Instructional Technology

Wendler Middle School 1:1 Laptop Project Quotes

Teacher Quotes

From the Anchorage Daily Newspaper article, “Replacing books with computers shows promise,” by Katie Pesznecker, published on 12/30/06

Student Benefits:  The laptops are an excellent way to differentiate the curriculum to the variety of reading, writing, and math levels within a classroom.  The reading levels of 7th graders in a regular language arts classroom can easily vary from 4th - 10th grade.   Handing the students a single textbook and saying,  "Here, read this and answer the questions" is unfair to those higher and lower students.  The laptops will allow students to excel and go far beyond the written assignment.  Because students are using technology, they are excited to go beyond what's required.  They aren't handed more worksheets to do just because they finished early.  Instead, then can truly extend themselves into higher levels of thinking.  The struggling students can also access websites written at their appropriate reading level using websites / applications we learned about in our trainings.    Students are actively engaged in the class activity almost 100% of the time. 
Student Response to the Project:  The students are absolutely thrilled.  They're very proud to be part of the Kodiak team and part of this very important grant.   They are totally engaged every time the computers are brought out.  Right now, the computers are charged at school over night so students haven't taken them home yet.  They do, however, carry the laptops from class to class the first four periods of the day.  Outside any team classroom, the computers must be carried in their official padded carrying cases.  We haven't had a single student disregard this rule because they know how much this grant means to them, their families, and to the school.  They have really stepped up to the challenge and we're all very proud of them.

Student Quotes

• “Since we got the laptops, my binder has been cleaner.  I can find my work when I need it, and I’ve never lost an assignment since we got the laptops.  I also pay attention more in class.  When we did work on paper, I used to draw instead of work.  Now I actually enjoy working!” - Kathleen
• “The laptops let us interact in an educational way.” - Jeremy
• “The laptop project is a more hands-on way of learning.” - Mckenzie
• “I’ve learned more about myself.  I know now that I’m good at working with computers." - Shanice
• “We have more access to information than ever before.” - Ryan
• “I’ve noticed that my classmates and I are more willing to problem-solve.  When the computers start ‘acting up,’ we help each other to try and figure it out.  I realize that many people figure things out in different ways.” - Sara

Last updated: Friday, December 7, 2007 5:47 PM