Computers for every child

Responding to David Warlick's blog http://davidwarlick.com/2cents , I am not quite sure he is looking at the whole picture. Many of the ed-tech pioneers have spent a little too much time in their cozy computer filled world. Don't get me wrong, I agree with most of the messages they bring to the table. It has been my experience that we need to first get all students connected at home and in the classroom before we can concentrate on students consistently learning these new literacy's.

The whole picture:
Most school districts do not have 1:1 students to computers. I do not know where this fact came from. I know that the school I teach in has 975 students and about 200 computers. Our school district is one of the most advanced in the nation when it comes to technology. We have partnered with Cisco to pilot many new technologies in our schools... IP phones, wireless Internet, CPS Clickers, and many other software improvements. Every teacher in our district has an IP phone. I would say 99% of them do not know how to use the tools on the phone, they just call people with it. About 1 % of our teachers actually use the CPS Clickers with their students. Improving this comes first in the big picture. How can you expect your students to learn new tech literacy's when they do not have the vehicle to do so. We need computers first and foremost.

I agree with David Warlick and his ideas about using computers as a vehicle to new literacy's in our schools. We have to have computers first.