San
Ysidro /Casa Familiar
It amazes me that such a wonderful
program is working in the San Ysidro community, but students using the system, the hardware and software contributed for their benefit are finding the
refurbished equipment is far superior to what they use in the classroom. If the
goal is to train our students for 21st century communities, why
aren’t we better prepared to train them with up to date technology in the
classroom? Its admirable that the County Office of Education has elected to
provide free internet service ( with the help of partners) to families, not
just students.
I have not been in a classroom in
San Diego where I saw state of the art technology available to all students. At
Nubia Leadership Academy, there are about 3 or 4 computers in each classroom
and they are rarely used by the teachers for instructional purposes. What would
a class of 15 to 20 kids do with 4 computers? It’s absurd. The program selected
what it considered the brightest students, who most probably already have a
passion for technology. I am disappointed that some of slower learners or “at
risk” students weren’t given the opportunity. It may have opened a whole new
world of opportunity for them. We talk about equity but when we have an
opportunity to make a difference in the lives of students who are marginalized,
we elect to choose the AVID students.
There is a computer lab on our campus;
however it belongs to the church. There are 15 desktops recently donated by the
Futures Foundation in the lab. The school has never asked to use it. We use it
in our afterschool program because our students love it. We also use the lab
during summer camp. I would like to see the charter school teacher embrace technology
and stop placing our students at a global disadvantage by not using technology to
enhance their teaching and learning.
Kathie, I encourage you to request the use of the computer lab from the church for the students! What is the worst you could receive in reply, a no? But, they might say yes! :) Think of the research and web based learning possibilities... I'm pretty sure that if the computers are idle, the church would share. :)
ReplyDeleteNot showing and guiding students in the use of technology is close to malpractice. An education that does not prepare students for continuous life long learning, the jobs that exist now let alone will exist in the future, and higher education is a terrible injustice. You are right to continue to try and push the school and supplement where you can.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the teaching staff are asking to use the tecnology because they are not proficient in using it themselves? This could very well be the case. I recommend starting with one class. Maybe there's tech guru on campus? He/she could lead some PD and start making some change at Nubia...
ReplyDeleteI the teachers are not proficient at using the technology, I'll bet their students are. They just need to learn to let go. There is good evidence, dating back 23 years or more that indicates the best access for students to technology is to place mini-labs in each classroom. Twenty years ago, I was teaching in a school that did just that. I had 4 Apple 2 GS computers (state of the art!) in my classroom. Students rotated through the lab doing mostly word processing and publishing (remember, it was 20 years ago). Not only was it a good writing, revising, publishing learning sequence, I always had four students who were busy; thereby, allowing me to teach a bit "smaller" class. Even then, my middle-schoolers were the trouble shooters when something went wrong.
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