Are we doing what's best for kids?

What do I think constitutes an effective learning environment? Well, I do know one thing; it has definitely changed over the past 13 years while I've been teaching. When I began teaching, the technology we used consisted of over head projectors, tranparencies, and basic emails. Now there are endless avenues to be tapped into. Unfortunately the financial cloud looms over many districts. While the internet war explodes, many districts are forced to cut back on staff and technology advances for their districts. This ultimately hinders that students the students in this districts. By doing this, teachers are unable to incorporate the one avenue that seems to keep student's attention. Facebook, Twitter, cell phone, iPads, instant messaging are just a few of the different devices and software that students use on a daily basis. It would stand to reason that schools would also use these devices and software to "communicate" with the students that we teach, but unfortunately we limit the access to them. I would like to be able to incorporate Facebook within my classroom along with the program Wallwisher. With both of these programs, I am able to post questions online and have the students respond to them in a form that they are used to and it also allows their classmates to read and respond to each other. Even though many of us are used to the pen and paper, it is obvious that the younger generation is more comfortable communicating through the use of the computer.

A little about me. My name is Jayne Kreifels and I am a Special Education Teacher at Omaha Central High School. I've been teaching in the are of Special Education for 13 years now and love it. I live in Omaha with my three children and two dogs.