December 2000

Online Newsletter for Greater Essex County
Computer Using Professionals

Well, it turned out that I didn't get 100 years worth of back pay and life went along pretty swimmingly.  In terms of software, there were lots of packages that didn't work right and had to be upgraded.  As I type this, in fact, there's a major release of a software that I'd love to install without it crashing!

I did run into some deja vu however.  It's speech time again and I was informed that I had to listen and time a speech to make sure that it was long enough.  Oh, and good enough too.

As I'm sure many parents do, I asked myself "Didn't we just do speeches"?  In fact, I distinctly remember having a conversation about the value of using the Internet as a research source.  It also made such an impression that I included it in a monthly newsletter.

So, I worked my way back through my newsletters and sure enough, in the December 1999 issue, was the story of using the Internet as a source.   I marvelled, though, at how the process had changed.  Of course, there's the maturity of a child now a year older.  But the use of resources had matured as well.

The Internet, as well as our encyclopedia had been used as research.  The whole class had visited the Internet site designed to prepare students for giving speeches.  At our house, the process included also making sure that opinions were not just copied and paste.  I flipped back and the process that had been previously outlined:

http://www.gecdsb.on.ca/d&g/dec99/misc.htm

was all there.

I felt pretty good.  Upon reflection, I had indeed put all my eggs in one basket.  But it wasn't in a computer basket, it was an investment in this child.

It appears to have paid off in spades.   Computers can't do it alone; it requires the complete package; a supportive and enlightened teacher, parental input, and a child determined to do her best using all of the resources at her fingertips.