THE
GREAT MAINE LAPTOP EXPERIMENT
Chris
Toy, Principal
Freeport (ME) Middle School
Maine is undertaking a bold experiment. The goal: Put Apple iBooks in the hands of every middle schooler across the state. In September, the first wave of 17,000 laptops were distributed to 7th-graders at 239 schools, including Freeport Middle School, where MiddleWeb diarist Chris Toy is principal. A strong proponent of Maine's Learning Technology Initiative, Chris will chronicle the laptop adventure for us.
Laptop
Diary #3
Teachers
Shifting into High Gear
I've been impressed with how open the 7th grade and Unified Arts teachers have been to integrating the use of the iBooks in their classes.
Last spring the computer coordinator and I agreed that I should meet with each of the teams to talk about my expectations regarding their use of the laptops. To keep the stakes and the pressure low I decided to ask the teachers to try doing just one thing with them by the end of the first quarter, which is the beginning of November.
After each of the meetings I could tell the teachers were relieved that I didn't expect them to immediately gear up for integrating computer technology and the Internet into their classrooms on a daily basis. I am so impressed that after just a few weeks, nearly every teacher has used the iBooks in their classrooms.
Maps and mirrors
While visiting a social studies class I observed students working in small groups searching the Internet for maps of Mesopotamia and the fertile crescent. After finding a variety of maps, the students discussed several questions about the area. The questions ranged from factual details such as location and land forms to higher level questions such as why it was called the fertile crescent, why farming may have started, and why it could be called the cradle of civilization.
In a French class I watched as students working in pairs, each student with his or her own computer, helped one another take a virtual tour of Versailles. The excitement of the students when they located the quicktime movie allowing them to navigate all around the Hall Of Mirrors showed how engaged they were – and they were exploring the site in French! In another French class, students had selected various French painters and were searching the Web for images of their paintings as well as their biographies.Eager chipmunks
In a math class students were using something called Chipmunk Basic to create simple computer programs to help them practice basic math facts. It was amusing to see the students compete with one another and themselves to see how quickly they could solve a given number of problems in the fastest time. When they mastered a certain level they rewrote their programs, making them more difficult. I don't think I've ever seen students so focused on learning basic math facts.
The Language Arts classes have been using the laptops to work on writing skills including brainstorming, outlining, drafting,and editing. The students have also been going online to do some research on the Middle East as they are reading Shabanu, a novel set in Pakistan. Both the teachers and the students have expressed how great it is to have full-time, one-to-one access to the laptops for use as a powerful research and writing tool. Several other teachers are using the laptops or planning to use them in their classrooms. Some will be working with the students on iMovies as they prepare for the upcoming parent open houses next week. Of course the major attraction, from the students' point of view, is that after their parents attend the evening orientation session they will be able to take the laptops home for the first time!
