I have really put a lot of thought into this idea of "My Dream Classroom"! The first thing I see is a room about twice the size as the one I now have. There would be two of the new Macintosh computers (with audio-visual capabilities) on each side of the room. These computers would be on Multimedia Carts and attached to laser printers. A TouchWindow and a headphone set for each computer would be available as well as a chair that the students will fit on. We would also have a 25" TV, with a TView Gold and a VCR. There would be a CLD-V26000 Laserdisc Player, a ScanAce, and we would also have a DC25 Camera and a FlexCam. Along with some SketchBoards and Discover:Boards for each computer and a T-ShirtMaker for the classroom.
Each of the students would have their own disk and VHS tape that I didn't have to buy with my own money! We would also have unlimited amounts of ink cartridges (black and color) and a years supply of paper that included all of the special packs for letters, checklists, holiday notes, awards, ect...
The computers would have "At Ease" installed, as well as all of the District-licensed MECC software that is age/grade appropriate. In addition to this software, we would also have the following software: Reader Rabbit's Kindergarten, Reading Development Library 1&2 (and the hard back books to go along with this), Stickybear"s Reading Room, At home with Stickybear, Classroom Publishing on the Web, Kid Keys, Science Blaster Jr., Thinkin' Science 1, Map & Global Explorer, Countdown, Coin Critters, Clock Shop, Stanley's Sticker Stories, Making Music, and the Crayola Print Factory. We would also have our own CD-Rom library which would include: Rev-Up for Reading, Rev-Up for Writing and Rev-Up for Arithmetic, JumpStart Kindergarten 2, JumpStart Kindergarten Reading, Living Books Library, Dr. Suess Library, Arthur Adventures Library, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Circletime Tales Deluxe, Humpty Dumpty, Words Around Me, and Millie & Bailey Kindergarten. WEB BUDDY or Internet ABC's for Elementary Students would help us in exploring the Internet while helping the students learn how to use it.
I would have a laptop computer (that I could really get my e-mail on) and that I could take home with me so that I could do more of my "teacher work" at home. Of course, for my own computer I would need a Jaz Drive and the following software: either the Scholastic's Electronic Portfolio software or The Portfolio Assessment Toolkit, Teacher's Roadmap to the Internet, Teacher's Workshop 2, Lesson Plan Designer Plus, the Teacher's Fonts Series, Arithmefonts, and Instant Stickers.
While I'm dreaming, I would also like to have some nice bookshelves and storage space to keep all of our technology equipment in!