This has been a busy week in my classroom.  After attending the UGA Digital Technology conference last weekend and hearing Cat Flippen discuss "Failing Up", I took her words to heart.  I have put technology into my classroom at full tilt!

My county subscribes to My Big Campus and encourages us (the teachers) to use it to its fullest capacity.  I will be the first to admit that while I have employed this site more this year, I am still learning and have not risked using it for online assignments.  That has all changed and I am proud of what I did.

I began by having students respond to simply posts which I then had to figure out how to score.  Scoring was so simple that I am ashamed that I did not try it soon.  I then used a multiple choice summation strategy which we call ticket out the door.  The are several advantages to using multiple choice responses: students get immediate feedback and I have only to add the grades into the grade book program.

I also asked all classes to respond to a discussion post which asked them to talk about why they wanted technology in the classroom.  If I had reservations about sticking my neck out and appearing to be in the "learning along with you" mode, the responses of the students removed all fear.  They want to use their technology and enjoy the freedom afforded by using their own devices.  My students have discovered many things about how to navigate the site on their phones.  This was somewhat challenging, but the students found the answer quickly!  I am so proud of them.

Some teachers to whom I have spoken are worried about students misuse of their devices.  As we all know, students will do what we allow.  I had only one known incident and handled that according to my school's policies.  I also contact that student's parent - and happily received complete support.

If you are in doubt about incorporating technology into your classroom, please consider the students.  They want to use technology and my students are more than willing to be patient while I make mistakes trying to incorporate technology into their lessons.  I can't let up.  During dismissal on Friday I overheard a discussion going on in the line.  The students were praising the new techno-friendly environment in my classroom and expressed the hope that I would have more of the same on the following week.  They threw down a gauntlet to me and I will not let them down!