Success Stories
from 2002
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.
The Measure of Success  Understanding the successes of the Techmobile requires
that first one understand what we consider successful. Emily Dickinson
acknowledged, "Success is counted sweetest by those who ne'er succeed." That
instant's success that sparkles like a star in the eyes of a child who
has never yet achieved it is the whole reason we are in education. It
is also a measurement of our own success.
In Huntley on obvious success occurred during the intermediate
class. We staged a virtual treasure hunt to work on the students' map
skills by turning the parking lot into a grid where the lines for the
parking spaces delineated "longitude" and "latitude." The
students counted the number of spaces and made a grid with the same number
in Microsoft Word. Then they inserted a series of arrows to make a path
from a starting point to an ending point of their choice. They also wrote
directions such as, "walk three degrees east then walk seven degrees
south." On parents' night, the students switched grids and followed
each other's directions on the parking lot to find their treasure (which
was notepads and pens). Every student had to apply what they knew of
maps, cardinal directions, longitude and latitude in order to complete
their own map and follow some one else's. Here the integration of technology
and classroom instruction is obviously successful. Success can be measured
through the Mead note pads and gel pens that every student took home.
One unique event to the Techmobile this summer was the
beginning of the migrant school in Terry because it is composed primarily
of Hudderite children. Traditionally, the culture of this community frowns
on the use of technology. However, this particular group permits and
even encourages its use. Most of the students had used computers before
while enrolled in the public school. So they also completed a version
of the virtual treasure hunt, but what indicated success to us occurred
during an hour of free computer time they had one afternoon. One young
man, Josh, was very interested in dinosaurs, so he chose to use a multimedia
Dinosaurs program. Usually, the students just watch the dinosaur videos
that are included on the CD ROM, but Josh used his new notepad and pen
to write down information on his favorite dinosaurs. His desire to educate
himself is certainly an indication of success.
In Polson, I usually feel successful if there are no major
accidents (the little ones just leave me wet) considering the natural
chaos caused by the brevity and huge scope of the program. However, there
were those students who achieved success here as well. Many of the students
in Polson come from the most impoverished and least educated families
of any migrants that travel to or within the state. Reading is often
not a high priority for these students. And even some first and second
graders have difficulty writing their own names. We focused on this deficit
through lessons on letter recognition and spelling names in the Kindergarten
and first grade classes. To log on to KidPix, a kid-friendly graphics
program, the students had to type in their names. Their first project
was to create a picture centered around their name, and everyday in order
to print their projects to take home, the students had to insert their
name on it somewhere. By repeating the typing and spelling of their name
constantly, the students eventually learned it. By the end of the two
and half weeks in Polson, every student had mastered the spelling and
recognition of their own names. Even a small success such as this is
counted as sweet. Top |
