Apple for Teacher

When I was in elementary school, there were multiple parts of the school year that I looked forward to…

Back-to-school was always fun and exciting; getting your brand new seating arrangements and organizing all of your new school gear neatly into your Trapper Keeper, making friends with the kids sitting next to you (that kid also coincidentally seemed to have a last name that began with the same letters as mine?) and deciding on who your new crush for that year was going to be...ah yes, these were all high-lights of early September...

As the school year progressed, and the holidays drew closer, the festivities became almost palpable. There were Turkeys made out of the shape of your hand, pilgrim and Indian head-dresses to create and wear, and the inevitable movies that the teachers would put on because they were more ready for a break then we were… (I remember seeing "Sandlot" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" a lot?)

Come February, it was always so fun to go home after Valentine’s Day and empty out your construction paper and lace “mailbox” to see what your crush had written to you on his Snoopy V-day card, and giggle over the silly heart candy messages. (“Gimme a kiss”? Ewww!!)

But my most favorite time of the school year was the very end of it- and not for the reasons you’d expect. Just as we were required to clean out our desks, all of the teachers were likewise responsible for emptying everything out of their classrooms. They would end up with boxes and boxes of unused dittos and worksheets that would be up for grabs, and I used to dive in there like a crazed Carrie Bradshaw at a Manolo sample sale. Sure, it could get violent, and there were threats of “Bitch, I’ll cut you!” and yes, this resulted in numerous nasty paper cuts... but in the end,I’d get off the bus content with the knowledge that my book-bag was crammed full of worksheets and tests, and as I walked home I would day-dream about how much fun it was going to be to wile away the long summer days playing school with my little sisters… (and then there was that one summer when I tried to put a new spin on the game and try something new, something I had coined “Catholic" school. I think they probably learned a lot that summer?)

Anyway, we would sit in the air-conditioned playroom, and go through tons and tons and tons of math exercises, brain-storming activities, and sentence diagramming worksheets. If they got it wrong, they had to do it over! In retrospect, two thoughts:

1. They should really thank me.
2. God that was a lot of paper!

My littlest sister is now in the 9th grade, and in her highly evolved high-school-- paper has become a thing of the past. (She probably doesn’t even know what a “ditto” is? Was?) On the first day of school, every student is issued their very own Apple MacBook. Freshman year, they are all required to take a basic computer class, so that even though most of them already know how to get around on a computer, the school makes sure that everyone is coming from the same computer building blocks.

Because each student has their own computer, information can be instantly shared electronically and without paper. Bad news for Dunder Mifflin, but good news for the trees! Homework, work-sheets, articles, and even tests and quizzes can be shared via the net. Essays are submitted electronically too, and as they are being handed in to teacher, they are simultaneously being run through a computer program that scans each paper and makes sure no parts of it have been plagiarized.

Even their textbooks are on the web! Students no longer have to be bogged down with heavy books, that may or may not cause scoliosis. Now, with only a click of the mouse they can get right to Chapter 9, and answer the comprehension questions at the end.

Every teacher has their own network to which their students can access to get their homework assignments, do extra credit, check their grades, etc. Likewise, the teachers can then see how often and frequently each student is accessing their stuff.

Appropriate security measures have been added to the computers, since they know that kids just love to get into things they shouldn't... the school-issued computers have restricted Internet access so that the students are only able to access approved sites. No financial transactions can take place over the school-owned computer, and the school employed tech-support team can access anything on any student’s computer at anytime. (There should be nothing sensitive on the computer, so there is no need for anything on their computers to be considered private or that school officials should be barred from viewing. )

It’s so weird to me to imagine what a normal day in high-school is like now, because I remember being in the fourth grade and having Mrs. Widman tell us that in 15 years there were going to be computers the size of notebooks, and everyone would have one. It was fun to think about at the time, but seemed like a crazy science-fiction premise-- one which would surely could never happen? And now… here we are, lap-top computers doled out instead of text-books! Is this how our grand-parents felt when they were kids, and heard that someday a man could walk on the moon?

As Whitney once sang, the children are our future…

Beside’s drastically cutting down on paper use, having kids grow-up on computers is helping the environment by making sure that our nation’s future leaders are being properly groomed and prepared for the world they will live in. Everything is becoming more and more the Internet dependent, and computers are becoming more and more integral to everyday life.

My sister says that having a computer in front of her all day has helped her in many important ways. For one, she has become a more savvy problem solver by being forced to figure out how to obtain information whatever information she needs at that moment. She knows that everything she needs is right at her fingertips, and she just needs to figure out the best way to get it. She is also learning how to manage her time better by becoming an extremely efficient multi-tasker. A usual night consists of her listening to iTunes while IMing with at least 5 friends, all while researching and writing a paper in Spanish. (And maybe playing Word Whomp to help with writer's block.) The fact that mastering PowerPoint, Excel, and Word don’t even come up in conversation with her about the pro’s of having a computer assigned to her in school is indicative of how taken for granted and commonplace these skills have become to her-- and how thoroughly more prepared she will be for any future job.

By ensuring kids' comfort level with computer maneuvering, we’re saving one resource while strengthening another. These schools should be credited for creating more productive members of society, who will be more valued in the work-place and more acclimated to the tools they will need to succeed.

USA Today reports that schools that have been experimenting with this practice are showing positive findings. Student’s display an increased amount of participation, and feel more motivated to get their school-work done. (Maybe because it’s more fun to do work on a computer? Or because you can socialize or find ways to amuse yourself while getting unpleasant things done?)

Recently, there has been a lot of media coverage about teenagers putting inappropriate pictures of themselves online. Even the most seemingly innocent of star tweens have been busted (ha) for overtly sexual pictures being released online. Disney cash cows Vanessa Hudgens and Miley Cyrus are both guilty of this, and obviously this is something that some parents fear as reason to not give their kids full use of a computer. Really though, a ho is a ho is a ho, and ho’s are going to act like ho’s whether they have computers or not. Nice kids aren’t going to get computers with web-cams, and all of a sudden want to turn into home-made porn stars. Yes, as can be witnessed with my sister, there is rampant flirting via instant messaging and emails… but flirting would be occurring with or without computers also, and has just evolved as an art form to meet the current times.

Hopefully schools will continue to go down this path, and the Apples that fall into the classrooms can prevent forests of fallen trees...