A couple of days ago I decided to use computers in my after-school literacy program just to liven things up a bit. After reading about an extreme case of using gizmos for their glam factor with disastrous results, I felt a bit uneasy about my new decision. Was I going to compound the challenges surrounding this program?
Nope. It worked. Like a charm. Today’s literacy program was about as successful as any two hours of class after a full day of lessons can be. I was directed to a great OSSLT preparation site for the students, and most of them more-or-less happily spent two hours there. The novelty of using computers for something like literacy preparation worked.
I know that this novelty is going to wear off quickly, so I will resist the temptation to design every activity from here on in around online practices. But after the relative success of today’s program, I’m certainly going to integrate many more online activities into the program.
