1. Read all the articles

U.S. schools lag behind in use of technology

The thing about this article that surprised me was when it said that “virtually all US schools are connected to the Internet.” If it is virtually all schools, that means there are actually kids going to school without the internet! I can’t imagine what that would be like or what those kids are missing.
National Education Technology Plan
I thought that this was really good. It does seem as though we are moving right along in bringing technology into our schools. Here in Lakin, they have a relatively new TechLab. I have subbed in that class before and it is really pretty cool. The students all love that class too, which proves how much technology can improve students’ interest and participation.

NETS: National Education Technology Standards: for Students, for Teachers and for Administrators

I think this is a good idea. We have standards for math, science, reading, language arts and social studies because these are things kids need to learn in order to have a career and be a productive member of society. In this time period, anyone who wants to move forward in this country and be a productive member of society is also going to need to have a knowledge of technology under their belt.

Don't Just Adapt Technology, Adopt It!!

This part of the article surprised me:
“But new technology still faces a great deal of resistance. Today, even in many schools with computers, Luddite administrators (and even Luddite technology administrators) lock down the machines, refusing to allow students to access email. Many also block instant messaging, cell phones, cell phone cameras, unfiltered Internet access, Wikipedia, and other potentially highly effective educational tools and technologies, to our kids' tremendous frustration.”
If I am understanding this correct, they are saying that we as teachers should embrace the technology and allow students to use all these things (instant messaging, cell phones, cell phone cameras, email, etc..) in the classroom. This is absolutely ridiculous. I agree with embracing technology in the classroom and using things like iPods to our advantage. What I don’t agree with is allowing students to bring in all those extra distractions. Kids today are distracted enough at school without adding to it by allowing them to bring cell phones to class.

High School.com

I have never heard of taking high school courses on –line, but I think it is a great idea. As the article stated, it would offer a number of electives that you can’t get at your high school. If this is the case, however, I think students should have 1 or 2 online hours where the students taking these classes can go to the computer room and complete their coursework. This way they can still be monitored and stay on task. However, I also think these online classes would be very good for kids who can’t go to school. My son has Cystic Fibrosis. Normally, when kids have this disease, they miss a lot of school because of frequent hospitalizations due to lung infections. If Evan has this problem, it would be great for him to be able to take high school courses online rather than missing weeks of class at a time.