Read this first!

Hi.

I'm Bud Hunt, your guest presenter today. I'm a high school language arts teacher in Longmont, Colorado. I'm also a blogger, a podcaster, and an all-around geek. I've been trying to push the envelope with technology in my classroom for the last three and a half years. Hopefully, that qualifies me to discuss technology in the classroom with you.

This blog exists as a collection of ideas, questions and resources for the language arts methods students at Colorado State University in the Fall of 2005. My thinking was that an hour and a half is not a long time to discuss what it means to successfully integrate technology into the classroom.

But it's what we've got.

So, here's the plan. Dig in and choose two piece of reading from the blog. I'd like everyone to read the post called "What is Technology? What is integration?" It's a place to start. Then, choose one of the numbered posts based on your preferences. (It's always good to incorporate student choice into an activity, right?) The posts are nowhere close to exhaustive -- they're merely starting points. Here are today's choices:

Topic #1 -- Access to Technology
Topic #2 -- Writing Online
Topic #3 -- Podcasts & Blogs & Whatnot


After you've read and surfed a bit, head over into the chat room. We'll be using that space to start some conversations. I'm asking you to use the chat room because there are probably many more questions than we'll have a chance to discuss as a big group and I think that chat rooms give more people an opportunity to speak and ask questions. At the conclusion of our computer lab time, we'll head over to your non-lab classroom and conclude our time today with a more traditional question and answer session. If you want more information, you're always welcome to send me an e-mail.

Sound good? Okay, then -- let's get going. I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to say. Thanks for the opportunity to share with you today.