XO Lending Library in Seattle

XO laptops for American kids, yeah! Well, wait - that’s not exactly who they were meant for…So why would it be OK - and maybe even a really good thing - that I had a 1:1 XO laptop third grade classroom in Seattle last year? Here's my  answer.

A very brief history: I bought  an XO in 2007 in the first G1G1 (Give one Get one). I wasn’t exactly an evangelist for the XO program, far from it in fact. I just believed this was something that would be great for my third graders to try out. I tried to get funding from my school’s PTSA, but no dice. In the end, I just took a leap and went for it – a leap of faith that I would find myself repeating several times over the next few years. Fast forward to the end of the 2010-11 school year. There is now an XO Laptop Lending Library at my school. There are 29 XO’s in that library, including the one I bought way back when. The rest, every single one, have been donated to my classroom. If you’re interested in that part of the story, I’ve told it here.

I began the lending library with my own classroom, since they were already familiar with the XO. I offered the possibility of checking out an XO laptop for the weekend, something I had tried at the end of the previous school year. Next, I extended the invitation to the school’s other third grade classroom, which I already knew pretty well, seeing them for Art twice a week, and having a few in my reading group. To introduce them to the XO,  I devoted a couple of Art class times. The first session included the basics of button operation, the mouse, XO vocabulary, etc. - with time to explore of course. The second session briefly reviewed the previous session, and then quickly went into Gnome (ver. 10.1.3), and back - with time to explore  at the end. There was just never enough time for the exploration.... After those two sessions I figured the kids were ready to check out an XO for the weekend. Their class would be able to check out XO’s for the next two weekends, a maximum of 12 each weekend.

This then was the model that I held to for the three second grade classrooms which followed. The challenge with them was finding times when I could see them for the introductory lessons - when I was not teaching. We settled on my lunchtime :( My own class was at lunch/recess during this time, so the room and I were available. The kids would come in to my classroom, where I already had the XO’s out for them on desks. I should mention that I used an XO hooked up to a projector via a special adaptor, which made those lessons much more efficient and meaningful for the kids.

I established some parameters, just to make the program manageable. I set up a maximum of 12 checkouts per weekend, based on 12 being about half a classroom and being a number I I figured I could realistically prepare for checkout/check-in tracking. As it turned out, everybody got a chance to check one out during their classroom two weekend period. I came up with a rudimentary paper/pencil sheet. Each XO was named, of course, and that was how I tracked them. Simple - match a student name with an XO name,  and that was it. All on the mighty clipboard. Each XO had to be marked ahead of time (masking tape) with the name of the student who was checking it out...

If this seems like an awful lot futzing around and extra work - well, yes, it was. Pick up Friday afternoon and check in the following Monday morning were usually pretty hectic, especially as I was teaching my own classroom at the same time - XO’s, power adapters, kids, clipboard, final reminders, etc. But, thanks to the cooperation of my own third graders, we were able to muddle through. I started the Lending Library in February, and we ended in June, 2011. Each student from the 2-third and 3-second grades at my school had an opportunity to check out an XO for the weekend. XO laptops went home 117 times for the weekend, and 117 times they came back, just fine.

I came up with a couple of forms to manage things. One was the previously mentioned checkout form, with cells for dates, student names, and XO names. The other was a permission form that had to be signed and returned two days prior to a checkout. I did not make a big deal out of possible loss or damage to the laptops on the form, going with a vague, “...so we promise to take all necessary precautions to keep it safe and secure.” A few came back a day or two late, which was not much of a problem. The only problem came in the form of frantic contacts via email over the weekend from parents concerned because their child had typed something inappropriate on the XO - and they did not know how to get rid of it. The permission form had this caution, “...all activities conducted on the XO can be tracked and seen later.” This actually happened three times. I reassured the parents that I would clean them up when the XO came back, that kids will be kids, and so on. I’m certain their kids definitely got a pretty severe talking to from Mom or Dad. This reassured me that people were at least reading the permission form carefully :)

That’s it. Next year I’ll start earlier and give opportunities to all the third, second and first graders. If there’s time at the end of the year, I’ll extend the opportunity to fourth and fifth grades - and maybe even kindergarten. I’ll also talk with staff about checking out our XO cart to roll into other classrooms for a week or so at a time. We shall see. To all those who donated their XO’s to my classroom, many, many thanks! Your XO’s are providing learning, exploration, and play opportunities for an entire school community.