For Thursday, June 15, 2000                                      Drummer Column, Gibbs, 728 words

 

 

 

Summing it up

 

 

     Wow. School is out. Today is the first day of summer vacation, for some of us at least. I haven't done too many exciting things this week to write about, so if I go that route -- summing up my week -- it will consist of the hectic nature of finishing up a busy school year. I can do that.

     Actually, there was one fun spot. Teachers Ron West, Christ Otto, and I, parent extraordinaire Jack Ruszel, and river god Harry Smith of Vacaville, took a passel of students whitewater rafting last Sunday. It was a chance to get away and relax before finals week. Twenty-one of us took four rafts down the South Fork American. Water fights, raft invasions, and people tossing kept us entertained all the way downstream. We only flipped one raft and one inflatable kayak at Hospital Bar Rapid. As our rafting guru and river Godfather Wild Bill of Vallejo would say if he were there, "I give the day a perfect 10." Wild Bill just got back from eight days on the San Juan River in Utah, so he passed on this weekend.

     This year, looking back, has been one long spin cycle, sort of like being a salesman for Do Right Fuels.

     The responsibilities of being tech support guy on campus have exploded like an airbag. We went from having several dozen computers on campus to having at least one in every classroom, all hooked to the Internet, all thanks to the generous support of the East Bay Community Foundation endowment. In addition to that, I have been and still am writing the Digital Grant that will award us an additional half-million dollars for further technology advancement.

     When I said today was the first day of summer for some, I was implying that for me it just means more time to continue working on the grant. It is almost finished, and when it's completely done -- hopefully by next week's column -- I will post it on the Internet for all interested Benicians to read and proofread. I hope you will because this document is supposed to involve as many people from the community as possible. In fact, the more people that get involved, the better our chances of having it approved. To learn more, go to www.ragingbull.com and type in the symbol BHSDHS. That will take you to the Benicia Technology in Schools discussion board. You're all invited.

     What did disturb me about working on this grant this year is that it took me out of my classroom. I do not like being out of my classroom. Well, let me rephrase that. I HATE being out of my classroom. In my 16 years at BHS I have been out sick less than ten days. I hate being out sick. I did not enjoy stepping out in the middle of novels and deep discussions on philosophy to attend technology meetings, workshops, and my many marathon writing sessions.

     Luckily, I found a wonderfully competent and likable substitute teacher named Nathan Ward, who stood in for me each time and provided continuity. Nathan actually taught two books end-to-end for me, Waiting for Godot, and To Kill a Mockingbird. I believe he's applying for a job here. I hope we hire him. Consider this column a public letter of recommendation.

     Next year, I won't have this out-of-class conflict. I am for now giving up the teaching of English to focus my energies on technology training and support. Though it will hurt adjusting to not having classes to be out of, I will enjoy the refreshing new challenges ahead.

     This summer I have be selected by Intel's Teach to the Future Program to represent BUSD at a week of training, followed by a 3-day workshop with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. These corporate sponsors will help me learn better how to teach teachers to teach technology.

     Technology training for faculty will begin in August and continue in earnest. Intel and Microsoft will provide me with the support to take a minimum of 20 teachers a year through a special 40-hour training program. That works out swell, because I intended to do far more than that anyhow as part of the Digital Grant promise.

     It is my goal that someday in the future we will see this bumper sticker: If you can logon, thank a teacher.