Journal 8

Curtis, Diane (2002, November, 11). A "Fantastic Super" Use of Technology: Closing the Digital Divide. Edutopia, Retrieved October 10th, 2008, from http://www.edutopia.org/fantastic-super-use-technology

This article is about Mary Scroggs Elementary school, technology based and advanced school. This article informed the readers about how the use of technology has transformed their school in a positive way. Mary Scroggs Elementary school was given a grant to provide computers for the schools and internet access devices to the families that don't have computers because this elementary school committed to integrating technology into their everyday curriculum in an effort to help decrease the digital divide. Technology is used everyday in the ways that the teachers are emailing their parents everyday and using that as their main form of communication. The teachers are also using the computers with their students in a way that they call "looping". At the end of the day, the teachers ask for the highlights of the day from the students and then type their answers into the computer with the students following along and reading aloud their answers. The parents also have access to this website so they can keep up with their students and what they did that day. The parents can also go to a webpage that each teacher has designed for their class that includes newsletters, volunteer opportunities, homework, student work etc. This article also had a paragraph that discussed treating teachers as professionals. Mary Scroggs Elementary School does this not only by giving them the use of technology, but also by letting the teachers of the same grades have time to plan together, paying the lead teachers and the curriculum specialists more and by having the inexperienced teachers work with the more experienced teachers. 

What if more schools started following Mary Scroggs Elementary's example and began integrating technology into their school?

The integration of technology is going to start to close the digital divide the more that schools begin to do this. It starts with one, but it needs many. This is going to give the students a chance to learn how to use computers which they will need to know for their future. It also gives the parents a chance to learn how to use the computers as the use of technology is soon becoming a necessity in our everyday lives, this is very important for these parents to learn how to use technology. This will help to start close the digital divide by making more people technology literate. 

What would the collaboration of teachers do?

Well, there are more and more interactive websites out there that allow teachers to collaborate and build on each other's curriculum and ideas. What this would do is take the competition of from between teachers. This might seem like it could effect in a negative way. However, if the teachers were collaborating and feeding off of each other's ideas and competing in that way, it would give the students an environment that is not competitive in the fact that they are trying to outdo each other, but it would be competitive in the fact that they are trying to make the curriculum better and give each other different ways to make it the best learning environment for their students.