as introducing the schools to new technologies.  With students achievement being a main goal, I will look for Web 2.0 programs that will aid teachers in reaching students and helping them to be more successful in every content area.  Are there any successful programs out there that are proving to be successful at your school or in your district?  If so, share!  Some of the resources that are used in our district include:

• Teachingbooks.net
• Atomic Learning
• ETV streamline SC
• Visual Thesaurus
• Brittanica Online
• World Book Online
• Thinkfinity
• PBWiki

Just to name a few.  What resources do you use in your district?  Are there any resources that you use that have proven to be very successful in your district?  Thanks, and have a great first day…whenever that is!