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Showing posts from November, 2008

School Board Letter

D ear School Board and concerned citizens, I want to address my concerns about the way the Microsoft settlement has been handled by our school district. A little over one y ear ago, I entered my new middle school classroom and beheld 40 Windows 98 desktops purchased in 1999.    I had been teaching 6th grade math and science the previous four years using multiple strategies including technology to further students' understanding of Earth Science.    I wrote a proposal to teach an aeronautics unit as a full elective, and California's State Assembly awarded me a small grant to buy computers, flight yokes, software, and books.    I subsequently agreed to teach technology full time, not quite aware of how poorly my room was equipped.   I began teaching one class in Aeronautics and four crowded classes of Introduction to Computers to 7th and 8th grade students in the Fall of 2007.  I managed to replace seventeen of the Windows 98 desktops by the end of December 2007, but struggled wi