In order to be a well-rounded teacher, in the 21st century on needs to become familiar with current approaches to elementary literacy programs, in order to recognize and assess the developmental stages of reading and writing, and to design curriculum based on this pedagogical research. If a teacher can demonstrate their knowledge of the central concepts they are teaching, tools of inquiry, and structure of a program, demonstrate the ability to integrate the program across disciplines, demonstrate an awareness of the diverse ways in which children learn to read and write, and design lesson plans based on knowledge of literacy acquisition and curriculum goals, they will also understand a variety of instructional strategies and technologies. One such important technological tool that is changing the way teachers teach and integrating inclusion within the classroom is that of Microsoft's PowerPoint.
"Powerful new technologies exist that can enhance instruction and learning, yet these new world wide web technologies are not being widely used by K- 12 public school teachers" (Wiburg, 1997). There appear to be two specific core elements necessary to the adaptation of PowerPoint and other web technology resources within the classroom. One is the attitude of the teacher toward technology. It has been suggested that the first step in adopting an innovation, such as PowerPoint, was to be exposed to information and develop knowledge about the innovation. Teachers see technology invading their classrooms daily and are required to attend in-service programs that provide training on the use of such things as web resources in teaching. These exposures promote the formation of various levels of knowledge about the value of web resources to teaching and learning. This knowledge, in turn, promotes the formation of attitudes toward the use of these innovations (Emery 1986).
The second core element necessary to the adaptation of technology withi...