As I read Asheville Cities plan, I realized that testing is something we are never going to get away from.  The goals through k-6 computer technology are reading and math, and this means to me, if this is to be the focus, that there is not a lot of room in early grades to explore other types of technology.
    What I learned from doing the technology project with my son recently is their is value in teaching some basic technology skills at a young age.  It did not take my six year old very long to learn to cut and past images from web sites onto his word document.  Although having him type out his sentences into booklet form was almost an excruciating task because it took a tremendously long time for my young typist to type the three to four sentences of research he had for each page.  Despite the time and energy this took, I felt my son has a stronger grasp and feeling of internal power when dealing with the internet.  I guess as a parent I would be concerned if Asheville City limited k-6 to just reading and math, because I feel that their is more to incorporating media for this young age.
  It is amazing what a long process it takes just to explain technology goals for your community, because everything has to be spelled out so specifically.  What I feel I value most out of the teaching goals for technology is the goal to have attendance on computer and the second goal of having a phone in every classroom.  It is hard to hold something over a child's head when you can not really leave your classroom of thirty students to deal with the one student who is disrupting.  To be able to pick up a phone and call immediately to the work number I feel would help discipline issues greatly.
  I think it is brave of the Asheville City schools to admit that they have not meet their goals on the level that they wanted because they have not involved parents, and or staff enough in it.  I think this shows good character, and I think it is important to face problems and mistakes when moving forward to a new task.    
Page Author: Danielle Earley
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