Go Vote Yes!
Go Vote Yes
2-20-09
When I attended the town meetings last week to discuss Cape’s proposal to increase funding for technology in our schools not one person spoke against the need for computers for the children. There were school board members, teachers, administrators, community members and concerned citizens. When it came down to the actual issue, fully funding the tech needs, no one objected. That’s good news! Everyone saw a need for the students to have computers and the classrooms become equipped with Smart Boards, document cameras, projectors and laptops.
There was lively discussion about the ways and means. People wanted to know how past funds were spent and how various initiatives came to pass. There was grumbling. There was a sense of urgency since the tax money that is on the table could be given back to the citizens in the form of a small decrease, but there was no question that our schools and our children needed to have a constant line of funding for technology.
For that, I am grateful. I am an advocate of educational technology, a bit of a nut actually about the power of computers and their limitless possibilities with students.
I teach everyday in a classroom that has 30 laptop computers but I know that my elementary and high school colleagues are not so lucky. They have been waiting for new, adequate equipment for many years. Their students have not been able to fully enter the digital world simply because the budget has not been there. There is an opportunity right now to change that.
Many years ago Governor Carper supplied the schools in Delaware with the wiring for internet access and districts struggled to get the computers to bring their students up to date. At that point the internet was an add-on, a class that took place in a computer lab. Now all of that has changed. Computers should be in every classroom and for every purpose. Period.
They are not a destination, a place to go to receive “keyboarding” skills”. They are an essential learning tool that can and should be employed everywhere in a learning institution.
Who could have imagined that we would have such marvelous tools as Google Earth where students can read about any place on earth and then go there on a virtual field trip? In the Cape region, there is a new appreciation for the land as students are able to hover over the beaches of Bethany and fly through the marshes of Gordon’s Pond. Just how far is Rehoboth to Milton? I don’t know let’s fly it and see!
Who would have thought that we could stay in touch with researchers and artists, authors and policy makers all over the world through blogs or that we could read from an endless variety of news sources in any language? We can have our own blogs, our own opinions and forums. Others can read, comment, think and learn right along with us every single day!
Students use the power of technology to collaborate, evaluate and improve their own skills as readers, writers and researchers. This is the power of authentic learning right in the hands of the students!
We need for everyone to visit our classrooms to see how far we have come and to consider how far we have to go to expand technology’s influence on learning. Make a pledge that we will do everything we can to get the students the tools that they need to learn and the teachers, the tools and training they need to rocket us into the next century. Anything less is unacceptable. Go vote yes this Tuesday. Please.
