Snacks and Staff Meetings

If you work with Windows then you know what the title to this post means. The infamous log in sequence. If you are only a MAC user then you are out of luck. What it means for Aptos Junior High is that are computer lab is up and running and being used by students for actual science experiments. The students pictured above are in our 2nd semester physical science class and are doing an experiment on density. The lab is from explore learning. This was the first real test with students for our mobile computer cart. For the struggles to get the cart with discretionary funds provided by Gov. Schwarzenegger you can read previous posts related to this subject.

Overall the day went well. I was in the classroom most of the day helping the teacher log students in to the laptops and dealing with a few technical glitches. Here are my impressions of the how the day went.

1. Successful. Anytime you can introduce new subject material in a way that is different is a success. I would have to say that 100% of the students were on task with the lab assigned and that 80% of them said that they were enjoying the lesson.
2. Money well spent: I was a big proponet of purchasing this $45000 computer cart. I probally stuck my neck out a little farther than need be, however I have great faith in instructional technology. This day proved to me that the money was well spent.
3. Solid Lesson: The website explorelearning is very well put together and technically sound. The students were engaged and were able to follow along with the instructions. The technical side of the program worked extremely well, if there was a problem students simply refreshed and the program would continue to work. The graphics and interface were well designed.
4. Differentiation: Yes I said it. The big “D” word. These computers allowed students to proceed at their own pace, try things more than once if they didn’t get it the first time and if they were way ahead move on to more complex labs. It was especially nice to see the ELL students grasping the concepts.
5. Fun: On top of everything it was fun for the students. Students who don’t do anywork in class were engaged due to the fun hands on nature of the computers.
6. Vision Software: We have a program that is called Vision. It allows the teacher to “lock down” computers during instruction, to demonstrate on all computers, to monitor all computers and to display on the lcd program what another computer may be viewing. This program takes alot of the worry out of having those laptops sitting in front of students.

The science teacher is finishing the lab tomorrow. I know I am excited to be involved in her lesson plans and she has truly enjoyed her first experience with the cart.

The most exciting news is that it is booked solid for the rest of the week, by the ELA dept. This is exciting because they were the most hesitant to put the money towards the cart.

CTRL+ALT+DEL=Progress

Brian