Gistok, if ancient university professors can learn [[most higher ed systems are online), so too can K-12 teachers! We've got folks at WSU in their 70s and 80s who have had to learn email. Be optimistic.

DT, will you guys be provided with locking laptop carts? I hope the district doesn't skimp and includes those. Not only are they great for security, but for charging as well -- students plug their laptop back into the designated space, and then you plug in the entire cart. Had no idea such a thing existed until I taught in the 'burbs, then at U-M -- it provides a convenient way to keep up with a classroom set of laptops, because each one is assigned a space and a number. The cart itself can be stolen, of course, but if it's locked down, it takes a lot more effort [[they are made of metal and are extremely heavy).

According to the reports, each student in grades 6-12 will have one, but can't take them home. It might be better if each teacher gets a set to keep in his/her room, instead of letting individual kids carry them between classes. I'm thinking about adolescent clumsiness, roughhousing in the halls, even food/drink spills in the cafeteria.

I used the laptop cart at my post-DPS high school, as well as the computer lab, many times more than a lot of my colleagues. I can't imagine how things would be if I'd had one all to myself for each period of the day -- I only had one semester with a smart board and an LCD projector before I left K-12, and that was definitely some of my best teaching. The instantaneous ability to have the Web at your fingertips when a student asks a question was incredible.

One more thing: the district servers may block YouTube [[which I use extensively in my college teaching), but I love schooltube.com and teachertube.com! The laptops in my old district had Office and iLife uploaded, and my suburban students taught me iMovie 5-6 years ago -- but in 2011, students can make their own videos online. There's grammar and language tutorials, you can bring ANY of the classics to life, poetry and great speeches recited by the original authors, the old "newspaper article" assignment explodes now that news is so interactive, there are writing websites, and ways to Skype authors into the classroom...

That's it! I want my job back!