Technology and My Job

I have started to incorporate technology into my weekly lesson plans with my kindergarten. To do so is a challenge since I am in a situation where I have no funding and no resources to draw from. Since I can only do cultural enrichment with my students, I have been bringing in my laptop into work and showing video clips of various cultures performing in the style that we are studying. The lack of the security in my work environment makes this a particularly challenging task, since I than have to carry my laptop with me all day. One of the kindergarten teachers was telling me that her digital camera was stolen from her classroom, and she thinks it may have been someone on the custodial faculty because the room had been locked for the weekend, but the custodians have the key. The story scared me enough to make me carry my laptop bag with me all day…which became a giant issue when it came to physically daunting carrying metalophones down staircase. Still, I see the benefit in showing the kids a visual of other students in other cultures. The kids were more than fascinated with watching the short movie. These are students who do not have the resources to watch movies in the classroom, so they never have before. Many of the students who live in local homeless shelters either have to share a community television, or do not have a television at all. My bringing in a video was a real treat to them. They were surprisingly calm and cooperative when it came to taking care of my laptop. I always forget that these kids, as wild as they are behaviorally, are used to taking care of what they have.

I am trying to think of a new way to incorporate technology in the classroom. We have done basic listening...but I feel as if the kids could use some visual tie in to some of the songs we are singing...