Pie in the Sky

This post was originally a comment on Avenue4Learning as a response to a Top 5 Wish List post. Through her requests, the author seems to be a middle/high school teacher. It is interesting to see how her list and my list compare. Here's the original comment. Feel free to leave me your list and we can compare.

Here's a wish list... from an elementary teacher.

1- More parents interest- My students used classblogmeister for much of this past school year. I sent multiple e-mails (and hard copies in backpacks) asking them to read and comment on their student's work. I did not get much of a response at all. I do not think parents understand that their comments (especially if they go beyond 'nice blog') really drive the students motivation and care for writing.

2- A class set of iPods (I could settle for 5 if I had to). Being an elementary teacher, one of my goals is to get my students excited about reading. Among many other uses the iPods would be an excellent way to share read alouds. The kids could listen to professionally recorded books, books read my myself, or (probably the most powerful) books read by their peers.

3- A set of laptops for my room. I don't need one per student, but a few in addition to the two desktops in my room would allow my students who really are into publishing their thoughts the opportunity to do so more frequently.

4- More opportunities to connect with classrooms, experts, etc. through Skype. My class made friends with class 500 miles away this year through blogs and a few Skype calls. It was an awesome, powerful experience. It would be so cool to connect with scientists when kids have great science questions or to an author that the class is reading.

5- More opportunities to investigate new tools to use in the classroom. I was lucky to be chosen to be part of a Technology Vision Team (TVT) this year. We had 4 days of release time and during that time we experimented with 'right now' tools (wikis, blogs, etc.) and 'someday tools' (video gaming and Second Life). This was a great experience because I was able to sit on a team with about 15 excellent teachers, at all levels, and bounce ideas around. I'd have to stay up all night by myself for a month to equal the amount of learning in only 1 day of working with the TVT. (On a side note: I was asked to participate in 08-09's TVT.)

Yeah, I may need to find a few pennies in the parking lot to make these all happen, but you never know if you do not shoot for the moon!