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Vol. 3, No. 2, (2007, Fall)
Theory

Elements of cultural dynamics represented in graphical user interfaces (GUIs) result from an alignment between designing for onscreen usability and practicing principles of democratic responsibility.


Practice
An introduction to the Mentor Issue.

This paper reports on a situative professional development project that utilizes classroom teachers as technology mentors to their building peers. Case study findings of participating teacher teams will be shared to demonstrate project effectiveness along with recommendations for implementation in other K-12 settings.


This vignette explores how technology can be used to support children’s inquiry and exploration. The project also documents how technology can be used by very young children to represent their ideas and understandings and how such representations can be used to document children’s changing conceptualizations over time.


This vignette describes how a team of teachers used podcasts as a tool for implementing social stories in a primary special education setting. The project documents the effectiveness of the tool as an intervention for establishing routines and reinforcing specific student skills.

This vignette describes how teachers at two elementary schools utilized podcasts to differentiate instruction for children with special needs. Special needs and at-risk students were exposed to curriculum units, via podcasts, prior to the actual introduction of the units in the regular education setting. The vignette demonstrates the effectiveness of podcasting for individualizing learning.


This vignette highlights a project at Holden Elementary (Kent City Schools) where mentor teacher Christi Bates collaborated with her colleague Amy Hopkins to explore the use of SMART Boards in their classrooms. The vignette highlights various ways that SMART Board technology can be integrated into the primary curriculum to support teaching and learning with young children.



Revising and editing are essential skills to the writing process. Peer editing is an effective way to help students improve their writing, and introducing students early on to the process of peer editing can be very beneficial to building strong writers. This vignette highlights a project at Fishcreek Elementary (Stow-Munroe Falls City Schools) where teacher Debra Miller mentored a team of first grade teachers in using a document camera to facilitate peer editing.


This project explored the use of digital recorders as a tool for targeting fluency instruction. The vignette documents the impact of the project on students’ fluency skills as well as their motivation for reading practice. 



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