the use of technology

So I have this kid. For lack of a better term, we shall just call him, "Handful." He definitely lives up to his name. He is only with me for one period a day, but that one period is...well...interesting. He basically refuses to do any work. Two days ago I had my kids working on a letter to President Obama. In half an hour he got as far as, "Dear President Ob" The administration knows him well, and even has a nckname for him: "Dr. Hands." (As in, he is constantly touching girls).

But yesterday, I brought my class over to the computer lab for them to type out their letters. "handful" suddenly became alive. He typed an entire letter out in about 20 minutes from scratch. It was mostly correct, even spelling. He then was going around the room helping other students write, spell, and format their letters. It was quite an amazing transformation to watch. All he needed was a computer.

On another note, I have just discovered that you can sign up and schedule an hour long video conference with one of the "Freedom Writers" (If you haven't seen Freedom Writers, you must check it out.) For $100 dollar donation, you get an hour with one of the students. Your students can ask them questions. They pair you up with a student who has a similar socio-economic background to your own students. Pick a day 3 weeks away, pick a couple other choices, and schedule it. There's an online form to do that: sign up for a video conference, and they do the rest. You must have access to skype in your classroom. And a webcam.

Check it out.