One of my former principals bought a document camera for our building as a means to share a picture book with the entire student body. It worked really well, but it was used for that purpose only once a month. I happened to think about it one day as my students were in the editing phase of the writing process. I got permission to use the document camera. A few days later, I asked if it could stay in my room until someone else needed it. I found myself using it frequently - and not just for writing. My students and I used it for every subject. Almost anytime we had something that we wanted the whole class to see, we pulled out its small rolling cart and hooked it up to the projector. After awhile, my principal was transferred. I offered to "house" the camera, offering its use to my colleagues. No one ever wanted to use it. Eventually I moved the projector to the document camera cart and attached speakers for when I used my laptop with the projector. This now provides me with the ultimate projection station!
Here are some glimpses into the life of my document camera.
