Dana L. Grisham
Bridget Dalton

In our September 2000 editorial feature, we asked readers to fill out a needs survey about what kinds of articles and features they would like to see in ROL. In December 2000, we reported on the results of that survey. Many readers responded that they wanted to hear more from other teachers. Thus, the idea for a new featured series for the journal was born.

For the past few months, we have worked with Nicole Strangman, a colleague at CAST, on developing “Teachers’ Voices.” For the next year, each issue of the journal will feature an interview with a teacher or teachers who have accomplished, with their students, remarkable projects that combine literacy and technology. We hope that by featuring the educational and technological journeys of these teachers, more of us will be inspired to begin our own journeys into the unknown.

Today’s teachers are faced with increasing demands to integrate technology into their teaching, yet many feel unprepared to do so. Most of us have read about schools being wired for the Internet, and we’ve seen the advent of software and computer-based curriculum tools that claim to solve reading problems for large numbers of students; many of us have seen a computer or two appear in almost every classroom in our schools. Despite these obvious changes, the extent of school technology varies widely by region and socioeconomic status. The ability of teachers to incorporate technology into their teaching and the support they receive for their efforts are also widely disparate.

Teachers are taking diverse paths as they venture into the sometimes bewildering territory of educational technology and media literacy. There are the first-wave pioneers who started their journey alone, and who now guide others. There are many more second-wave pioneers who, in collaboration with friends at their school or groups of teachers they meet over the Internet, started their journey with a small project, and then branched out to larger and more challenging projects.

The series begins by featuring teachers who have received the Miss Rumphius Award for their Internet projects. The award is conferred by members of the International Reading Association’s RTEACHER listserv so capably facilitated by Don Leu. We wanted to look more closely into these wonderful projects, talk in depth to the teachers, and let them tell their stories in their own words for others to read. Teachers’ Voices enables education professionals to learn from teachers who are transforming classroom practice. We hope that by featuring the educational and technological journeys of these teachers, more of us will be inspired to begin our own journeys into the unknown. Please let us know how you feel about the series by posting your comments to our Online Communities.

Now available in Teachers’ Voices:

• Literacy, the American Revolution, and the Three R’s of Our Fight for Freedom: An Interview with Judy McAllister and Erica Lussos
• An Interview with Roxie Ahlbrecht About Writing, Technology, and the “Apple Bytes” Project
• Collaborative Internet Projects: An Interview with Susan Silverman About Her Passion and Hobby
• An Interview with Mark Ahlness and Jean Carmody About the Earth Day Groceries Project
• An Interview with Cathy Fowler About Sharing a Love of Reading Through Book Raps
• Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad: Bringing a Second-Grade Social Studies Curriculum Online
• Using Technology to Help Adolescents Excel
• Education With Heart: An Interview With Teacher Carol Wilson
• Using Technology to Take Young Readers on a Digital Journey to the Past
• Fostering Preschool Learning With Standards and Computers: An Interview with Lillian Cain Hill
• Linking Literacy, Technology, and the Environment: An Interview with Joan Goble and René de Vries

Reading Online, www.readingonline.org
Posted November 2001; updated December 2002
© 2001-2002 International Reading Association, Inc.   ISSN 1096-1232