Technology Changing Lives for the Better in the 21st Century

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

My students are anxious to learn and create. However they need help because of our limited resources. They ask many questions. They have great ideas. They want answers and want to be creative in our 21st century. We have moved away from typical quizzes and tests to computer based projects.

We are a Chicago Public School who has recently suffered a cut of over $700,000 in funding.

We have lost our technology teacher. We have 985 students, 80% of whom are low income. All 985 students have to share a computer lab and a portable lab. During times of testing, not only do we lose class time, we lose access to the school's technology for weeks at a time, 3-4 times a year. My students love to use the computer. For many, it helps motivate them to work to their potential. But most of my students do not have a computer at home. Today's teaching calls for more project based assignments that require the use of a computer. How can my city school students compete with other districts and cities if we have such limited access to the technology that is so necessary in our technology dependent era?

My Project

I am requesting five Chromebooks for research and technology generated assignments to share and communicate with others on Google Drive. Classrooms are trying to prepare our students for college and careers. But we also need to prepare them for higher education. Our district gives every student an email account with access to Google Drive. I want my students to be fluent with these tools. These are useful to communicate in many ways and to produce exceptional work needed for school and careers. With laptops in the classroom, the students can check homework assignments, send messages to other teachers, check their grades to self monitor. In addition, they will have access to the Internet to complete research for all of their subjects. Also, 21st century classrooms don't assess the old fashioned way. Assessments are project based including designing newspapers, virtual cartoons, digital collages, slide shows. All of which can be saved in Google Drive and easily shared with classmates and teachers. No paper used. No losing assignments. Drive also allows me to set up online reading logs that can be shared with others.

With access to computers in their classroom, low income students from a city with massive funding cuts will be on a more level playing field with others from a variety of backgrounds.

When they get to high school they will have a lot of experience with computer based research and projects. With that knowledge, comes confidence which can help the kids become more successful in middle school & go to better high schools. In a district with an almost 50% drop out rate, perhaps we can reduce that.