Monday I broke the news to my students that we were down 10 laptops that had been stolen. We passed out the remaining 18 and figured out whose were missing. One student couldn’t get theirs to start up and upon investigation we realized that the keyboard had been opened and the airport card removed and other damage had occurred that prevented it from working.
So were the students that had their laptops stolen visibly upset? Not especially (note I said “visibly upset”). I mentioned when our classroom was broken into last year how during a class discussion it came out that this was not an unusual enough experience for my students (unfortunately). To that end we have begun a unit on perseverance and courage and “being involved.” I decided that during this election year would be an especially good time for “involvement.” We can’t do much as a class yet as far as being involved in replacing the computers because we don’t know yet what will happen as far as insurance (I’m not real optimistic – but we’ll see) – however we have already had some discussion about possibilities for being involved ourselves if necessary – not just being victims and having an “oh well” attitude.
From there I’m also planning on having the students look at other aspects of improving their lives. Having them identify issues that effect them … corresponding with various candidates for local, state and national office and so forth.
Should be some good messy learning!
Tags: Beinginvolved
You are a great teacher, turning even heartache into a learning experience. I am so sorry that this happened. I hope and pray that someone will come forth to replace these laptops for you. With what you’ve done to improve awareness of serving all children and the power of Web 2 — you should be empowered and encouraged. Take heart, Brian. You are amazing.
I am so sorry for this happening but proud of how you responded.
Hi-
I have been reading your blog for a while with interest in your laptop program. I have a “quasi” 1:1 program. Quasi because they are not just for my class use: we have 2 laptop labs for our school that are stored in my room. When no one else is using them, (which is 4 out of 5 days, usually) I made a point to use them, whether I was planning to or not. Either way, all of this is just background to point out that I understand how you feel about your missing laptops. I understand most directly because when I walked in this morning, all of “mine” were gone. Someone broke in over the weekend and took them all. I assume insurance will eventually cover them (new MacBooks) but who knows when that will happen. It’s hard going back to the “boring” way of teaching. I have been and will continue to be very interested in how you “make do.” 🙂 It is inspiring to see your perseverance in a tough situation.
Carry on with learning messily 🙂