If you want to learn more about the conditions in some Oakland schools, you need only pay a visit to DonorsChoose.org, or other sites on which teachers post their wish lists. Here are two excerpts I came across today, from different schools:

“There have always been shortages of pencils and crayons in the school district I work for. The upcoming $800 cut per student will make our situation even more dire. Without materials like pencils, notebooks, folders or a stapler, our class will not be able to function.”

This one was particularly vivid:

“The gray carpet is covered from years of stains, and there are large 2 foot by 8 foot patches where the rug has come apart entirely and reveals the underlay beneath. A new rug would help my students to take greater pride in their classroom and brighten their surroundings.”

The requests on DonorsChoose range from notebooks and art supplies to costly equipment, such as a $1,000 LCD projector screen Read the rest of this entry »

Stephanie Butler, a technology teacher at Elmhurst Community Prep Middle School, recently completed a summer fellowship through Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education. She wrote this piece about her experience. -Katy

Quite often we hear about what’s going wrong in the Oakland school district. This is about something that has been going right for me three years running. It is called IISME (pronounced “is me”). The acronym stands for Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education. The program was established in 1985, and its objective is “to transform teaching and learning through industry-education partnerships.”

Translation: I work in corporate America during the summer with the expectation of applying the skills I’ve learned when I return to the classroom in the fall. It is a paid summer position at the end of which I must submit a report that explains what I intend to take back to the classroom. Once I have completed everything in the plan, whether it is a unit for my students or a professional development for my colleagues, I receive a grant.

My experience with IISME has been both rewarding and uplifting. The rewards have been vast. I am a fourth-year technology teacher, and I have built valuable relationships with veteran teachers from many districts who have been willing to share their expertise. This interaction alone is immeasurable. I believe every veteran teacher has a story to share that can help newer teachers Read the rest of this entry »

The yellowing, obsolete computer collecting dust in your attic might not be techno trash after all.

Technicians at the LinuxWorld Conference in San Francisco are refurbishing old, discarded computers on the spot and donating them to Bay Area schools. Their goal is to collect and retool 2,000 to 3,000 computers with free, open source software in collaboration with the Alameda County Computer Resource Center.

They’re accepting computer dropoffs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday in front of the Moscone Center, on Fourth and Howard streets in San Francisco.

ASCEND, Lockwood and KIPP Bridge Read the rest of this entry »