Technology at John Glenn High School

             It has been a little over a month in a half since my last blog and a lot has happened since then.  I am already in my fourth week of my year long student teaching placement at John Glenn high school (JGHS) in Westland, Michigan.  I have been placed with veteran teacher Michele Anderson in her U.S. history class that is composed up of mainly eleventh graders with an occasional twelfth grader in her class.  I would classify the use and role technology plays at John Glenn as mediocre at best.  The building, which opened in 1964, still has no wifi which makes using laptops difficult.  I am forced to leave my laptop stationary in one spot in the corner of the classroom next to the only ethernet cord in the class.  The classes are all equipped with Dell desktops that are literally 11 years old, which is crazy old considering the recent technological advances in computing the last few years alone.  Additionally, all classes have an LCD projector that is used in collaboration with Smart boards.  Most of the teachers seem to have a love-hate relationship with their boards sighting their potential uses and daily malfunctions and misuses.

            The grading and attendance is all done at JGHS through an on-line program called Zango that is accessible from any computer.  From my experience with the program thus far I have found it to be exceptionally slow and not very user-friendly.  Through speaking with my mentor and other John Glenn teachers I have gathered that the program is really unpopular and more of a pain then a time saver.  Located in JGHS's library is a laptop cart with over 50 laptops and 33 desktop computers available for all students who need to do research or just type up a document.  The student body seems to be more connected with technology as are most twenty-first century students.  Almost all the students have cell phones and are always on them during passing period, with cell phone use being  restricted while in class.  My teacher Mrs. Anderson uses her Smart board nearly every class as she displays her PowerPoint on it during lectures.  I look forward to gaining more insight on the use of technology and its role at JGHS as my student teaching internship continues.