I am a huge fan of no textbook classes and saving the trees. All students have access to a computer. If needed, they can print at home, library, friend’s house, or even the school in most cases for a small fee. There are so many free open source resources that teachers can use that would replace textbooks and would not be outdated. Although, many teachers would be alarmed if they were told they would have to use their own curriculum for it would take a lot of research and time. Old fashion textbooks do allow a backbone for teachers although, some curriculum standards are too focused in simply completing the textbook instead of choosing effective and current content learning.

I really enjoy developing curriculum and helping other teachers integrate technology into their lesson plans to enhance learning. I think the reason I enjoy it so much is because technology allows me to teach outside the box and that is the way my mind often thinks (as well as most students). As far back as I can remember I have always built and developed my own curriculum within the school’s standards and benchmarks. Tailoring my lessons allows me to maximize efficiency and keeps me motivated to continue improving my teaching methods.

Today I was developing more of my web design curriculum and I stumbled across a project completed by the University of Washington entitled Access IT. It offers very basic yet very effective curriculum lessons for web design education. After signing up for free as a teacher, you can access their lesson plan database and customize your lessons with online resources.