The first day of camp was extremely exciting until I sat down in front of a Mac. After the keynote speech by Dan McCormick I was sold on a Mac. Garage Band has great features that cannot be duplicated on a pc from what I hear so far. But let me tell. Our first hour project was to complete a personal flyer. I was ready to throw that thing across the room. I had to walk out and take a little break, that’s how upset I was. I knew how to do this, but I didn’t know where anything was on the Mac. The mousepad doesn’t click the same way. And I couldn’t do the basic things the speakers were talking about. I didn’t understand what they were trying to tell me.
Upon later reflection, I thought about our ELL students. They see what we are doing and think, “Yeah, I can do that! But what is she talking about! Where do I find that word? I don’t know that in English. How do I do that? Wait, slow down.” That’s exactly how I felt, and as an adult I was beside myself. I have never been so frustrated in my life.
Now, I did complete my flyer. And I’m not so frustrated with a Mac now, but I’m not completely sold either. I know that we will never get Macs, so part of me wants to let it go, but I know that educational potential is probably superior to what can be produced on a pc.
Off to another exciting day today.
Learning Required 
I was thinking….after initially reading your section about our ELL students and the empathy you expressed about how frustrated it must feel when learning a new language…I too got that kind of feeling when dealing with the MACs. Being a PC person, I kept saying to my self during some of our “Boot Camp” sessions, “I know this can be done, but how?” The concepts were in my PC brain but I was having difficulty producing in a MAC environment. I was certainly was having a sense of frustration. It was an interesting way of looking from an ELL student’s perspective. I eventually was able to transfer some of my PC knowledge into the MAC environment…but I wasn’t where I wanted to be.
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I was thinking….after initially reading your section about our ELL students and the empathy you expressed about how frustrated it must feel when learning a new language…I too got that kind of feeling when dealing with the MACs. Being a PC person, I kept saying to my self during some of our “Boot Camp” sessions, “I know this can be done, but how?” The concepts were in my PC brain but I was having difficulty producing in a MAC environment. I was certainly was having a sense of frustration. It was an interesting way of looking from an ELL student’s perspective. I eventually was able to transfer some of my PC knowledge into the MAC environment…but I wasn’t where I wanted to be.
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