Archive for September, 2005
Pardon the Interruption
It has been weeks since I blogged, months since I last podcast. There are two reasons for this: I have no internet connection at work which is where I’m spending most of my time lately and when I’m not at work, I’m making sure that I spend at least a minimal amount of time with my wife and dog before working from home.
I don’t want to get into it, but let just say that things are a little tough at the new job. The classroom is fantastic and I’m loving spending my days with students again, but there are several other issues that are troublesome above and beyond the hours. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.
There are 30 desktop computers sitting in a storage room right now and eventually we’re supposed to get laptops. The school currently has internet in only one office. I set up a wireless router that I had lying around, but it doesn’t reach my classroom. So consequently, I’m disconnected from the world. I really do feel truly disconnected. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought, “This child needs help writing numbers, I’ll just print out a practice page for them.” Or “I’d like to do a quick graph, I’ll just print out some clip art to use.” Unfortunately I don’t have a computer, printer or internet. It’s amazing just how much of a difference having access to the internet can make.
My point in mentioning this isn’t to complain, I know that things are in the works and that they take time. But it really emphasizes just how important that internet connection is. I know I blogged about that in my last entry, but every day that goes by without it really drives that point home just a little bit more.
So where do things stand? Well, they’re on hold. I have about two hours per night that I can spend with my wife. I don’t feel it’s fair to spend that time on the computer instead of with her. As important as podcasting and blogging is to me, my personal life is even more important. Once the school is ‘wired up’, I’m going to try to do some blogging and/or podcasting before school starts early in the morning. Unfortunately for now, things are just on pause.
Don’t worry, I may be on an unwanted hiatus, but I’m not gone. I’ll be back and active before you know it!
Steve
Would you want a computer without internet?
When the faculty convened at the beginning of August, the school didn’t have internet just yet. Well, we did have DSL, but it was only in one room. We were pretty busy in professional development and creating curriculum, so it wasn’t a very big deal. Nobody brought in laptops, nor did anyone really request it.
I had a spare wireless router at home. I brought it in, set it up and found that it reached about half the school. I let people know and within a few days we had about seven people bringing in laptops daily. Coincidense? I don’t think so.
We have 30 new desktops sitting in a room waiting to be unpacked. Right now, we haven’t ordered software yet, nor have we got printers. I was thinking about what I would do on a computer like that and the answer is, not much. It would probably just sit there. However, if it had an internet connection my answer would be very different. I’d have access to clip art, online word processors and photos to put up around my room. I could get handwriting fonts that I could use in notepad to create alphabet strips, communicate with other teachers and look up curriculum ideas for both science and social studies (which we are creating just about from scratch). I could blog nad read blogs, collaborate via wikis and put homework assignments online.
I think what it really boils down to is that when you have access to the internet, you can find solutions. The wealth of information available is worth so much more than the circuit boards that the computer is made from. I would gladly take a five year old computer with an internet connection over a top of the line dual processor speed demon that isn’t connected. We’re gotten to the point where that network connection is the single greatest technology investment there is, hands down.
Take off every piece of software on the computer except my browser and I’d still be a happy camper.