We are a 1 to 1 laptop school and today is checkin day. Yikes, as a matter of fact our first check in day since we were part of a pilot program in South Dakota. Naturally, the logistics of check in day are not great. My office is the size of a cracker box and not to be facetious it's pretty crummy. So, while I'm gathering, checking in, and assessing the occasional fee for damage I have started to ask the kids what they thought about their past school year with laptops. Just a casual survey. But, by in large the comments have been overwhelmingly positive. However, I did get a few responses that were not so pleasing to my ears. One young lady stated she would be happy not to have to "lug it around anymore." While another young man said, "To be quite honest, about 80% of the time I just played games and stuff."
Which leaves me to ponder, are the laptops just dead weight that we have saddled our students with? Personally, I don't believe this, but why would some of our students feel this way. Could we be the cause of this less than rosy perception. Could it be, now that they have the world at their fingertips 24/7, what we are offering in our classrooms is not up to "snuff". I read with interest Scott Shepherd's blog Laptops, Anyone? and wondered what would happen if we opted to discontinue the laptop program? Would some staff and students silently, or perhaps not so silently applaud.
3 comments:
Toni - I was happy to discover another SD laptop blog. If you count comments on my page, we are 3-2 against the laptops, though I don't think that's accurate. There are people who have strong feelings about the laptops on both sides of the issue. The blog is new this week and most of the fans of laptops are too busy using them to respond to my blog.
My job as integrationist is to continue to show teachers the power of the laptops and I have found that in highly controlled, teacher centered classrooms, the laptops pose the biggest threat. Those places, then, are the hardest to change.
I think that is an excellent observation, and if you crack that nut, please share your secret with the rest of us squirrels.
The information here is great. I will invite my friends here.
Thanks
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