Week 1 - 1:1 Devices are out!

August 18th has been a day since last May that we has been marked on our calendar as the day the 1:1 devices would be handed out to all middle level students.  There are so many pieces to this puzzle that had to line up and unfortunately, we wouldn't know if all the pieces were in the correct place until the devices were out.  All the devices were tagged, bagged, boxed up, and delivered to each room slightly ahead of schedule.  Now we had to wait until Monday!

Monday arrived, the devices are out and..... speed bump.  Macbooks are connecting and working as planned.  The Chromebooks on the other hand were having some issues.  These issues were above my total understanding of what was not working, but in the end a fix was made by the end of the day.  The LPS staff felt the stress of things not working correctly, but in the end they stepped up and made the day work.  The students too dealt with the issues and worked on what they could do.  So in the end, the launch day didn't work out exactly like I had hoped, but it was a great day and Tuesday would be a great day to reset and begin watching great things happen.

Tuesday there were some on again off again network issues, but it was great seeing teachers showing their classroom Websites, establishing classroom procedures, and students asking how they can use their devices.  My favorite question from a student, "Can I use my computer to read a book during SSR?"

Thursday, I had the opportunity to visit a number of classrooms and it was great seeing the devices being used in a number of ways.  The students were using the devices in number of different ways for individual assignments.  I will have to say, the best quote came from a teacher.

Then on Friday, I was visiting with another teacher and she made a comment on how great it was seeing students helping other students troubleshoot and they are collaborating on a number of projects.

What will week 2 bring?  If my email is any indication, we have a number of teachers looking to modify a number of projects.  I can't wait to see what great things the staff and students create.