In the media center, I always begin my day by checking the calendar to see who has the computer labs reserved and which teacher is lucky enough to have the laptop cart reserved. Within the first hour of the day, I am always answering the question "Has Ms. Yukon returned the laptop cart yet?"
I'm the Media Specialist at a middle school which houses approximately six hundred-fifty students.
The school has a high poverty population. We have a documented poverty rate of 65%, but the administration feels that that poverty rate is actually closer to 80%. We also have a growing exceptional children (EC) population.
Here at school our students have limited access to computers. As mentioned before, we have approximately 650 students. We have three desktop computer labs and two wireless laptop carts. This gives us a grand total of one hundred forty-two refurbished computers in our entire school. You can imagine what a struggle it is to actively engage our students in a variety of technology and media with these limitations. The laptop carts are constantly checked out. As I move around the building and collaborate with teachers, it is very evident that the teachers at this school are doing really neat things using what resources they have, but it excites me to think of what they could do with newer technology.
My Project
The reading scores at our school have been low over the past couple of years. We hope to obtain these four Apple iPad tablets to foster small group instruction in the media center and classrooms. We want the students to be actively engaged in their reading and learning. One ELA teacher suggested using Google Earth to trace a fictional character's journey through the novel. Another ELA teacher has used her personal iPad to have students create concept maps to compare characters in a novel. Students could use Instagram to collect evidence of a problem, issue or event to increase their background knowledge. A Social Studies class wishes to use iPad to access Storify so students are able to blog about a historical event. Another class voiced interest in creating a photoblog of the impact of littering using Diptic. In the media center, we used my personal iPad to film Green Screen video segments to promote the book fair. These are just a few of the examples that teachers have shared.
Over the past year, our school has experienced a decline of sufficient technology.
The school system upgraded to Windows 8.1 and lost a massive amount of computers. The computer labs, mobile laptop cart, and one class set of iPod touches are checked out constantly. We just can't foster self directed learners of the 21st century in circumstances such as this. We NEED new technology and we NEED MORE OF IT! The addition of iPads would spark an excitement of learning that is lacking here.
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