Summer Assignment for Teachers

Here's a list of 5 things you can do over the summer to prepare your paperless classroom for the new school year.

1. Start a blog. It doesn't matter who you are or what you do. You have something to say. So say it. Say more of it everyday. A blog is the hub around which a paperless classroom rotates. The more comfortable you are at blogging and reading blogs, the more comfortable you will be teaching in a paperless classroom.

2. Start a Diigo account. I've been following the Diigo-ing and Diigo-speak of many folks and finally decided to take the plunge myself. I plan on spending all summer learning everything I can about how to use social bookmarking. And in the fall, I am going to make it a mandatory practice for students in my classes.

3. Tweet, Tweet, Tweet. Forget what everybody has told you about Twitter. Forget everything you've read about it. Hype is hype is hype. Just sign up, follow some ed techies, and enter a new world. It will prove to be a Professional Development experience unlike any other. You will kick yourself for not having signed up earlier.

4. Follow the debates concerning traditional media and social media. As regular readers know, this is something which has very much been on my mind lately. My current thinking is this: the #IranElection feed changed everything. It didn't 'replace' mainstream media, rather it forced a critical eye onto the inherent problems within it. And -- most importantly -- in a way that took popular imagination by storm. Are professional journalists necessary? Absolutely. But are the top-down corporate organizations which provide them with jobs singularly necessary? That's the question that's up in the air. That's a question they are asking in Seattle. And in Boston. And in Chicago. And in Baltimore. What's the future of media? Well, I think the type of synergy we've seen in the last eight days between professional savvy and amateur ingenuity marks the way forward. Because the best thing that that synergy can create is a more engaged citizenry; and the more engaged the citizenry, the higher the quality of the output of social media. We have the opportunity here to organize and educate a more sophisticated and engaged society.

5. Prepare your talking points. There are two major obstacles to starting any paperless movement: blocking and access. The events of the last days, as well as the plethora of examples of Twitter in the classroom that have been popping up across the blogosphere, should aid in bolstering your arguments against the former. As for the latter, it is our duty as educators and citizens to advocate for free universal Wi-Fi and universal mobile hardware in all of our schools and public libraries. Movements in major cities such as Philadelphia and Minneapolis have demonstrated that universal Wi-Fi does not have to be a dream. The dropping of the prices of Netbooks and Smart Phones below the cost of textbooks has mooted the cost argument; now it's just a matter of the allocation of resources and the educating of teachers in how to best use this stuff.

Have a fun, safe, and productive summer. There's plenty to learn between now and the new school year.

Local non-Profits working to close the digital divide

Interesting note in the countywide eNewsletter that showed up in my inbox today:

Ninety Howard County families of middle school students will soon have home computers for the first time thanks to the efforts of the Bright Minds Foundation, an educational foundation for Howard County public schools established to help address equity issues. The Computers for Students Program, a collaborative initiative of the Bright Minds Foundation and the Lazarus Foundation, a local community-based non-profit computer refurbishing organization, provides free, refurbished, upgraded computers and new printers to selected students who currently do not have home computers.

Bright Minds Foundation Chairman Doug Hostetler says the program addresses a fundamental equity issue. “This is exactly why the education foundation was established, to make sure that the playing field is level. Many of us take our home computers for granted, but for others in our community they are still a luxury. We know that students today are academically disadvantaged if they don’t have access to a computer.”

Five Howard County middle schools -- Dunloggin, Murray Hill, Mayfield Woods, Oakland Mills and Patuxent Valley -- were selected to participate in this round of the program. Harper’s Choice and Wilde Lake middle schools participated in a pilot of the program in December 2008, when 16 families received computers. Applications were distributed to students at the five schools in mid-February and principals urged eligible students to apply. The only stipulation to receiving the free computer was that the students and their parents agree to attend a 2½-hour workshop where they will learn how to set up the computer and printer at home, as well as how to use the computer to create and print a document. At the end of the workshop, they take home an Internet-ready personal computer system.

Local non-profits working to bring the digital divide to a close! Great work.