Like Christmas

You can't see it in the photo but their excitement was plain to see in real life.  Written all over their flushed little faces as boxes were carefully pulled open.  The precious cargo they contained treated as such.  This was a moment we'd been waiting for.  More devices.  The students knew the value in it and it showed today.

Last year my colleague and I embarked on a new journey for our school...  Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and Hapara.  Amazing tools.  We had 12 iPads, six desktops (not in the classroom) and 50 students.  We needed to be creative.  For a start the purpose for us in using GAFE was as a literacy tool, a place to record and share our learning with our peers.  To collaborate and communicate over our learning each day.  We quickly found out the iPads, though incredibly wonderful, were not the best tool for our purpose.  We needed keyboards, anyone using technology to enhance literacy does I believe.  A little research later and my new best friend was found... the Chromebook.  We begged our Principal to consider buying us some.  He pondered on this for some time, and lots of cajoling later agreed to let us trial one each to see if they really were as good as we believed them to be.  Soooo excited!  They arrived and I fell in love.  Head over heels with this little masterpiece of technology.  It did exactly what we needed it to do - it ran Chrome.  Beautifully.

The year progressed at speed.  The budget didn't allow for more device purchases so we made do with what we had (never forgetting how much we actually had - more than a lot we knew).  But two Chromebooks between 50 students was tough.  We used the desktops when we could get to the Learning Centre, the iPads where possible (for docs and photos mainly) but mostly it was a torrent of children begging to use our 'Chromies'.  So we adapted our programmes to suit the skills we wanted them to develop, changed the way we did things to maximise learning time and to ensure that even if they didn't have a device in their hand they were still practising what they would be if they did have one.  In their writing books we utilised a comment margin down the left hand side of the page - commenting on their peers and their own work was something we considered a non-negotiable.  They practised it in their books and they practised it online in GAFE.  We developed writing tasks that were stored online on their Google Drive but could be handwritten and a photo uploaded using an iPad, or typed directly onto the document.  

The students thrived.  They flourished with the added motivation of having their work online, able to be shared with their peers, parents and teachers.  They loved the comments, buzzed over finding another teacher or the Principal had read their work online and left a comment.  Beautiful, supportive comments were left for each other, handy hints given and constructive criticism greatfully received.  It was fantastic.  We were so proud.  But we were always left wondering what would happen if we had access to more devices.  How much we could really push them in their learning, what other amazing achievements they could aspire to.  

Then this year rolled around.  10 new Chromebooks arrived by courier.  10 brown boxes were delivered down to our classroom after lunch by the Principal and her helpers.  It was like Christmas.  We had waited a year for this.  More devices!

We spread the boxes between the students and they patiently waited as we slit the ends of the boxes.  The boxes were opened in unison.  So carefully.  Everyone in that room knew the value of what was inside and it wasn't just monetary.  Oh their faces.  How they lit up when the Chromebooks were revealed from the packaging.  I raced around taking photos, smiling as the excitement bubbled around the room.  

Having worked with 1:25 ratios last year and to now have almost 1:4 - it's incredible.  I am so excited at the possibilities.  They students are abuzz with knowing that they will have far greater access to their much-loved device.  Using them tomorrow is going to be so much fun!

So instead of two best friends I now have 12.  I have to share them with 50 other small people but that's ok.  We shared with far less last year.  The possibilities are endless now.