Politics and Perspective

The decision to allow the students to view the YouTube tutorials and to finance the APA  version of EasyBib is still in the offing. I have approached my Gifted Coordinator to plead my case and she agrees with my arguments for both.  I am hoping that reminding the IT director 1) that I have permission forms signed by parents and students allowing online access to tools necessary for this class, 2) that there are only 17 students, and 3) that this is only for one semester will encourage positive action.

Next week the class begin making notes and doing the active research. Even though I am frustrated with the lesson planning, the students seem excited about their topics and learning new stuff. Yes, they are frustrated about not having the new technology they thought was going to be here by now but that passes when they visit each other's blog and return to their own to improve their posts...a subtle competition of thinking.

I have told the students the story of African classrooms where only one computer exists and the students practice 'typing' on a paper 'keyboard' taped to the back of a shoebox until their turn at the computer. We've printed out a keyboard image and taped it to the wall in both schools as a reminder of how blessed we are even though it may be challenging at times.