Chosen Words

The words found below arrived in my email box yesterday; they were forwarded to me by our middle school principal. The author? A 13 year old named Caroline. Caroline is a participant in our BYOL pilot project which allows 7th grade students to bring their personal computing device to school. Launch of this incredible project occurred four short weeks ago and while we have a long journey ahead of us, Caroline's words speak volumes about the work we've done to arrive at this place. I will restrain myself from commenting...for now...so the words can be read and re-read by anyone lucky enough to have happened upon this post.

Dear Mrs. Adams,

Thank you so much for launching the laptop program. I think that this program has brought so much to Nagel. It has changed the look and feel of our classrooms, learning, and the overall morale at Nagel. I am so lucky to be one of the students involved in such a wonderful setting.

The PPL project has definitely had an impact on everything that has happened at Nagel. I think that it is so neat to walk into a classroom and instead of taking a paper and pencil quiz, we can take it on Quia. I am really glad that you and everyone else involved with the technology in our district has tackled this project and have persisted all the way through. In the end, things came together and are working out great. I think that it is really awesome to see kids interested in their learning and participating more. Students are undeniably more active in their studies and want to learn. All of the digital tools have really benefited and made a difference in our learning. Schoology, Symbaloo, Skype, Wikispaces, Twiducate, and all of the other devices are making an impact, and I think that that is what it is all about.

The biggest mission in this whole project was to provide students with more access to technology and create a classroom that models 21st century learning. I think that the PPL Project has done just that, and more. It has not only taught us what 21st century learning is and given kids a chance to have a lot more access to computers, but while doing this has added much needed responsibility to the 7th graders at Nagel. We have taken on this project and I believe we have delivered the results wanted. We have become active in our learning and I think that everyone is realizing the difference that can be made with the laptops. Before starting this program I didn't know what a 21st century classroom was, and now I know, and I think it's so cool that we get to represent one. Everyday students are gaining knowledge on different tools to help us in today's society and people are watching us to see how we are doing it. The better this project goes, the more schools that may participate. I like knowing that we are being watched and need to perform for others. The challenge for us now is to make this all come together and for everything to work out, which I believe it has so far.

Thanks again for helping create this wonderful project. In my mind and I'm sure many others it is a very large accomplishment to allow and successfully manage such an amazing task of having 7th graders bring in and care for their own laptops. I am so lucky to be apart of this and can't wait to see how the rest of the year will play out.

Sincerely,
Caroline