Introduction

My name is Laura Hiestand and I am currently a 4th grade teacher at Chester Community Charter School.  This is my 4th year teaching at Chester Community Charter School.  Often at school I am faced with different challenges.  School for many of my students is an escape from everyday life in Chester.  Due to this I try to make school fun and educational at the same time.

I graduated from Bloomsburg University with a degree in Elementary Education. In the Fall of 2010, I started at West Chester University to earn my Master’s in Special Education.  I hope my Master’s in Special Education will help me better meet the needs of all students in my class.  I also hope to take away information from my classes that I can use now and in the future within my classroom. Emerging Technology is one of those classes that I can incorporate within my classroom now and in the future!  With the use of different technology, my students as well as myself have an endless possibility in more engaging education.

As stated in the syllabus Emerging Technology is a class where we will be developing skills in accessing, anaylzing, evaluating and creating using emerging technologies.  We will focus a lot on virtual worlds collaborating with other students using second life.  We will be able to take away this information to be able to use in our own classrooms