One of my favorite tasks as a media specialist is equipping and preparing teachers with innovative technology tools to use in the classroom.  My motto is “my mission is to make the teacher’s mission possible”.  What better way to assist the mission than by providing teachers with resources to make their classroom experience more productive. This article will overview A Few of My Favorite Things learned from GaETC.

The GaETC conference armed me with a wealth of knowledge and resources to share with staff. Two of the most information-packed sessions were topics shared by presenters Shaun Owen and Leslie Fisher. Both presenters shared useful and time saving technologies that could be used in the classroom. I also gained invaluable information for me as a media specialist in the session lead by Judy Serritella.  Not only did I learn about GALILEO’s new and improved, I also discovered ways to improve my media center to exemplary status!    After attending the 20^th Annual Ga ETC conference, held in College Park, GA, I prepared a list of my favorite things to share with my teachers. I may not be Oprah, but I have few non-tangible gifts to give away!

1. Teacher Tube.  It is a YouTube for educators. You can search the educational videos by a variety of methods including topic, content area, and technology tools. It is a site for teachers to upload and share videos of best practices, tutorials and student projects in a content-controlled environment.
2. GALILEO to release four new interfaces for each of the GALILEO user communities: Scholar (academic), Library (public library), High-School, and Teen in March 2008.  The new look will be more user friendly and have a look that appeals to the targeted user. The new features will make GALILEO more accessible and student friendly.
3. Camtasia and Snag it   Do students (and teachers) keep asking you the same questions? Use Camtasia and Snag it to easily create software tutorials and demonstrations for students. Imagine the time technology teachers could save by showing students exactly how to perform computer tasks! Instead of struggling to explain actions in words, teachers can use SnagIt and Camtasia Studio to help students actually see what they are supposed to accomplish.  I plan to use these applications to create a Greatest Hits DVD for newcomers. What a wonderful way to teach new teachers how to use grading programs, media applications, and the student information system.
4. GoogleDocs.  A free web-based word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation application by Google which allow you share and collaborate online.  Great news for students and faculty who do not have Microsoft Office applications on their home computers.
5. Levelator is a new audio production tool from GigaVox Media.  Levelator is a simple software application that takes your audio file (WAV and AIFF files) and normalizes the volume giving you a much more polished and consistent sounding podcast.  It basically saves you what can often be hours of manual adjustments.

During the school year, I will incorporate these technological tools into professional growth opportunities for teachers.  My goal is to demonstrate to teachers how to integrate technology effectively into curricula and instruction.

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