Technology. Laptops. Excitement.

Last night, my sixth grader brought home his school issued Macbook for the first time. All of our Middle School students get their own laptops to use during their three years at the Middle School. The technology teacher had given the class specific instructions--followed up by an email to the parents--about how he was to care for the computer. He was thrilled to have the laptop, and excited to show all of its parts and software to the rest of the family. We were thrilled that he knew how to use the laptop and was learning to use it as a tool to complete his work, and that it was not just a toy.

We routinely speak about the need to teach our children to compete in a highly technological world and highly competitive world. At the Middle School, our technology program truly is second to none. We teach kids not only how computers work, but also how to work with computers. Whether it is downloading assignments from the school's website (the Middle School uses a great program, First Class, to connect the students and parents to the school's academic world), using software to create a musical composition, reviewing teachers' notes on line, learning to keyboard, or mastering software, the most important thing is that the technology program is fully integrated with the rest of the educational program. As our Middle School students use their computers for all of their regular subjects, "technology" becomes less of a class in itself (although students continue to learn about technology as a subject) and more a mechanism for them to use to achieve their educational goals. Just we all use our computers to accomplish certain tasks, our students similarly use their computers. A brief description of the Middle School's technology program is here.

We know that this off topic again, but one of the privileges of running a blog is that the author gets to go off topic sometimes. Rather than have the blog go silent while we review the resumes that arrive, this blog is a valuable tool to help our community remain connected to Kadima.