THAT was frustrating!

1. I'm Laura Trimarco...I teach third grade in Douglas County, Colorado. Very progressive, very techie.
2. From this course, I want tools and strategies to make learning relevant and engaging for my students.
3. My educational philosophy is that the primary mission of a teacher is to make their students WANT to learn and become self-motivated, independent learners.
4. Digital media is instantaneous, multi-sensorial, and, more importantly, it's the language my kids speak. It makes learning a living, breathing thing in the classroom.
5. Biggest challenge in using technology: student attention...once they have a computer in front of them, it is hard to direct their attention, even momentarily, to the instruction that scaffolds the activity or learning. They assume they already know "how to do it," and because they are eight, they usually don't...at least not the "purpose" part. They quickly grasp the "doing," and that is a big plus, but it can be tough to get their attention long enough to get to the "purpose."
6. Example of using media (and this is just still photography at this point , but it has had a real impact): National Geographic photography is the cornerstone of my writing instruction...either describing an interesting/exotic animal, writing a narrative that accompanies an "adventure" photo, or an environmental-activism-inspired persuasive writing.
7. How is my classroom different...dude, I'm a boomer...EVERYTHING is different! Primarily, it's much more quickly paced...and we learn TONS more EVERY DAY! TONS...MEGATONS...going techie is the only way to get all of this done without wearing the kids out!