1:1 has Launched!
After two years of planning we are off and running with the Apple Macbook 1:1 initiiative in the CHUH school district. This was a beautiful thing.
Last week all 8th grade students at Monticello got their machines and this week all seventh graders. Next week it's the sixth grades turn and then we move on to the two other middle schools.
It is gratifying to walk through the halls and observe classrooms of kids engaged in the screens of these very slick machines. After week one, the wireless is carrying the weight of the constant traffic, and planned lessons are being implemented. Students are respecting the rules established around care and transportation of the computers throughout the building - (that is bag over two shoulders, in the case port side down). The most exciting part of all this though, and I keep forgetting that it is possible, is that now students no longer have to wait for a spot in the schedule in the lab to open up to work on a project or homework. They are able every night, to open up Garage Band or Pages, or their interactive textbook, and interact, learn and CREATE!. There is much to do down the road with regard to teacher professional development, parent education, and student orientation to sites of educational value, but the prospects and promise make this a very enticing and exciting journey.
Last week all 8th grade students at Monticello got their machines and this week all seventh graders. Next week it's the sixth grades turn and then we move on to the two other middle schools.
It is gratifying to walk through the halls and observe classrooms of kids engaged in the screens of these very slick machines. After week one, the wireless is carrying the weight of the constant traffic, and planned lessons are being implemented. Students are respecting the rules established around care and transportation of the computers throughout the building - (that is bag over two shoulders, in the case port side down). The most exciting part of all this though, and I keep forgetting that it is possible, is that now students no longer have to wait for a spot in the schedule in the lab to open up to work on a project or homework. They are able every night, to open up Garage Band or Pages, or their interactive textbook, and interact, learn and CREATE!. There is much to do down the road with regard to teacher professional development, parent education, and student orientation to sites of educational value, but the prospects and promise make this a very enticing and exciting journey.
