Nan Lombardo
Flying too close to the sun is my chosen methodology, and my wings have started to melt more than once. I love being my age in this age of technology! Kids think I'm being reflective when I pause to answer a question, when in reality I've lost my train of thought. So, I just say the first thing that comes to mind and hope I'm close... how about those Mariners!!!???

It is so much easier in some aspects now than when I was falling out of the nest (or was I nudged?). Be brave. Take risks. Love your students and treat them with respect. Trust them. Have fun.

"Come to the edge, the teacher said. We are afraid, replied the students. Come to the edge, the teacher demanded. They did, and she pushed them. And they flew."

Alexis Moran
Technology has enabled me to learn more things about everything. It just makes life easier.

Kathy Conway
Technology has enabled me to keep touch with people from across the country and around the world. It has enabled me to be a better teacher and present more powerful and diversified lessons to students.

I was reluctant to do class wide projects that were long term, but I believe that this is the best way to integrate technology. Daily use of the computer on a project that allows the time needed for the evolution of problem-solving reinforces those technological skills students need. By trial and error they build on a common ground of knowledge.

Reluctantly, I have signed on to pilot a grade program that will eventually track all grades and attendance throughout the district. I would have preferred not to participate and hang on to that one last piece of personal territory (grades) that only I controlled. Now the information is there for easy access by administrators and eventually parents. Already I have found so many advantages to this.

There are times I knew I bit off more than I could chew. When I agreed to have my students produce their own web pages back in the infancy days of the Internet I realized I needed equipment I did not have. Our school-wide network was unreliable. Somehow, we made it though the project but it was stressful and frustrating and i swore I would never do it again.

If you are just starting to integrate technology in your classroom expect it to take time. Patience is the key work. Flexibility is the second key word. Things will go wrong, schedules will get changed and you will get irritated but your students will learn and they will take the reins. Give them support and guidance. Resist the urge to give answers. Let students find these on their own. I coach and guide, nudge and fall back. I wait. I listen. Knowing when to say something and went not to say something is an art that I am still learning. Finally, I soar when I see the pride my students have in themselves and when I look at the sense of accomplishment they get from a job well done.

Deborah Peek-Brown
Without technology I could not do my job. I must stay in constant communication with the researchers at the University of Michigan as we plan ways work within this partnership. The university is 40 miles away from my home in Detroit. Without e-mail i would die! My Palm is my life! I have so many places to be, I can't keep track without it. I am on the internet constantly. Without these tools I would be lost. I could not do the things I do. My job is to make these same tools available to our students so that they can soar too!

Angela Cristini
Technology has always been an integral part of my research on the effects of chemicals in the environment on the physiology of marine and estuarine invertebrates. As an educator, I was never shy about requiring and encouraging undergraduate students to learn and use all available technologies. However, new doors opened in the 1980's. – I participated in a grant as a scientist on-call and was available to answer questions for High School students and their teachers using my new IBM-XT desktop computer and my phone line to connect me to the IEES network. I had many complaints from people who were constantly getting a busy signal when they called because I was on the computer; but the potential for communication and new directions in education was infectious. Then in 1986, I was introduced to Geographical Information Systems (GIS) while on a sabbatical at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in 1986. The ability to create and visualize associations among environmental data sets tied to specific locations sparked the beginning of the second thread of my career. The visual display coupled with the power of the software convinced me that this technology could provide a mechanism to help students of all ages learn, formulate questions, and solve problems concerning their world. These technologies forced me to begin to:

1. modify my pedagogy to embed the technology into the curriculum;
2. modify the curriculum to be based on problem solving in real word situations;
3. expand the audience to include k-12 teachers who would transfer the knowledge to their students;
4. connect those with content knowledge with the educators responsible for delivering the content.

Enthusiasm for our approach has led to some almost insurmountable challenges. During the first years teachers would come to Summer Institutes with their school computers; they would deliver them on Friday afternoon for a Monday morning start. The grant team would check-in and label 50-70 computers of all makes and models and spend the next 48 hours networking them, connecting them to the web, and installing software; this often involved hacking passwords that participants forgot to tell us. – We have also overwhelmed some of the teacher/participants to the point of tears trying to make the technology work. In all cases by the end of the Institute frustration was converted to a strong sense of accomplishment and new found confidence. Teachers in our programs now enter with more experience so there are fewer tears shed and more of a we can work this out approach. It is certainly a more user-friendly world of technology with a dazzling number of options; however, we continue to chant the following mantras of advice to all students: CONTENT RULES and GET IT RIGHT IN BLACK AND WHITE – THEN ADD THE PIZZAZ!