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My name is John Derr. I am a sixth grade teacher in the Jerome School District, a public school in south central Idaho. I received my Natioonal Board Certification as a Middle Childhood Generalist in 2000. I teach at Central Elementary, which was built in the early 1900’s. This is my tenth year of teaching and the seventh in Jerome. I have always taught sixth grade. Our town is located in the south central part of the state. We have fewer than 9,000 people living in our town and about 2,400 in grades K-12. Over 68 percent of our students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
The main industries are agriculture and dairies. The biggest town near us is Twin Falls with a population of 35,000. The capital city of Boise is located 110 miles west. The district has applied for and received many grants that have made it one of the leaders of technology in the state and country. I have been involved in of several of the projects offered in our district. As a NBCT, I know that technology is an important tool to use in the classroom. As the capabilities and uses of technology change it is important to continue my education.
I currently serve as one of my building’s technology coaches with the following duties: assisting teachers with technology integration, piloting new software, teaching workshops, and making sure that at least 92% of the staff have met state mandates for technology certification. I have 29 students in my classroom. Four receive services from the special education teacher. One of those students has Down Syndrome. Six others qualify for Title 1 assistance. I am in a self-contained classroom and teach all subjects with the exception of music and PE. For the final 40 minutes of the school day the students have a choice of band, choir, or study hall. We are fortunate in our district to have a large number of computers. All are networked and the students have the capability to save files on a network drive and have individual e-mail addresses. I have access to a pair of labs with 27 multimedia computers. I also have three computers in my classroom. We have various software programs including: Microsoft Office™, Accelerated Reader™, Micro Type Pro™, Knowledge Works™, FrontPage™, and Hyper Studio™. These programs have assisted in the amount of technology integration I have been able to use with my students.
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