The Movement - Summer 2011

When I was hired in the spring of 2011 Jimmy Casas, the principal of Bettendorf High School, said to me "I want to see our kids have the opportunities to be successful in a 21st century classroom.  To me this means we need to seriously consider a 1:1 initiative."  Throughout the summer and school year we made several visits to current 1:1 schools and attended conferences to challenge our thinking.  This school year we conducted two different pilots of devices, began training a team of teachers to use web 2.0 tools including Google, held some staff wide training, and developed the infrastructure to be ready to support such an initiative.  Finally, we made presentations to central office administration and the board of education, and were approved to move forward with our concept on February 21, 2012.  Next October all freshman and sophomores will receive a device.  Let the fun begin!