WOW moments do not have to be universal to the whole class

We have had the laptops in our grade 3/4 classroom for almost 5 weeks now.  I am only in the classroom ½ time and I have had a change in teaching partners during my Project so I have been the only one using the computers in the classroom.  I wish I had more time! 

The students have become well drilled in how to care for the laptops  and the different programs available to them.  We have had some frustrating moments…WIFI mostly, but we have had some really great “WOW” moments too. 

These “WOW” moments are not universal though.  Some of my students have not found what we have been doing to be all that exciting, these students have access to laptops, ipads, and PC’s at home and have the parental support to help them with the technology.  I have found most  of the “WOW” moments to come from my “at risk” or “struggling” group.  My focus in Project Success is how to help those students who are struggling, who don’t go home every night to a supportive, language rich, literature rich and certainly not technology rich environment, so in this way this Project has been a Success!

I believe the projects and lessons we have used the laptops for to be of educational value and we all know that not every lesson is “stand on your head” exciting so the fact that some of my students aren’t totally “WOWed” is okay by me.  When my 3 students who are struggling at a grade K-1 math level were introduced to multiplication I used the PAINT program to have them draw arrays.  They stamped arrays in different colours and then using different pen colours and textures circled the different groups to make the equation.  This lesson is not new but on the laptop it engaged my learners and enabled them to do the same math at the same time as their peers.  They asked for more and more numbers to draw.  They have never asked for MORE math.

Other “WOW” moments have come from the students realizing the laptops can be used for so many different things.  Many students have only ever played games on computers.  We have used many different programs such as Power Point, Word, and Publisher as well as the accessories such as Paint and the calculator.  Most of the students had at least one “WOW” moment when given the chance to just explore.  Google Earth was a big hit for the students to discover they could find their home and school.  For a couple of my students the realization of what is available on the Internet was a “WOW” moment.  We have become complacent to how accessible knowledge is and how much smaller the world has become due to the World Wide Web, but to a student whose world is so small that they exist only in their apartment and classroom with limited TV access and no computer the World Wide Web is HUGE. 

Cathy Fowler

Cilaire Elementary