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 #8
Mining Gold in MLTI's "Uncharted Territory"
(Stephen King Visits Freeport Middle!)
As the MLTI was being debated around the state last year, opponents cautioned against "rushing into uncharted territory." They reasoned that other than being recognized as the first state to integrate technology in all middle schools, there really was no benefit to moving ahead with the MLTI. The possibility of failure, they argued, was greater than the possible rewards.
Proponents pointed out that there could very well be some benefits above and beyond the positive impact on learning and teaching. Some developments over the past couple weeks around the state and in Freeport seem to support what the proponents predicted.
A few weeks ago a large software company donated over $400 million worth of design software to the schools and technical colleges in Maine. Thousands of companies around the country and over 400 companies in Maine already use the software. Although most middle school students will probably not be able to use the sophisticated programs, Maine schools and students will definitely benefit from its availablity. The president of the company made it clear that it was the MLTI that drew his attention to Maine and prompted him to make the largest donation by a private company in Maine history.A week later a staff person from the Governor's office visited Freeport Middle School with a couple guests. The guests were executives from a company that markets a well-known stand alone keyboard.
This company manufactures electronic keyboards that can run simple word processing and touch typing programs. They can be plugged into a network so information can be output using a printer. It turned out they were working on developing a more powerful keyboard similar to a laptop. They were visiting our school to see how the laptop project was working, and to see if we had any interest in working with them as they developed the new device.
Of course they were amazed at what the students and teachers were doing with the Apple iBooks. Afterward we had a good discussion about their new product. We made it clear that the new device needed to provide Internet access across a wireless network. Interestingly they had not seriously considered this in their planning. In the end they offered to give our 6th grade teachers prototypes of the new machines, provide free training, and send us a classroom set of the new keyboards later this winter.
We agreed to provide time for training and to work with the teachers to try integrating their hardware into one or two curriculum projects over the winter. It will be interesting since the devices are supposed to be less than half the cost of the iBooks. If they work well, perhaps this will be a way to introduce the 6th graders to using technology as they move up through the 7th and 8th grades.
A visit from the Kings
On the heels of these two developments came yet another call from the Governor's office asking if we might be interested in a surprise visit from none other than Stephen King (who, as you probably know, is a resident of Maine). We were also asked if it would be possible to arrange an assembly since King would be making an announcement.
We were also asked if we would arrange for both novelist King and Governor King to visit 7th grade classrooms, along with several members of the press. As those who have read my earlier entries know, I'm fortunate to have an outstanding team of teachers working on the laptop project. In less than 12 hours they pulled together a plan and were prepared by the next morning for the arrival of the Kings.
What we weren't prepared for was the number of people from the media! Three network news crews showed up, cameras in tow, as did reporters from three local newspapers, along with their photographers. There was also a reporter and photographer from Maine Public Broadcasting. [See the story.]
It was quite an experience having the media people, Stephen King, Governor Angus King, his wife, Mary Herman, some bodyguards, the Superintendent of Schools, and myself all moving among the students as they worked. The students were wonderful, showing the visitors what they were working on in math, language arts, social studies, and technology education.
After about an hour of visiting classrooms, all the 7th graders went to the cafeteria. I did a quick introduction of Governor King. I told the students that they could now thank the Governor personally for their laptops. They gave him a great round of applause. He addressed the students, reminding them that the whole world was watching them as they broke this new ground in education technology.
The governor introduced Stephen King, who talked a bit about what it was like for him when he first started writing. He described how becoming a computer user led to his discovering the Internet. He shared his belief that the Internet has opened up great possibilities for people to communicate about writing.
He then made an amazing offer to the students.
He told them that he wanted to work with the MLTI in the coming school year to teach an online writing course for middle school students. The students were very excited about the prospect of being able to communicate with him about writing. Who wouldn't be?
I think this is the kind of unforseen benefit that the MLTI can provide to our students. This project has caused companies like Apple Computer to invest resources well in excess of the contracted amount of money they are being paid for hardware and wireless networking. It has attracted nonprofit groups like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to provide significant monetary support for training teachers and school leaders around technology. Certainly the opportunity to work with Stephen King is a benefit well beyond anything anyone could have predicted a year ago.
Most satisfying
of all, these 7th graders will grow up with the knowledge that they were
trailblazers – the first large-scale group of students in the nation
to be given the opportunity to use this new tool for learning.
