Wireless Connections

Wireless connections have had a huge impact on classrooms.  They allow you to arrange your class in so many new and varied ways.  At the school I taught at previously we did not have wireless connections.  I had to arrange my whole classroom based on where the connection was - and they came and changed it midyear causing me to have to shift the whole class in the middle of the year.  The school I teach at now is accessible with wireless throughout the school.  It's been great!  I was able to arrange my class according to my other needs.  It even allowed me to set my computers up in various places - a research center, a reading center, and one at my guided reading table (also for use w/ the LCD).  I also like that I can just take my laptop with me into other rooms in the building so that we can collaborate without having to worry about finding extra connections and going to a room with a hub. One downfall of wireless connections is that they are not as reliable.  They drop the connection more frequently than hard wired lines.  This is an especially big problem for the classrooms in the trailers. Also, our computers won't update unless it's connected to a hard wired line, so at least once a week you have to manually hook it up and synchronize it.  Even though it has it's difficulties, I love wireless and would never want to go back!!!