Written by: Dan Maas
3/10/2010 

Last week was Dr. Seuss's birthday and a number of us in ITS went out to read to children from the Dr. Seuss classics.  I made my now traditional trip to Ms. Salzman's class at East Elementary School where they surprised me with this Lorax stuffed toy.  My mother read the Lorax to me every day (at my behest) for years such that we both have the book memorized!  So now, I like to go to school and recite the Lorax while the students follow along reading the text from a document camera.  There are a couple spots where I get tripped up so I asked some students to come up and read for me for those sections.  The kids did really well and I had a great time... how often do you get to take 30 minutes away, wear a Dr. Seuss tie and read with kids?  Well, for me, it is a rare treat and easily the best day of the school year!  Earlier this week, I recieved a letter from each student... and the writing was WONDERFUL!  Students wrote with nice penmanship, good spelling and chose interesting words to express themselves.  It is clear that Ms. Salzman is a good teacher!

But I wasn't the only one... Rody Smith supports computers in the district but also likes to take a little time out to read to the kids in the schools where he supports the technology.  In this link, the Twain Elementary kids share a good book with Mr. Smith and Liz Aucone (the building computer coach) took a video and posted to their school announcements!  What a wonderful way to share the joy of reading with our students.

What I am especially pleased to share is how the technology enhances and extends the human relationships in both cases.  I was just reading an eSchoolNews article on 1:1 laptop initiatives where the research is showing that the real difference is the teacher... no kidding!  That's been our philosophy from the beginning and it is the biggest criticism I have for 1:1 projects, and indeed most technology integration efforts.  The tool does not replace the teacher because learning is about relationships... there is simply no way to get around it.  Our approach has not been to equip the kids with technology hoping it will make a difference; it has been to empower our teachers with technology and training so they can get even better at what they do.  Our philosophy is, and will continue to be that technology is a liability, and people are assets.  Our technology program will continue to be focussed on our people and not the stuff...

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Location: Blogs Dan Maas, Ed.D. Chief Information Officer

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