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Hi, my name is John Bouyer, I am a Texas teacher and creator of TexasEducator.com.
As a Texas parent, teacher, student, and past school board member, I am excited about the integration of technology into the classroom and grateful for the opportunity it affords us as educators.
In 1995, Senate Bill 1, began the T.I.F. fund. A multi-million dollar grant program that is bringing the internet into every classroom in the state.
The bill came with the freedom for individual school districts to determine their own paths and develop their own methods of utilizing the new technology. This freedom also came with a price, for without a central body to solidly direct our activities many educators found that integrating this enormous body of knowledge into usable portions was time consuming and sometimes distracting to our immediate business of education.
I was lucky enough at that moment to be in an aggressive school that was among the first to go on line. The first time I sat down and turned on the internet, I literally became overwhelmed when I realized what this new medium could mean for students. They would no longer have to rely on drawings to represent the real world. They could access the world both visible and invisible. They could visit any person , place or time their mind so chose. I was hooked.
The problem was I loved what I was seeing but I didn't have the time to set down and find sites that were reliable and worked in my classroom. The big national sites were nice but they didn't always have links that had lessons that were exactly what I needed. It was then that a simple idea occurred to me, what Texas educators needed was a site built by people like themselves. Elementary teachers needed a homepage built by Texas elementary teachers, and other teachers, principals, superintendents, and board members needed sites built by their peers. Only if we had this type of resource could we get our money's worth from the new technology.
In the years since that time I have sought input from educators and other professionals about their needs and ideas, then donated 20 - 30 hours a week to tailor individual areas of this site based on those recommendations.
In the last few months I have worked several educator conferences and conventions across the state. It is through these types of interactions that I have been able to allow Texas educators a forum for their ideas, and been able to design web pages dedicated to solving their problems.
The result is this site, one that can earnestly be called Texas Educator.com. Built by the Texas educator for the Texas educator.
The response I have received to this website has been overwhelming and has made me acutely aware of the need for comprehensive directories that provide quick resources for the TEKS. TAKS implementation has increased the need for these resources to a new level.
I am proud to say that TexasEducator.com has become the largest directory of internet resources for Texas educators on the web. We now have more classroom resources than any other site.
I have become so involved in trying to provide access to quality TEKS resources that in January of 2003, I put aside a twenty year teaching career and resigned so I could devote a full time effort to helping teachers use technology.
I spent most of the month of January, 2003 on the road visiting with TIF Board members, State Board of Education members, T.E.A. officials, and Regional Service Center personnel gathering information from them and sharing what I have found to be effective in my classroom and in the classrooms of the teachers who use this site.
This site is not in competition with any current resource , we are simpling providing quick access to all of the Texas resources.
TexasEducator.com represents a passion for helping classroom teachers. I am currently seeking any position, grant, or aid that will allow me to work with teachers in the integration of technology.
If you have information that would be helpful or a suggestion on how this site may better serve you, please contact me. jbouyer@yahoo.com
I hope you find we save you a little time and you come back soon.
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