Week One

Think about all the tasks a teacher is responsible for aside from TEACHING.

• recording attendance
• creating lesson plans
• creating instructional materials
• creating tests
• grading student work
• recording grades
• writing referrals
• communicating with parents
• creating notices about school functions
• creating, collecting and recording permission slip information
• memos regarding student work
• calling parents
• communicating with school administrators
• learning new software
• professional development

I am sure as a teacher, you can think of many more time-consuming tasks that are required.

Consider the average class size in the Lee County School District - 30-40 students per class. If we are optimistic and count 30 students per class; there are 7 periods per day, one of them is a "prep" period. You now have 6 periods of 30 students each period - You have 180 students! If you give them a test and spend 2 minutes grading each test. You will spend 6 hours grading 1 set of papers! Imagine how much time it would take, each report card period, to calculate and record grades for all 180 students.

In this class, we will work on using the computer to automate much of the "housekeeping" work and find new and creative ways to incorporate technology into our professional lives.

Computer Systems

The Computer System can be broken into Hardware and Software

The Concept Map below offers an overview of these topics. Click on the words "Hardware" and "Software" to expand the illustration further: