I know it is an over used phase but this morning while talking to my daughter I was for some reason reminded of how a teacher can make a difference in a child’s life.  Kim was born in December and so was always the youngest in her class.  At times we thought that perhaps it would have been better for her if she had been held back a year.  She was our second child.  She was unfortunate to have an older brother who was one of those kids who was often described as brilliant by his teachers.  While he was always near the top of his class Kim started her student career near the other end.  Each year of school she would improve slightly, but never at her brother’s level.

Then came Mrs. Douglas and the fourth grade.  Mrs. Douglas has a gift for making children believe in themselves.  At some point during the year her class was doing a small in-class play on the story of Jackie Robinson.  I remember shaking my head when my daughter told me that she wanted to try for the part of Jackie Robinson.  At the time I really didn’t pay any more attention to it. 

Yes, she did get the part.  Later I remember her telling me that she was nervous about her part in the play and worried about memorizing her lines (all of five or six them).  I didn’t see it as a portent at the time, but even at that young age she was wise enough to know that I was a zero at sports trivia and went to her brother for her facts.  The big day came and went without incident; she had remembered her lines and was happy with her performance. 

What my daughter learned in her year with Mrs. Douglas was that if there was no one to tell you that you accomplish something, you would never know it.  She learned not to let others define her or set limits on what she could try.  Her confidence grew daily as did her marks in school. 

Kim graduated high school, the vice-president of her class, was accepted in the US Air Force Academy where she graduated in the top 25%.  Last fall she began pilot training.  This morning she called and I sat listening to her tell me that she was ‘getting very good at pulling her plane of a spin’ and was that she was practicing recovering from in-flight engine stalls and emergency landings.  As I sat there listening to her I of thought a skinny little girl, Mrs. Douglas and Jackie Robinson.

Monday morning this week I was able to visit a television studio and sit in on a live news broadcast.  It wasn’t at one of the major news studios, or even a cable station but just the same it was an interesting experience. I am presently in graduate school and this visit was helping me fulfill the requirements for one of the courses that I am taking. I consider myself lucky to have been given permission for this visit. I know that these broadcasts are not generally open to the public.

Its 8:40 AM and students from Ms. Rios’s 5^th grade class at Trinity Elementary School in New Rochelle are already in the control room, behind cameras, going over their stories in preparation for this mornings broadcast. Under the direction of Mr. Friejas the entire production is written, performed and broadcasted to the school by students.

The broadcast is shown in every classroom of the school and begins with two students requesting that all students and teachers rise as they lead the school in the pledge of allegiance.  The pledge was followed by news stories, weather reports, two jokes (only one of which was advertised as being corny, but I couldn’t tell which one) and announcements for the staff regarding both a staff and a union meeting at the end of the school day.  The broadcast was done with different students sitting in as the ‘talent’, reading the news, weather and jokes along with the students controlling the two cameras and those in the control room.

I spoke with Mr. Friejas after the show. After complimenting him on the quality of the broadcast I spoke to him about the work that goes into producing it.  He told me that the staff is rotated every two weeks so that everyone is given a chance to be involved.  The entire show, including the writing, is done by the students. He said that the kids catch on very quickly and usually have it down after some instructions and a dry run. 

I can report from my observations that the kids take their jobs very seriously.  There was no laughing or joking as they got ready to go live.  They checked lights, verified camera angles and checked that all of the equipment was working. During the broadcast the crew noticed that the sound levels were off.  This discovery was followed by a series of furious off-stage hand signals to the control room telling them to ramp the audio up. Needless to say I was afraid to move during the broadcast in case I would make any noise. I knew that retribution; although limited to my mid thigh area and below, would be swift and severe.

Following the broadcast, their teacher, Ms. Rios critiqued the class and gave them hints on what they might do to improve the show they next time they went on.

I didn’t speak to any of the children after the production; they had to rush off to class.  Because of this I cannot say with certainty how they felt about it but my impression was they enjoyed it and took pride in it. What I thought of afterward was that the important part of this program was not just the confidence and skills that the children gain doing the show but the possibilities it opens for them.

Growing up in a working class neighborhood in the Bronx you not were exposed to the many career possibilities open to you.  My parent’s, their friends and most of my friend’s parents were either immigrants or were from out of state and worked in the trades, or jobs such as mechanics, police, painters or building workers. These were good jobs that allowed them to support their families but tended to show you a very small part of the spectrum with regards to potential careers. I think that programs such as this serve to open the door to possibilities and expanding one’s potentials.  It helps to let these children know that there can be more out there for them. Maybe none will grow up and go into broadcasting, but they will at least know they there are other possibilities there for them if they want to look.     

In searching for inspiration this evening I happen across statistics that surprised me.  “More than 90 percent of all schools are connected to the Internet, and more than 33 percent of teachers have Internet access in their classrooms. Yet teachers readily admit that they are not making as much use of technology as they could. According to an Education Week survey, nearly 30 percent of teachers said their students use computers only one hour per week; nearly 40 percent said their students do not use computers in the classroom at all”.

The above statistics begs the question ‘where are school administrators or school boards’ in these scenarios. It is obvious that large amounts of money have been spent but on technology but equally obvious that very little time or effort is spent on planning for post implementation. Information Technology does not happen because just because a vendor installs computers in a lab or classroom. Before the first purchase is made there should be needs analysis, implementation planning, training requirements determine, hardware and software cost estimates.  Additional requirements include the need for a commitment to maintain and refresh both hardware and software on a timely basis and technical support for both teachers and student.

Even if all the above steps are thoughtfully and carefully completed the results will be the unsatisfactory unless the teaching staff are engaged and committed.  It is important that school administrators follow up with both staff and student to ensure that these valuable resources are not left idle and are used to there maximum potential.

I spent some time this afternoon browsing the internet for subjects related to technology and education.  After just a few minutes of searching I came away amazed at the number of resources available.   It seems that most organizations (teachers, schools, school districts, etc.) are eager to share their knowledge and experience with integrating technology into the classroom and offer advice on the best ways of implementing it.

The fear of technology is a fear shared by many adults but one that most young children have yet to learn.  Years ago while working for a company that was heavily invested in Mac’s and I would often bring one home on weekends. This was in the days of IBM PC’s and DOS, before Windows when Macs were unique. They had what were at the time advanced applications (compared to the DOS apps) for drawing, graphing and desktop publishing.  Being the dutiful father I wanted to familiarize my children and their cousins with computers and there uses.  Somehow the fact that they were only just learning to read and that their math skill levels were ‘counting and taking away’ with beans never occurred to me.

They like the computer just fine, but strangely enough were not impressed or interested in making colorful graphs using spread sheets.  After realizing that I was not needed and leaving them alone, they went on to discover all they needed to know to use the computer.  Within hours they found an application that would pronounce (in a metallic sounding robotic voice) any words that you typed into it.  I am sure that you can guess the words that most five and six year olds would type in.  Soon they had the computer saying all sorts of words, fully confident that they would not get into ‘trouble’ because it was the computer that said the bad word, not them. In time they learned that including additional letters changed the pronunciation and for some reason this never failed to cause peals of laughter.

The point of this story is not my poor parenting skills but rather highlighting the different approach to technology between young children and adults.  Because they are not afraid of ‘breaking’ a computer, children can go on to do amazing things with technology and along the way learn how to use it.  In my case, since my children could not read, the message ‘do you really want to delete this file’ invoked no fear or sudden paralysis. It did not limit or hinder their natural curiosity and they were able to go forward and learn how make the computer do the things that they wanted it to. 

In many cases, if not exposed to technology this fear takes hold and starts to grow in people.  When this happens, for some it expresses itself as a fear or dislike of technology or an apparent inability to understand basic functionality or perform simple operations. With others it may be a dislike or disdain for any proposals that include changes in methodology involving or implementing technology. With the passing of time this disability can become harder and harder to overcome and in our increasing technology dependent society become a limiting factor in growth and development.

Have been listening to predictions for a large snowfall tonight by all of the news stations and witnessed all of the frantic shoppers stockpiling for the storm.  You can almost hear the whispered prays of school children (and maybe their teachers) hoping for a snow day tomorrow.  I pity the teachers if their prayers go unanswered.