Introductions

Please introduce yourself, let us know a little bit about you, and where you are from.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Suzanne Montaperto on June 19, 2008 at 8:21am

My name is Suzanne Montaperto I am an Instructional Technology Specialist for the New York City Department of Education. I primarily Work with school leaders & teachers in Staten Island and South Brooklyn.
I love to use the latest 2.0 tools! I also love to share new ways we can use these tools in Education!
I am also the mother of 2 young girls who are so tech savy it's SCARY! I learn from them every day!

I would love to hear from you on my blogs:

http://www.smontaperto.blogspot.com

http://nyciblog.com/communities/montaperto/default.aspx

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Permalink Reply by Anne Mirtschin on June 19, 2008 at 2:23pm

Hello Suzanne and welcome. I also love to use the latest 2.0 tools and so do my students. My classes have just had fun with www.wordle.com and www.befunky.com as they love to make their blogs look good. The young ones are tech savvy but they love sharing which helps me learn a lot as well.

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Permalink Reply by April Lawrence on June 19, 2008 at 6:34pm

H!! I'm April from Virginia and I am a full time online English instructor through a program of the Virginia Department of Education. I have also developed online content for our school, and am considering applying for EdD candidacy in Curriculum and Educational Tech. (I have 3 small children, so this is just a consideration at the moment). I learned about Classroom 2.0 from a NACOL webinar I attended earlier this year. This is a great place to share tools, ideas, and insights. Oh, and this is the first social networking group I've ever joined. Here's to turning a new page, and to paradigm shift in our field. ~Cheers!

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Permalink Reply by Carol A. Smith on June 19, 2008 at 6:44pm

Welcome, April.
I too am a newcomer, and also a first-time social networking joiner. I joined to learn what educators are doing in this realm, but one unexpected thing I learned -- and have since had confirmed by others -- is that even innovative educators experience a sense of mild hesitation about joining a group like this: I don't know as much as the others in the group; I won't have significant contributions to make; the amount of information and options will overwhelm me; etc. That recognition helps me with my research that focuses on identifying specific skills and strategies required for 21st Century literacy, and on providing effective professional development for educators.
I completed my dissertation (Reading & Literacy) last year, and I just resigned my position as a public school teacher to work as assistant professor at a university in PA. So, yes, here's to turning new pages and paradigm shifts.
Carol Smith

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Permalink Reply by Frances DiDavide on June 20, 2008 at 12:21pm

Carol, it is interesting that you bring that up. We had a Web 2.0 session for a few teachers and administrators last week and we had a similar response. Also the idea of a more read/write web with the mass of users contributing as opposed to only the experts was very overwhelming to many of them. I do feel that we were able to open a few minds and to bring a better understanding of what this all can mean to a school district but I found the responses very interesting.

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Permalink Reply by Helen Otway on June 21, 2008 at 4:57am

Welcome April,
Wonderful to have you here in Classroom 2.0. There are many things to learn and lots of opportunities to share. Somehow, I don't think this will be your last social networking group :-)
Helen

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Munoz on June 20, 2008 at 11:05am

Hello all! I'm Andrew Munoz, an English and religious studies teacher in Brownsville, TX. Hope to learn A LOT from you guys!

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Permalink Reply by Helen Otway on June 21, 2008 at 4:51am

Hello Andrew,
I am sure you will learn a lot here. There are many forums, ideas and people to follow. I am sure we will be learning from you too.
Helen

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Permalink Reply by Carla Cross on June 21, 2008 at 2:08pm

Hi, I'm Carla Cross. I am an eighth grade English teacher in a very small district in central Illinois. I am working on my masters in the CTER (Curriculum, Technology, and Education Reform) program at University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana. It's a very interesting and invigorating program that is completely online.

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Permalink Reply by Kay Stanton on June 21, 2008 at 8:02pm

I have been teaching at Farwell ISD (Farwell, TX) for 27 years. I have taught 6-8th grade mathematics, 10th grade Biology, Algebra I, Theater Arts, Life Managment, and for the past 10 years, Technology Applications 6-8th grades. I am now the district technology director.

I am married to my husband, Joe. We will celebrate our 37th anniversary in July. We have one daughter, Kris; a son-in-law, Steve, and 2 beautiful granddaughters; Brinn and Brooke.

I am participating in a workshop through our regional education service center. It is titled Boot Camp Web 2.0,

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Reed on June 21, 2008 at 9:52pm

Hi, Lisa Reed here! I have spent quite a bit of time checking things out and I am excited about the potential of this site! Thanks Steve for starting things up!

I teach middle school (8th grade) math in Evergreen Colorado. We have been quite a bit behind the times in a technological sense for some time! I have been working with staff and admin to get our school on track with technology! Thanks for any help you can be!

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Permalink Reply by Lisa on June 22, 2008 at 1:06pm

My name is Lisa and I was drawn to Classroom 2.0 because I have started introducing edu-blogging into my science classes:

Churchill Science

I'm a learning specialist and adjunct professor who teaches a hybrid online/in person class for the graduate school where I got my teaching degree. I'm thinking of using Ning to set up an alternative to the "online homepage" that the school provides and which I find clunky and overly linear.

Looking forward to all the resources that this site has to offer!