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Wow! We're going to computers today!   A kindergarten teacher asks, "How much of our precious time do I want to devote to this technology stuff, anyway?" When she takes them from A to Z in the computer lab, she finds answers.   By LuAnn Lawhon

am a teacher of young children. For the past 12 years, I've worked with children ages three to six. I'm experienced in my field, and I speak the language of an educator who's been trained in early childhood development. The principles of developmentally appropriate practice are militantly important to me. I like what I do.      I also like computers. However, this friendship is not long-standing. I did not participate in the early years of technological growth in our schools. During those years, I was only a part-time teacher, working at the preschool level. Preschool budgets don't include state of the art computers, and preschool salaries don't encourage staff members to purchase their own. My family finally bought a second-hand Apple IIGS in 1990, and very soon afterward, new software for such a machine was practically nonexistent! My attitude toward computers became a little resentful. Finally, in October 1995, I found myself with a new kindergarten class, a new Packard Bell, and a great need to learn a whole lot in a very short time.

t was definitely a good news/bad news situation. Good news: our school had a great computer lab, with 25 Macintoshes. Bad news: that lab was shared by 19 classes, with students ranging from K-8. Realistically speaking, which age group should have priority here? Good news: most teachers had a Macintosh in the classroom. Bad news: I had three Apple IIes! Good news: new teachers were given lessons in using ClarisWorks at school. Bad news: I was trying to learn Microsoft Works at home. Good news: our school technologist taught the first week of computer class to my kindergarteners. Bad news: after that, I was on my own.

hat could be done, in a computer lab, with 22 non-readers? We started with a mouse practice program and a few activities in Broderbund's Playroom. Nice stuff, and okay if you have plenty of time in the lab and plenty of time with your kids. But my class had limited computer time and limited class time to meet the goals of a very intense curriculum. Scheduling for the computer lab was my option. How much of our precious time did I want to devote to this technology stuff, anyway? Was it really meeting the needs of my students? Could I manage it, in the true sense of the word manage?      There were a lot of things to consider. A big plus was the children's attitude toward computers, which was very enthusiastic: "Wow! We're going to computers this week!" A drawback was the range of behaviors in the class. Several children could scarcely sit still for more than 15 minutes, and I feared what might happen in a room where I had so little control. The first day of computer class (luckily, when our technologist was leading the class and I was only assisting), one of my most well-behaved little dears tried to type her name and didn't release the letter A. When she saw a row of capital "A"s marching across the screen, she promptly burst into tears! When I was on my own in the computer lab, would I be able to manage?

The kindergarten class of '96 definitely produced a '90s version of the alphabet: H is for hovercraft!

he biggest problem was the fact that I really did not know what to do in the computer room. I experimented with a few unenlightened projects, using Kid Works 2 from Davidson & Associates. The children were happy in the computer lab, but I didn't feel that we were really using our computer time in an efficient or developmentally appropriate manner. I didn't know where to go for help. Most of the articles I read on the subject involved suggestions for purchasing software. I didn't need software suggestions. I needed to know how to use our time in the computer lab to develop the language skills of 22 very individual young learners! I needed suggestions on how to manage!      Finally, about half-way through the school year, I decided to follow my instincts and simply use the computer to do what we were already doing! In the classroom, students had been writing in journals regularly, their writing made up of both pictures and letters. In the computer lab, the children began to use the Kidworks program to draw their pictures and type their letters. Keyboards and printers joined paper and crayons as tools to enhance literary development. I revised our schedule so that we could go to the computer lab for one week each month. During that week, we had four 40-minute sessions. This was a fairly large percentage of our total instructional time, given the fact that we were a half-day, three- hour kindergarten. Our final product was certainly not original. We worked on an old classic: The ABC Book! With the help of computers, however, the children produced books quite different from the crayon-and-manila-paper masterpieces of yore.

ost of my fears about managing the students disappeared once we got into the computer lab. The 15-minute attention span of the average kindergartner becomes extended when each child is in front of his or her own computer. Hands-on learning is definitely appealing. Managing the situation was not such a big problem after all--I got help. My seventh grade son and a few of his friends gave up their study hall and assisted the first few weeks that I was on my own. Their presence was crucial, since I was not yet familiar enough with the Macintoshes to trouble-shoot. Trouble-shooting is an absolute necessity with kindergarteners, because wrong keys inevitably get pushed and someone has to know how to undo what has just been done!        I worried that the children would forget in the weeks between computer sessions, but once the children learned skills in a hands-on and meaningful manner, they remembered them. I experienced the need for hands-on learning myself! During our first session, the school technologist had explained a number of features in the Kidworks II drawing program. One of these features was a stamping tool that could be enlarged. The next time we went to the lab, I couldn't remember how to make the tool work. I'd been monitoring the room during that lesson, and I'd heard the instructions, but I had no hands-on experience. In the meantime, the children had been stamping all over the place. They were very pleased to be able to teach me how to enlarge those stamped figures!

Alex has drawn an elephant, and attempted a phonetic spelling of the word.   Another student also drew an elephant and spelled the word according to the sounds she can hear. She has added and labelled a second picture--of herself!

sing the computer lab, I offered some features that weren't available in the classroom. Buttons, changeable graphics, and instant results are extremely appealing to youngsters. Even the weepy printer of "AAAAAAAAAAAAA"s got over her fears of the keyboard. Editing capabilities of the computer made drawing and writing much less strenuous for the children. A cat with a too-big head but a really great body was easy to fix. Likewise, a forgotten letter could easily be added when a child proofread her work and saw the need. Children with limited fine motor control could practice phonemic spellings without the stress of manually producing letters on paper.      Most important of all, the computers enabled the children to work at their own level and at their own pace. Our class included many children who had intentionally entered kindergarten late. They were mature enough to stay on task and work very quickly. But the class also included very young students and students with possible attention deficit disorders. These students worked more slowly and had difficulty staying on task. We did not try to do a page a day as a class. Each student learned the steps required to produce an alphabet page, and then took off! More goal-oriented students put two pictures on each page, and included accurate phonemic spellings or phrases. Other students printed a letter and a simple picture or stamped image on each page. When we ran out of time at the end of the school year, we had seven complete alphabet books and 15 little letter books of various lengths. Twenty-two children proudly took home their ABC books. Parents received a detailed evaluation of the project, and this evaluation was included in the student portfolios that were passed along to the first grade teachers.

don't claim that the ABC Book Project is a pinnacle achievement. There are things I could have done better. If I were teaching kindergarten this year, I'd begin with a counting book, rather than an alphabet book, so that no book would go home unfinished--number books can end on any number, but an ABC book is unfinished unless it ends with Z.      The ABC book was a beginning point, and I'm continuing to look for ways to develop language skills by using the computer in the classroom. This year, my first graders have a Macintosh LCII, an Apple IIGS (guess whose family donated that baby?), and an old Apple IIe. These machines are affectionately known as Mac, Gus, and Eve. The children use them often during our daily workshop periods, with varying levels of skill. And when the kids are out of the room, their teacher uses Mac, with varying levels of skill!

year has passed since the Packard Bell entered my home. I'm no longer trying to fit the demands of an intense curriculum into a half-day. I have my first graders all day! I still have a great need to learn a whole lot in a very short time, but I'm learning to give myself the same consideration that I give my students. Computer skills can be taught in a developmentally appropriate manner. That means we teach them a little at a time, in a manner that allows for individual differences, and in a way that is meaningful to the students. After all, we're not teaching computer skills for their own sake. These computer skills will eventually enable our children to communicate with an entire planet! Wow! We're going to the computer lab this week!

LuAnn Lawhon is a teacher in Topeka, Kansas. Read more about this author. Teacher Testimony authors are nominated by people like you. Send nominations to the editor. © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 SCR*TEC.   This page is Bobby Approved.