There is cause for singing...Middle schoolers and some 9th and 10th graders across the state of Maine will benefit further from Maine's laptop initiative with free, that's right: Free home Internet access. Even though this story broke a few weeks ago, I post this new turn of events in the interest of fair play from an earlier, more cynical post regarding Maine's laptop program.
Perhaps I am mellowing, but the concept of getting a computer into a child's lap with an equal level of Internet access for each child in his/her class/grade sounds a lot more like a level playing field. By this time next year we may be hearing a parody of My Fair Lady's "Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man"...including the lyrics, "Why can't A-merica be More Like (a)Maine" (I have no idea where this musical theatre theme came from this morning, but humor me, ok?). I do not know all of the details, but I hope that teachers are included in Maine's free home access deal...my guess is, there are more digital imigrants in Maine's teaching ranks than there are digital natives. ... paraphrasing Eliza, "In Hanover, Hampton, and Houlton handheld helpers, handily happen".
*smile*