Ligon is a Arts magnet school. This means there are many students who are visual learners. It would be wonderful if I could utilize my students visual talents in my Social Studies classes. There are an amazing number of websites and apps that would lend themselves to their strengths
As a magnet, we have both AG students, who choose to come for the Arts program, and GT students, who come because it is their base school.
This means we deal with a wide range of family economics, from very wealthy to urban poor. Some students have the advantage of access to the latest electronics, and some do not even have Internet access at home. This makes the logistics of assigning work based on technology problematic for a large number of our students. Although we have computer labs in the school, there are not enough to satisfy the needs of more than 1100 students. I would dearly love to have enough tablets in my classes of 30 students that we would be able to complete group activities without taking up days of instructional time trying to get access to the limited number of desktops available.
My Project
You have to be in the classroom to watch the joy of discovery as an advanced student works independently, or see the pride in the eyes of a reluctant reader as they present a GoAnimate or Glogster project. With access to technology, classwork becomes play for a lot of students who normally have trouble completing assignments. Having access to six 9'' Google Android 4.0 tablets would allow them to work on group projects like GoAnimate where they present their research in a cartoon format would be excellent. We also use Google apps on a regular basis, as well as a number of other graphic programs. Unfortunately with a large student body and a limited number of computers available, scheduling computer time becomes a logistical nightmare! The insurance plan on each tablet would ensure that maintaining the technology would be possible. Our school lost our technology person due to budget cuts, which makes it very hard to keep our hardware working correctly.
This is the Age of Technology.
Some very bright and capable students are being left behind because of their inability to access technology and some are being held back in their advancement because of a lack of independent study due to a lack of access to the same technology. With the push to make students techno literate, we must find creative ways to make access easier for all students regardless of their family economics.
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