Follow up on Technology in Alternative Education

As my summer school assignment has now begun, I find myself faced with once again teaching with limited technology available. Today, I went to the principal to determine if the computer lab for my department was available for use by my classes one day a week for the duration of the summer school program. The first thing the principal told me was, "Yes, if the computers are working." Limited resources in the private non-profit school in which I am spending my summer prevent the school from purchasing even 6 new computers, which would provide a class-set for this special education setting with class sizes limited to six students. The desktops in the computer lab are over five years old and the mother boards are going down almost daily. My curriculum, already available on the Blackboard CMS (http://www.blackboard.com), now must be converted to paper and pencil assignments, which these alternative education students balk at completing. However, they instantly become motivated when allowed time on the computers and the assignments are presented with the animation, bells and whistles present in many software packages available today. Finding the alternative teaching methods that match the different learning styles of the students makes it important that this school begin to look at their IT systems more carefully, and seek grants or other funding to provide such resources to the teachers. As a follow on to that, of course, teacher professional development must become part of the plan. Keep an eye out for future reflections on encouraging teachers to use instructional technology to reach these alternative education students!