In my head I'm hearing Severus as I'm reading this. ^_~
With that said, I think that was just the right approach to take. It's crazy to me some of the things that schools will spend ridiculous amounts of money on. And I think all of your concerns here are very valid ones; I hope they address them. And maybe reconsider this whole plan. What a thing to spring on the parents without even asking you!
Believe me, in my head I was totally channeling Severus as I wrote it. I had to go back and 'tone down' things several times.
Yes, this is the 'toned down' version.
Here is the 'non answer' response I got from the head of the IT department:
I thank you for your input and your obviously thought out and well put together response to the laptop initiative. Please be sure this undertaking was not done quickly, lightly or without input from many different groups including parents. There are far too many questions in this email to be properly addresses in an email response. I would welcome the opportunity to sit and have a discussion with you about this program, also understand many of your concerns will be addressed during the roll-out meeting on Thursday.Here is how "thoroughly" it was vetted. It was mentioned in the school board meeting minutes in April, with only one company (Apple) being mentioned where inquiries were even made
( ... )
I already wrote you a lengthy response on IJ, but have to jump in on this:
The kids MUST bring them back every day because many (if not all) of their text books and assignments will be on the dumb thing.
Because this is the dumbest idea ever -- a thought I reiterate from a prior conversation I had with Mum over our dear Governator's desire to do the same thing here. All Math and Science textbooks this year will be electronic, with the idea of rolling them out to all subjects at a later date. And, I highly doubt the kids in South Central are getting ebook readers or laptops to access them!
Of course, after Amazon got sued this summer for recalling a book, thereby deleting it from the kid's kindle and causing him to lose his place, who's going to want to supply ebooks for classroom use?
yeah, well, I've seen the Kindle, and my ebookwise is tons better! ;) It doesn't have the fancy features of the Kindle, but it's far more 'readable' like a real 'book', which is what I want when I'm reading ebooks. I don't want a hand-held computer - I want an ebook
( ... )
Ok, as a teacher, I have some MAJOR issues with this. There are about a million other ways that money could have been spent- and, like you said, there are very few 7th and 8th graders I would trust with a brand-new laptop.
What about SmartBoards for every teacher in the district? I just got one, and I love mine. Or upgrading the computer labs at the schools, with the options for the kids to check out the laptops for a night or two, provided that the parents have given permission?
Ok, honestly? THAT IS RIDICULOUS! I mean, I understand wanting to invest in technology that will help the students, but if they don't have enough books???
I hope the teachers throw a fit. We, too, have some of our textbooks on CD-ROM, but I have found them all to be slow and somewhat difficult to use. Plus, it takes 3-5 for a CD to load, and about .5 seconds to open up a book.
Really, it would be a good idea to survey some of the teachers, and see what they think of all this.
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With that said, I think that was just the right approach to take. It's crazy to me some of the things that schools will spend ridiculous amounts of money on. And I think all of your concerns here are very valid ones; I hope they address them. And maybe reconsider this whole plan. What a thing to spring on the parents without even asking you!
Reply
Believe me, in my head I was totally channeling Severus as I wrote it. I had to go back and 'tone down' things several times.
Yes, this is the 'toned down' version.
Here is the 'non answer' response I got from the head of the IT department:
I thank you for your input and your obviously thought out and well put together response to the laptop initiative. Please be sure this undertaking was not done quickly, lightly or without input from many different groups including parents. There are far too many questions in this email to be properly addresses in an email response. I would welcome the opportunity to sit and have a discussion with you about this program, also understand many of your concerns will be addressed during the roll-out meeting on Thursday.Here is how "thoroughly" it was vetted. It was mentioned in the school board meeting minutes in April, with only one company (Apple) being mentioned where inquiries were even made ( ... )
Reply
The kids MUST bring them back every day because many (if not all) of their text books and assignments will be on the dumb thing.
Because this is the dumbest idea ever -- a thought I reiterate from a prior conversation I had with Mum over our dear Governator's desire to do the same thing here. All Math and Science textbooks this year will be electronic, with the idea of rolling them out to all subjects at a later date. And, I highly doubt the kids in South Central are getting ebook readers or laptops to access them!
Of course, after Amazon got sued this summer for recalling a book, thereby deleting it from the kid's kindle and causing him to lose his place, who's going to want to supply ebooks for classroom use?
Reply
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Ok, as a teacher, I have some MAJOR issues with this. There are about a million other ways that money could have been spent- and, like you said, there are very few 7th and 8th graders I would trust with a brand-new laptop.
What about SmartBoards for every teacher in the district? I just got one, and I love mine. Or upgrading the computer labs at the schools, with the options for the kids to check out the laptops for a night or two, provided that the parents have given permission?
Why I am glad I work for a private school!!!
Best of luck, though!!
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I hope the teachers throw a fit. We, too, have some of our textbooks on CD-ROM, but I have found them all to be slow and somewhat difficult to use. Plus, it takes 3-5 for a CD to load, and about .5 seconds to open up a book.
Really, it would be a good idea to survey some of the teachers, and see what they think of all this.
Reply
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