sNOw Day

  Here we are again: early morning phone call, school called off, lessons postponed. But I sit and wonder- does learning have to be postponed? Isn't there some other way to connect with and engage my students? I have been pondering that question for the past week. We missed four days last week and now one more. Another Snow Day becomes a No Day.

     Within minutes of school being called this morning I had already received two messages from parents asking me to please try a cyber day, and more weighed in as the morning moved on. Our district has provided us with the means to use elluminate to conduct meetings and classes within a moodle base. I have had training to do this and have done quite a few meetings to reach parents at my school who are interested in how we determine a need for gifted services. But the biggest reason I wanted this tool was- my students. This was my chance!

     Unfortunately, our moodle/elluminate platform seems to have also taken a snow day. I have missed my chance for now. But it has given me time to think about where we stand in the effort to reach our students at every teachable opportunity.

     We have, at least in my district, the tools to reach our students no matter what. We have a web presence available to all. We conduct online classes at the secondary level. We are lucky. We have the hardware, the software, the webware, the wetware, and probably more wares than I know of. We are at the starting gate, fully stocked with provisions and ready to move into the new territory. I'm all packed, I have my ticket and map. I need someone with the deed to my land to point me in the right direction and yell, "Charge!" I just hope they are using a working trumpet.

     But there are so many other districts without the means to provide technology for their teachers and students. It boggles my mind, but it is true. My keepers (administration) let me out once in awhile to attend conferences and I see and hear from so many teachers who don't even have internet at their schools. There are no laptops or 1:1 initiatives. There are no interactive whiteboards, no document cameras, no hand-held query devices. They are in America, not a third world country. I have read about the quest to place affordable/free internet and laptops in countries around the world where children have nothing. But we have children here with nothing. Who speaks for them?

     Our school has two teachers attending the wonderful Texas Computer Educators Conference in Austin this week. In the first phone call home they were talking about how lucky we were to have the capabilities we have in our schools. Within a day of arriving they had developed an appreciation for the opportunities we have .

      But even in our district an opportunity to continue learning at home would be a missed opportunity for many children because there is no internet nor computer there for them to use. A problem like the one I faced today would be frivolous.

    These are the issues facing our schools today. Things are not looking like they will be any better in the near future due to the current state of the economy. Our state's tech initiative is in peril due to projected budget cuts. Technology is all too often treated as the cherry on top of a dessert instead of the entrée it really is. The gaps facing our learners today will continue to grow until all have good home lives, good teachers, stable curriculum, and a footing in the 21st century. Pretty much in that order.