A Whole New World

Imagine that you live in a one or two room dwelling with dirt floors. There might be a bed for your parents, but most likely you and all your siblings sleep snuggled on the floor. You are lucky enough to go to school, even if you do have to walk for an hour to get there. Like a good studnet you memorize your lessons each day. Your teachers give you notes, so you copy them into your notebook. You memorize chemistry formulas, but you've never see chemical reactions. In fact you study French literature, including the classics, but never actually read the works you study.

This is the world my students lived in up until about a month and a half ago. Much of their world is still the same. Their houses haven't changed, nor has the style of instruction from their teachers. BUT, they now have access to the internet in the Gramothe computer lab. They have access to anything and everything they want to know--including things I'd rather they not know! It has revolutionized their lives. Honestly, it has.

Recent internet searches include: World War 2, author biographies, Haiti's President Martelly, President Barak Obama, soccer players, definitions of words, translations, medical terms, etc.

They have the world at their fingertips all because of a little box we call a modem.