My students are open vessels, waiting to be filled. They range from challenged learners, students with language barriers, high achieving students and the most often, underrepresented, average learners. I realize test scores are important, but if students do not enjoy what they are doing, they will not learn. It is my responsibility to maintain the natural curiosity students have about the world around them and turn that into a desire to learn, create, and change. Our school is Title 1 school with over 90% poverty rate. All of our students receive free lunch. We are roughly one third Hispanic, African American, and Caucasian. We also have a growing Arabic population. Many of my students come from environments where education has not been a priority. I have two goals: one is to instill in them a passion to learn and pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and the other goal is to help them realize that these careers are not out of reach.
My Project
Most of my students do not have technology access at home. Some have never even used an actual computer before. We will use Chromebooks for everything! Virtual field trips, blogging, recording data, research, and communication with real scientists, are just to name a few of the things they will be able to do with the new technology. Chromebooks will allow the students to access online publications and hear the text being read to them. They can also record their writings and hear them being read back to them.
We have three Chromebooks currently, but it would be beneficial to add another Chromebook so that the students will have more access on a regular basis.
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