Success Stories from 1998

Each year the Techmobile Instructor identifies students and sites that have taken full advantage of the mobile computer lab and highlights the gains in these short summaries.

Sidney

The Sidney program was the first real test of what the Techmobile and its somewhat nervous instructor could do. The first day all of the kids from the summer program (about 75 that day) met me with banners and posters, and everyone was wearing bright pink shirts with a big yellow bus that said "Techmobile" and "Sidney." That was a warm welcome but then came the test. The first through third graders started piling into the bus, and I hadn't even unhooked the chairs, which were strapped to the counter-tops. After some confusion unhooking chairs, everyone found a seat, and I had to find something for them to do. I didn't have time to load any of the CD-ROM programs because sixty-five kids waited outside in the hot sun. Every student who came to the Techmobile, from ages 5 to 15, learned how to play computer Solitaire.

One person who stands out in my mind, Gabby, was a high school senior from Eagle Pass, Texas, who needed to finish a term paper before she could graduate from high school, which she was expected to in the Spring. She was involved in the laptop loan Estrella program, and she was finishing most of her class work through NovaNET. However, she needed someone to show her how to do her research for the term paper. That's where the Techmobile came in. Friday night before I left for Billings and Fromberg, Gabby got to see a few of the search engines available on the Internet, how to evaluate a web page, some good organizational patterns for term papers, and she even found and down-loaded her first source on fashion in the 1800's. All of this took place in about half and hour--Gabby is a very intelligent person and one who should be able to graduate from high school easily.

Danny also stood out in my mind. He is 14 years old, a leader among his classmates and from Eagle Pass, Texas. From day one he asked me over and over to help him find information about a poisonous little spider that had bitten his uncle. "My dad really wants to know about this spider," he told me. "Can I find information about it on the Internet?" That day I took all of the older kids through the basic ways to navigate the web, but my server system crashed before Danny was able to find the information he needed. Finally, on the last day the Techmobile was to be in town, I had some time to help Danny find his spider. I told him to enter all of the words he knew about the spider into the search engine, so he entered "spider, poisonous and cello [for the shape on the spiders back]." I helped him look through the pages that the engine sent back, and he found a page from an Arizona hospital that had a picture of the spider he recognized. The spider turned out to be the Brown Spider, and the page had a detailed description of the spider as well as what to do if bitten. Danny asked if he could print out the picture and article and I said sure. He proudly showed the page around to his friends, and before I knew it I had pictures of Michael Jordan and Hollywood Hulk Hogan shooting out of the printer by the dozens.

Four- and five-year-olds and reset buttons do not mix--I found out this little truth my second day in Sidney when the pre-kindergarten class came to visit the Techmobile. I'm still trying to figure out how half the class put their programs in Japanese before I finally set the keyboards out of the way.

A little four-year-old named Jimmy stands out from that class. When I first saw him he was at the computer with Jumpstart Pre-school, an educational program the teaches number and shape recognition as well as giving little kids practice using the mouse and using their fine motor skills, Jimmy was staring blankly at the screen. I knew he had had no experience with computers just looking at him, and I berated myself for not having the teacher place the kids at the programs most suited to their experience levels. I guess it's just hard to get ten very excited pre-schoolers to sit and stay where you want them. I asked the teacher if Jimmy spoke English or Spanish. "He's new," she said, "and he doesn't talk to us, so we're assuming Spanish." I crouched down next to Jimmy and pointed to a bird that was on the screen, "¿Qué es esto? [What is this?]" I asked. "Un pájaro [A bird]," he replied. Bingo! "¿Dondé va el pájaro? [Where does the bird go?]" I asked pointing to the three outlines in which the bird could fit. He pointed to the correct one. I used the mouse to pick up the bird and place it in the outline. A huge smile lit up his face as the computer made the bird flap it wings and fly away. "Puedes hacerlo ahora [You can do it now]," I told Jimmy wondering if he actually could. I watched him for a couple of seconds before I had to go help another student as he struggled to control the mouse. When I came back ten minutes later, not only had Jimmy more or less figured out the mouse, but also he had gotten into the painting program where he was having a ball. "Estoy pintando [I'm painting]," he told me proudly. Jimmy is a very intelligent boy, and he was a real success.

It made me sad to see what happened the next day when we were all lining up to take a picture in front of the Techmobile. All of the classes were there, including Jimmy's. I was opening the school bus doors and starting down the stairs when Jimmy saw the doors open. He ran over and started climbing into the bus with a huge grin on his face. The teacher saw him, and with twenty some pre-kindergarten kids to watch, she was a little short with Jimmy and sat him next to the bus and told him to stay put. Jimmy was downcast--his face just sagged. He didn't speak English and the teacher didn't speak Spanish. He didn't understand that it was time to take a picture and not time work on the computers. I wanted to see that smile again, so I stood out in front of all of the kids and blurted "¡Sonrien, todos sonrien! Yo sé que pueden sonreir. [Smile! Everyone smile! I know all of you can smile.]" Jimmy's head was down, but I could see that he was trying to hide a smile. I don't know if he was ashamed of being called down or just laughing at my Spanish, but I told him "Te veo, Jimmy. Teveo. I see you smiling." Kids are very resilient, but I wish they didn't have to be.

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