Sharon has been in education for over 30 years. Each of those years has brought her new ideas and challenges. She is presently the Educational Technology Coordinator for a K12 district in Maine. Sharon’s main responsibility is to the teachers and students of the district emphasizing professional development to enable them to fully use technology tools in transforming education. She has presented at national, state and local conferences in many learning areas including open source, 21st century technology tools and personal learning networks.

Teachers of our youngest students are often left behind when trying to implement new technologies into their curriculum. They may receive the “hand-me-down” equipment and issues related to teaching the youngest classrooms are not addressed through in-service. This presentation demonstrates 3 web 2.0 tools that are ideal for transforming learning to students in the early grades: Voicethread, Dipity and Blogging. The presentation consists of a screencast with a supporting wiki for links, examples and extended resources. Authentic student projects will be used in the demonstration and information given on implementation strategies for the teacher.

Kathy Cassidy is a grade one teacher at Westmount School in Moose Jaw, SK, Canada who is very interested in the ways in which technology can support and augment the learning in her primary classroom.

and Patrick Lewis
Regina, Saskatchewan

Patrick’s blog: Primary Preoccupation

Patrick Lewis is an associate professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Regina, SK. He is a storyteller-teacher-researcher interested in good stories.

In the winter of 2008, Patrick Lewis’s university class of pre-service teachers were blogging mentors for Kathy Cassidy’s grade one students. This presentation talks about that collaboration and the results of the research that was conducted about the effect this mentorship had on the students’ writing.