Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Technologies that I cannot live without!

The Technologies that I currently use in my Library are the Internet, the Overhead projector and the TV and Computer simultaneously whereby when the computer monitor screen is on, it is projected onto the TV screen. Students are visually able to see the lesson being taught by the teacher step by step by watching the images from the computer monitor being projected onto the TV screen. We have a digital camera that is allowed to be used by the staff. I have yet to use the digital camera for library use for classroom projects and themes.
My title is Library, Media, Technology Specialist. I have two positions: that of a Librarian and Computer Teacher. I teach PreK through 4th graders. There are 24 classrooms and I see a total of 800 student's in a week. I teach on the South East side near the Illinois/Indiana border. I work in a high poverty area. I teach in a Hispanic/Mexican area. 95% of the students are Hispanic, with the remaining 5% made up of Croatian, Polish, African American and Caucasian descent. My school is called Gallistel Language Academy. We have two libraries and one houses the computers. We have 15 computers that work. I teach library skills as well as computer lessons. My teaching style is open and accomodates to the needs of all the students here. I teach the student's how to research information online for themes or holidays they are doing in their classrooms and play educationally interactive games at elementary sites. This year I am trying to teach them MS.WORD and how to save information on a CD rom or Floppy disk. I am trying to bring in the use a of digital camera and video camera for use in projects. Gallistel students do not have computers at home. The only place they come into contact with one is at school or at their neighborhood public library or at a computer center that has been established in their area that is accessed by the community. I am the only individual that troubleshoots problems at my school when the computers are having issues.