Please say hello to Mary Hadalamb. She teaches 2nd grade at Shephard Elementary. She's taught 2nd grade in the same classroom for 25 years, and currently has several students who are children of previous students. Ten years ago two weird guys from district office, sporting new vinyl pocket protectors, deposited a computer in her room. It took Mary several days to decide where it should be located, and she finally decided on a safe out-of-the-way corner. One day she turned it on, but it didn't do anything but beep once.

Two years ago Mary came back from summer vacation to find her walls repainted. No big deal - this had happened before. Her computer was gone! There was a little rectangular box in the side wall with a hole similar to a telephone jack. She thought her dream had come true - her own telephone! During opening of school inservices, Mary was informed she was getting a new computer and access to the Internet. You would think Mary would be pleased, but if the new computer was placed anywhere near that new box on her wall, it would take up prime real estate.

Things weren't looking too great to Mary. During the inservices, everyone was talking about technology and surfing. Mary thought everyone had gone to the beach during the summer, but was wondering how old Ms. Fleece, Mr. White and Mr. Snow managed that at their age. A new district policy was presented at the meetings. Using computers was plugged in throughout the curriculum, and Mary was having some difficulty figuring out what mandatory technology minimum competency for staff meant.

Mary's new computer was hooked up the next week by a cute little gal that didn't look big enough to carry the thing. After a day or two, Mary turned it on and it didn't do anything but beep once. It sure was put in a bad place. You had to look at it all the time. When the kids arrived they bugged the dickens out of her to get computer time. She handed the students a box of CDs that came with the computer and let them use it at recess. When the principal stopped by to ask how Mary was coming along with her technology components, she smiled and said, "We use the computer every day."

The more Mary heard about her role in this whole technology thing, the more she worried. She contacted the state retirement office to see what her retirement would look like if she cleaned out her prize box at the end of the year. Unfortunately, early retirement was a real disadvantage, and she wanted to teach for several more years. Mary had heard there was a principal at a school in a neighboring district that was going strong at 75.

Over the weeks, Mary found out daily bulletins would come to her computer via district email. That nice young girl who hooked up the computer returned to teach Mary how to access her email, and the school librarian showed her how to get some neat information from a place called a website. Mary was beginning to get a bit more comfortable using the computer, but still had no clue how she was going to integrate technology into her curriculum.

One day the librarian told Mary about a place she heard about - Nibble University. All you had to do was type in the address once, save it to your favorites folder, and you were all set. Mary was amazed at all the activities available for second graders. Much of the stuff she had seen on the Internet was written at the doctorate reading level. Mary's students were a bit weak in geography and science. She did a quick informal inventory to find out that most of her students had Internet capable computers at home. She assigned the Daily Geography and Daily Science questions to her class. Mary learned how to use a word processor to make an answer sheet for the kids. She only has Geography and Science three times a week, so on one of the days she discusses the answers to the questions and collects them.

The few students who do not have Internet capable computers at home use the classroom computer during the week to get their questions done. Mary discovered Nibble University was a great place to let students go when they finished work early. Some went straight to the recess activities, but others worked on knowledge builders. Mary allowed extra credit for those who handed in answers to other activities, and really likes the Internet activities written especially for lower elementary.

Mary presented a technology session at a recent inservice. She shared with her fellow teachers how she was using Nibble University to enhance skills and encourage use of technology. Mary's principal is 'all smiles'. The second grade computer is always busy now. We can't seem to get Ms. Hadalamb off the thing!