Thank you to GDEF!

It’s usually tough to drag yourself out of bed the Monday morning after vacation, but not so much this week!  Thanks to an email over vacation, I knew that there was the best first-day-back-from-vacation present EVER waiting for me in my classroom:  a dedicated class set of 30 new ChromeBooks, thanks to a grant from the Groton Dunstable Education Foundation (GDEF).

I used to teach in an urban district with limited resources, so I know first-hand how blessed we are as a district to have funds that allow us to support multiple ChromeBook carts in the Middle School for shared use.  However, I also knew that I could imagine doing even more if I could be guaranteed access to a set of ChromeBooks on a daily basis–electronic notes and practice in color rather than grainy paper copies, links to on-line activities and support material, maybe even some electronic sections on assessments to prepare students for the world of on-line testing that is their reality now.  With these ideas in mind, I took a deep breath and submitted a proposal to GDEF.  Many emails and a classroom visit later, the ChromeBooks arrived.  Thank you to the members of GDEF for their willingness to take a chance on this idea!  The thirty ChromeBooks will also support other 7th grade classes by increasing the number of ChromeBooks available at any given time.

I would be remiss if I also didn’t thank the GDRSD Technology Department.  Luke Callahan supported the grant proposal by offering and then supplying a cart for the ChromeBooks; the carts serve both to protect the computers, but also to keep them charged and ready to go.  In addition, Luke will be providing a class set of headphones and he worked closely with GDEF to complete the order for the computers in a timely manner.  Finally, members of the technology staff worked over vacation to get the ChromeBooks set up and into my classroom.  Thank you all!

Please enjoy information in other posts about students using the new ChromeBooks and other photos showing how we’ve integrated the use of technology into more standard math experiences including working with manipulatives and other hands-on activities.  Here are some photos, turned into cartoons, showing students in various classes using the ChromeBooks on their debut day to review for an upcoming Probability quiz.