Digital learning is more important and common than its ever been around the world. We should all make sure that we our schools and classrooms are not left in the past. Use the questions below to assess your own schools and classrooms:

1. What tools, software, operating systems, and equipment are available in your school and classroom? (including but not limited to: videoconferencing, streaming, photos sharing sites, video sharing sites, document sharing sites, podcasts, blogs, wikis, social networking sites, etc.)
2. How does your school make use of school and/or teacher websites?
3. How are you currently utilizing technology for learning?
4. Which websites are blocked by your school's firewall?
5. What websites and tools are colleagues in your building using?
6. Is there a system for evaluating student technology literacy in your school? If so, how effective or helpful have you found the assessment?
7. Gather suggestions from students on their ideas for integrating technology into their learning.
8. What tools that are not presently available would help to achieve district objectives?

Here are my results:
1. We have three computer labs that any class can reserve. We also have a few class set laptop carts that can be reserved on a limited basis. The teachers with online or technology education based courses often offer their labs to help meet the needs of our large student population. We use Power School for attendance and grading. Our desktops for teacher and students are equipped with the Microsoft Office suite and Outlook. 
2. Our Media specialists keeps the school website updated with events, announcements, and other useful info for parents and students. The website has a teacher page link for each of us, but I am not aware of any of my colleagues actually using this beyond our basic contact information. 
3. I use my interactive projector daily for multi-media instruction. Students use Chromebooks occasionally to complete and upload assignments. My IB students use an online platform to track due dates and submit assignments. Phone apps are used for quick research and interactive games like Kahoot. 
4. Social Media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are all blocked. Media streaming sites like Hulu and Netflix are blocked as well. Only teachers can access YouTube. Gaming sites are mostly blocked unless they have educational value. 
5. Many of my colleagues use Kahoot for review games and resources like News ELA for supplemental readings. Some use Quick Key for easy grading. Since teachers can access YouTube, we find plenty of instructional videos to use for our classes. 
6. If there is a system for evaluating student technology literacy at my school, I am not aware of it. This may be a task that is left up to the CTE teachers that have technology literacy as a part of their course curriculum. 
7. Student suggestions for technology infused learning: Using videos of teachers explaining concepts to assist students when teachers are absent, Taking assessments online, and Playing games to review for tests. My students also believe that they should all be offered laptops to help with school.
8. I too feel that we should be a 1-to-1 school with laptops for everyone. Our school should at least have enough computers for everyone in the school even if they are not able to take them home. Nevertheless, I know that this is an expensive venture. If we were able to provide technology for each student, I feel that we could cut costs  on textbooks and novels by using electronic copies that can't be consumed. 
A potential solution is that we seek partnership with community organizations and/or technology retail companies to help us attain the resources we need to make technology available to all our students all the time. It's not for me to get my grant and proposal writing game together!

What problems do you face as you attempt to incorporate technology in your classroom? Any solution ideas for potential problems? Please share!
Using your Digital Learning Environment Inventory, develop a solution or suggest an improvement customized to your school/classroom circumstances. 

So, I' m officially a traveling teacher, not just a teacher who travels. I'm writing this post from a hotel in the Miraflores district of Lima, Peru where I'm attending workshops and taking tours that will prepare me for my field experience teaching assignment in Huancavelica, Peru which is starting in a few days.

I...AM...FREAKING...OUT!

Why? I'm close to panic because after pinning a Peruvian & American flag label pin on my suit jacket and visiting Peru's U.S. Embassy today for a meeting, it dawned on me that I am here as a representative of the United States of America. It also didn't help that the nice lady at the embassy called us unofficial ambassadors. Okay so maybe that reality seems like it should have been obvious to me but honestly,  my focus has been more on making sure I don't misrepresent myself or even worse, the school where I teach full time in the states. It's almost a sure thing that I'm the only educator from my school that these selected Peruvian teachers and students  will meet, but what if I am the only American citizen that they meet? What will be the impression I leave? Will I help or hurt our image? What stereotypes or prejudices will I dismantle or reinforce?

What story am I about to tell them that they may either fortunately or unfortunately never forget? As an American......no......an African-American, female, North Carolinian teacher, there's no doubt that I have a new narrative to offer them. I want the story I offer to be honest, but gracious, Before coming here I had a horribly narrow view about what it means to be Peruvian, but every day I'm here, I learn so much! 

I asked my students before leaving to share their stories on handmade bookmarks and through letters. They mainly discussed their favorite past times or even their countries of origin. I look forward to sharing these with the students and teachers here. Some of the letters were more candid than I expected, discussing poverty and racism in our country. I instinctively wanted to leave those behind to protect the pristine image that some Peruvians may mistakenly hold for the US, but what good would that do? I would be censoring my students and cheating their students out of factual information that could help make an international connection between teenagers trying to find their place in the world. A world that is teaching me that we are more alike than we think, but I'll get to that later. In case you're wondering, I brought all the letters, and I plan to share my story as well, not just the good parts. 

As I prep to present my story, feel free to comment below. I want to know what you would say if you had the chance to reveal another side of American life & culture. How far would you go into the darker sides of your truth, our truth?

When you have the time, check out the TED talk below given by respected author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on the trouble with viewing a nation or a people based on one limited perspective. I look forward to sharing how this all turns out from nation to nation as I travel, teach, and learn.

I believe there are gems hidden everywhere in this Earth, secret gold mines and buried treasure. When one is discovered, the word gets out, and we begin to dig there. Sometimes we collect to hoard; sometimes we harvest to make a profit. We drill and steal until we reach the end, leaving nothing behind to fill the void left behind. What if we found these gems and shared the wealth instead of keeping it to ourselves? What if we made deposits just as much as we withdrew? Imagine how different many nations would be right now! (Literally and figuratively speaking)

Now let's talk about one of my favorite poems by the late, great Tupac Shakur. He speaks on a rose that grew from concrete, creating an autobiographical metaphor to discuss how he blossomed in spite of adversity and triumphed in spite of the odds and yet still went unnoticed in the midst of desolation. A light in a dark place. Or at least that's my take on the piece! This can symbolize people, ideas, art, or anything else of value that manages to grow and thrive in places where they are not expected to. 

I believe that we have much to learn about teaching and learning in the United States of America. If you believe we have it figured out, please check our stats and cross reference them with some other leading developed nations. (I'll share more on my findings later) Nevertheless, we have much to offer as well thanks to our wealth in resources and research. I'm ready to go digging for gems. I'm ready to find the roses hiding among the thorns, thistles, and concrete of other nations. I want to look in the places we often dismiss or even disrespect and also the affluent places that we admire. I want to share the wealth through my resource posting and blogging, but also leave deposits wherever I go to barter with educators all over the world. Follow me as I go searching for global concrete roses.