For Thursday, November 25, 1999 Drummer Column, Gibbs, 699 words

Holiday spirit

Here's the latest news on school and computers. It's a whole new world. The half-million-dollar local endowment from the East Bay Community Foundation is beginning to cause effects. Happy Thanksgiving!

I notice it most markedly in my computer repair class. Up until now we've had only older donated machines to tinker with, 2- 3- 486s. Now we are building high-speed Pentiums with extras like sound, CD drives, Zip drives, and network cards. We can afford operating systems and software applications. We can link our systems together and create a lab. We can even go out on the Internet because my room is newly wired. It's amazing.

Mike down at District is working a purchase order right now to put new AMD computers in every classroom. We are hoping to have them before Christmas vacation. Each computer will be connected to the campus network, the Internet, and the classroom television. It's a digital convergence.

I'm on a committee to offer training to teachers. We have so much to learn. Our staff represents the entire spectrum of technical experience from lacking to loving it. We'll need to track our classes. Teachers have requested intro, intermediate, and advanced training on all the various applications.

We could spend the year just learning Windows and Microsoft Office; then there's the Internet; teachers also need to learn our network and how students' digital lockers work; they need to learn virus protection and log-in security; they need to learn how to teach what they learn; we all need to become comfortable enough with computers that we can use them to study topics other than technology.

Next year my support may be expanded to include training students as well. I like the idea of an extended freshman orientation program. Teachers would bring their students to the lab and together we would learn the applications, the network, the ethics and the etiquette. Through the year I would team teach with staff members as they tried out new technology projects.

I must say. I must say. Last year I did my first big-production, full-featured, advanced PowerPoint project. It was one of the most powerful lessons I've ever been a part of. I weep to think of it. Two classes did presentations on atrocities. We had just finished reading Night, by Elie Wiesel. I weep to think of how hard we worked on them, how beautiful and tragic and profound the stories were, and how I got to keep copies for my future classes to see and marvel at.

It's an exciting time to be in public education. Of course, I've always felt that way so it's really nothing special. It's still exciting. What I like about it is that everyone is learning, everyone is a student, everyone is trying something new. Teachers and kids are exploring together, side by side.

Sometimes the kid is in the lead. We no longer have a monopoly on what is known. Technology has leveled the playing field. We've gone from fount to font, and must be humble. We must also practice what we preach and be willing to learn about these new inventions. Dare we fault a child for not showing an interest in our subject, be it science, English, or history, if we do not show an interest in learning something new ourselves?

As adults we need to forge ahead and harness this power that is being unleashed in our classrooms. We need to direct its influence and impact. Kids may be better and faster at clicking the mouse and rocketing across the Internet, but they need a guide who can protect them and steer them in the right directions. The kids are ahead of us and we need to catch up.

I had a wonderfully fun weekend. I drove to the computer fair in Vallejo with a pocket full of budget and went on a shopping spree. "Give me ten of those, six of these, and five of them." I've always wanted to do that. It took three trips to my van to carry it all. This week in class we are building those Pentiums with all the extras.

Did I mention that it was exciting?