TechieTeacher5280

Oh budget cuts, how I loathe thee. We recently learned that our district would not be getting as much money from the state this year as expected, and so, our budgets have been slashed. Any money left in our classroom budgets is gone (and I had plenty!). Any outstanding receipts will most likely not be reimbursed (there goes $200!!) We have been given 3 reams, yes a measly 1500 pieces of paper, for copies, which is expected to last us until the end of the year. God forbid the copier jam! Thank goodness I have the lowest copy count in the school, thanks to the nature of my job, though I pity our poor language arts teachers--1500 pieces of paper/170 students a day = very few assignments will be printed out anymore. Hope those kids can hand-copy at a reasonable pace! So for those of us in the same boat, or with limited budgets to begin with, I thought I'd focus on free software available online, either as downloads, or Web2.0. This week, I'll be taking a look at keyboarding softw...

One of my new projects this year is a game design unit in which students program their own Frogger-type Game. We use a software program called AgentSheets , which allows students to program in a "drag and drop" programming type environment, providing an easy introduction to programming without the need to teach 7th graders a programming language. You can use the software to create any type of game. You can check out some of the games my latest group created here . I learned of this software when I taught in Boulder. The Boulder Valley School District was participating in a University of Colorado study lead by Alex Repenning, the creator of AgentSheets. I had the unique opportunity to be paid to attend a week-long class during the summer, gain graduate credits, and use the software for free with my class in exchange for participating in this study.