Fear and excitement of the unknown..

Ok, now that it has been 5 days since we introduced the XO to all the kids and staff, some interesting reactions I think are worth mentioning. The Computer teacher in particular feels threatened because I believe he feels as though his position as the Computer teacher has been diminished. One of our teachers that teaches English, Khmer(reading and writing) and Math has also expressed some skepticism because he feels that the children would rather "play" on their XO's rather than listen to the teacher. This attitude is understandable if you can see it from their point-of-view; The way they are teaching is the only way system in which they have been exposed to. This was how they learned and this is how they have been trained to teach and now I am telling them that some of our curriculum will be replaced by the XO's.
As of now, I am leaning towards creating two groups of students at Aziza's Place. One group will be going to all the same classes that they have had before, but in some cases they will use the XO's to write with instead of their notebooks...some of the classes will incorporate the chat networking capabilities to respond to questions and to do their homework, but they will still have their teachers and classrooms. Another group will have maybe 2-3 hours a day where instead of attending Math or Computer class they will be working with their XO's working on individual assignments and projects. These kids will be the ones that are doing good in school and don't need the extra Khmer and Math that we are offering at Aziza's. They will be given more freedom to choose between working on the XO's and attending the Computer class, for instance. Computer class will focus more on Photoshop, Flash for animation and Word for writing documents, but we will eliminate Excel or creating forms and documents which in reality 8 and 9 year olds can not apply into their daily lives. There truly is no need for them to get good at making spreadsheets and pie-charts until they are prepared to go into the workforce, but that is literally years away.
It should be pointed out that the younger administration assistants are fully embracing and excited about the possibilities that the XO have to offer. Aside from all the software programs, the chat feature is what has got all the kids and staff excited about. We are already using it to spread information back and forth and I think it is important to teach the children the value of an online community and the possibility of sharing information. It's a given, but the "chatting" has already been improving their English skills because it is giving them real-life situations that are more effective than the teacher giving them "examples" of when and how to use English.
With regard to creating 2 groups; I'm sure there are people out there who think this might not be a good idea and we should give all the kids the same opportunities to use the laptops as much as possible. I am flexible and plan on being receptive to this idea, but I think for now the two groups have already been created naturally; some kids are more curious than others. The kids that I am referring to are the same ones don't want to go to sleep because they would rather be exploring he XO's. They are not playing games, they are chatting or trying to compose music or make videos or just learn more about the XO's in general. I want to encourage all the kids to be curious and to explore but 8 or 9 of them don't really need any encouragement. They are learning faster because they are exploring more than the others. It's these kids that I want to start with in terms of giving them this tool and see what they come up with when left on their own to learn and explore. The other kids are also not doing as well in Public school and they are the ones that are benefiting more from the extra classes and the tutoring that is offered to them at Aziza's Place. And so by lightening up some of the classes by creating another group that will have assignments and projects to work on "on their own," the other remaining children will be receiving more time on an individual basis with their teachers. The kids that are "on the fence" (meaning they are curious to explore more on the XO's, but are not doing as well in class) will be encouraged to improve their studies so that they will be allowed to do the core XO sessions like the other kids. But again, the XO's have and will be incorporated into all the classes except for Dance, Art and Karate, its just that some of them will be learning more on their own while other kids will be able to receive more attention from their teachers in Computer, Khmer reading and writing and Math. None of the English teachers will be replaced by the laptops, but the XO's will be added as an extra tool to help them with their English. This is like having an advanced Algebra class while the other kids are in Math..once the kids in Math get better, then they could move up to Algebra....
I will try to keep updating this blog for all those that are interested in seeing how this wonderful, strange new journey unfolds.