Fine Tech in the Classroom

Today the teachers at our school received their XO Laptops. We had a short training so I expect our students will show us how to do the things we missed. You can see a YouTube video about our initiative, which is the only one at this time that covers an entire school district ( grade 1-5) at this link.  I am looking for ways to REALLY use this effectively in my gifted classroom.

Today my 87 year old Dad did something that most people do not even know what it is.  He Skyped!  I took my laptop to his assisted living apartment and I set it up so he could Skype with my brother, who lives in West Virginia and my niece and children, who live in Tampa.  He was thrilled to be able to see and talk to them at the same time.  Now he will be able to see his great grandchildren grow.  It was truly awesome. 

Thank goodness for my PC Card!  I am fortunate to have a husband who is as crazy about tech as I am, so we budget for our wireless cards.  He travels a lot and often finds that he cannot get a connection in a hotel in which he is staying or the company he is visiting has to give him permission to use their internet - so - the wonderful PC wire card is great.  I am able to check my email (not the schools - down) and get to my Google docs where I have a lot of my information stored.

 Today, we are back in school and as usual after a long break, all internet and email is down.  I have been unable to get into our district’s email for over a week.  I don’t know why, in this day and time, that a business (and yes, a school should be run as a business) can operate without their internet service.  If this were a business, the employees and management would be jumping up and down and work would grind to a halt.  As educators, we change what we planned and move on without stopping (well, I didn’t, I have my PC card - and I was able to get to that Brainpop movie and to Discovery Eduation).  The teachers are unable to enter their attendance or enter grades and the secretary cannot run report cards.  I know they are frustrated.