Discussion and other throughts

In the last class, we had our first classroom discussion about what we had been reading. Sometimes class discussion can go nowhere fast and the whole thing ends up going in a big circle. However, I think the variety of different cultural and personal perspectives really added to the quality of the discussion.

One of the items that we ended on was the basic issue of connectivity that the students have outside of the buildings that we teach in. I remember a few years ago this was also discussed in the district that I was working. A computer connection/mentor/mentee was starting up and they needed to figure out how to get affordable access to the students. The program ended up providing computers to students (and their families) for about $20 a month with unlimited dial-up. I guess previously, the program just handed the computers to the students without any monetary commitment and some of the computers walked away to the pawn shop. The program lasted few years with the grant that it was under with some positive results for the students that were motivated to understand and use the technology. That program supplied (relatively) hugh eMacs to the students. Now there are a few grade level programs in the district that use MacBooks. I don't believe those come with any kind of internet access for the home, but with the wireless cards, there are more spots available for connectivity to some kind of network.

I have added the Teachers Teaching Teachers podcast link on the Personal Links sections. The listing of the topics appears to be much like what we talk about in class and in our discussions. The neat piece is these are teachers that are in the trenches working with the students and applying the technology to learning.