And thus begins the journey! At long last, the Chromebooks, which we obtained through the Assessment department, have arrived. The students and I have eagerly awaited this day, and have dreamed and schemed about the various uses for these handy gadgets. Receiving 20 Samsung Chromebooks is like a dream come true for a techy teacher, and I am excited to put them into use!
Just last week, we attempted to use our outdated mobile lab to access the students' new Google accounts. It was a very frustrating experience, because most of the computers were extremely slow to load, and nearly all of them had issues when trying to log into Google. Since the students had never accessed their accounts before, there were some preliminary tasks, such as accepting the User Agreement, that took a long time. Many of the students also had trouble entering their email addresses without spelling or typographical errors. This made me realize that I'm going to have to address a couple of things right away:
- the difference between the search bar and the address bar
- how to format a URL
- the purpose of punctuation in websites, email addresses, etc
- the importance of reading agreements before clicking "Accept"
- KEYBOARDING
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| D2 Permission Slips |
A word about the Google Accounts. Before the students were allowed to have this priviledge, they had to obtain permission from their parents, as well as attend an Internet Safety presentation. I was easily able to get permission from every parent, and most of them were very excited about the prospect of their student being able to have access to these accounts. For the Internet Safety presentation, I invited Earl Campbell from the FBI to come talk to the students and their families. The event was held in the gym on Tuesday, December 4. We had an excellent turnout, and Mr. Campbell gave a fantastic presentation. He was direct and informative, and really emphasized the importance of honesty and transparency on the Internet. The kids were appropriately "scared" and schooled, and I was really glad that the families were there to hear the exact same information.
The Chromebooks are charging even as I type, I have petty cash to go buy some power strips. Let the games begin!
