Technology - Really?

As an overwhelmed graduate student whom also maintains a full time teaching position, I am always looking for the opportunity to make my life, and that of my students, easier. I have often dreamed of being able to implement the same fascinating technology in my classroom I hear my fellow colleagues do. As I dream this particular dream, visions of LCD projectors and smart board sugar plums dance in my head. Elmo heartfully cries out, "Here I am, dance with me!" As I take his steely arm, our technological entwined image floats across the barren walls of the classroom until I realize the end of this particular dream has arrived, the server has crashed.

In reality, I have had only my teacher computer and a set of TI-73 calculators, one for each 7th grader, at my disposal. Don't misunderstand, we have done marvelous things with these calculators, and are in themselves an example of outstanding technology. My students typically score higher than any others in the district in which I teach on their benchmarks. But what could I do with more? How greater an impact could be made with the proper technology? This is the question I ponder. This will be the focus of the semester.