Google Enterprise Customer Service - Amazing

Through Donor's Choose, I wrote a project for 30 Chromebooks.  It was funded by my awesome friends and family and complete strangers.

All 30 of them arrived.  It was like Christmas in May with a light snow falling Minneapolis.

One of the Chromebooks came with a keyboard that didn't work.  The home row (asdfghjkl) wouldn't do anything.  This made it impossible to put in the school wifi password.

But this post is about Google Enterprise customer service.

I emailed the generic support email and got a response within 10 minutes.  That never happens.

They needed more information which I sent back immediately.  Ten minutes later, I got another email saying that my hardware issue had been escalated to the replacement people.  I also got a phone call from the same person who sent the email to make sure I understood everything and to answer any other questions.  Really?  Awesome!!!

By the afternoon, I had an email from the replacement people saying that my replacement Chromebook was already being shipped out and complete directions for returning the defective one.

I'm blown away.  The support from Google Enterprise was outstanding.  I couldn't have asked for anything better.

Thank you Google!!!

Chromebooks!!!!

They have arrived!  I spent a Friday afternoon unboxing all of them and setting up the cart.  Then I took one home for the weekend to play.  I put the MacBook Pro and iPad on the shelf.

I loved it!

It did everything that I needed and wanted it to do.  The battery was a champ.

My only issue was the screen size.  I'm a bit spoiled with the MacBook size.  It's not much bigger but the jump from 11" to 13" is considerable.

Today was the first day the students go their hands on them.  I'll write about that tomorrow. Right now, I just want to enjoy the fact that my friends and family donated the funds to support students they have never met, a teacher they have never seen teach, and a classroom in a building they've never been too.  Just blind faith that I'm a good teacher, leading great students, and will make the most of their generosity.  What a blessing!!!

Sullibreeze Spoken Word

This video has been floating around the web for a bit and it's stuck in my head, especially in this testing season and seeing the stress on students faces.

"Test us tests, but the finals are never final 'cause they never prepare us for the biggest test, which is survival."

"My world changers and my dream chasers because the purpose of why I hate school but love education was to initiate a world-wide debate but to let them know that whether 72 or 88, 44 or 68, we will not let exam results decide our fate. Peace." - sulibreezy

I'm not sure I agree with all of sulibreezy's posts or videos.  This one really speaks to me though. I pulled out 2 quotes that I can't get out of my head. 

I don't give tests.  I don't think I've given a test in 2 years.  I've had students write tests, create jeopardy boards, and participate in Philosophical Chairs and Socratic Seminars.  I'd much rather listen to 24 voices debate the merits of war from The Clay Marble than regurgitate facts from chapter 15.

They all read the book.  I watched them.  I read with them.  They read to me.  They read to each other. I don't need any lower level garbage to show me that.  They need higher level stimulation to make sense of what they read and how it impacts them.  They need to know it's okay to disagree with someone in conversation while sharing beliefs.  They need to know how to open their mind and listen.

Hate school?  I do.  Luckily I believe that my classroom isn't really school.  We don't sit in rows.  We don't always raise hands.  We don't always get along.  We don't always treat each other the best.  It's messy.  It's confusing. It's discussion.  It's reflection.  It's games.  It's struggling.  It's not knowing.  It's sit on the floor with your laptop and write.  It's go in the hallway and collect yourself because you are laughing too hard.  It's open the door and let outside people in.  It's get on a bus and visit that campus and see what lies ahead for you.  It's more than whats inside that numbered room.  It's more than one day of one year.   

That's education and it's so damn exciting.

No Meetings! Chromebooks!!!

A rare day.  No meetings after school.  I think I'll blog.

I'm super excited for tomorrow.  A UPS plane landed in Minneapolis at 6:03 this morning carrying 30 Chromebooks.  They are scheduled to be at my school by the end of the day tomorrow.  THE END OF THE DAY!!!  30 CHROMEBOOKS!!!

Part of me thinks I'm greedy.  I already have 30 MacBooks in my room.  However, they are 4 and 5 years old.  They weren't mine to start with.  Many were missing keys when they got to me.  There were a couple scratched screens.  In addition, MacBook batteries are set to only last about 3 years.  These don't make it through a day.  I'm lucky to get about 3 hours.

Here's why I'm excited about the Chromebooks:

• They are new.  I get to set them up and care for them from day 1.  I don't have to worry about what I'm getting.
• They start up in 8 seconds. That's instant compared to the minutes for MacBooks.  
• They wake up instantly.  That, with the start up time, is huge for management in the classroom!
• We haven't used anything on a MacBook for software that isn't web-based.  The extra money spent on iLife is wasted in my room.
• The batteries will last more than a school day.

I'm can't wait!  I need to figure out how to number them effectively.  I need to figure out how they are going to work with the cart that I have.  I need to make sure that students have access to a guest account for the first day so that we can hit the ground running.

Oh, boy. Chromebooks are coming!

Leadership

Quality leadership makes quality schools.

During just this school year, my district has lost significant people among the top administration.

We've lost the following:

An Area Superintendent
Chief Academic Officer
Chief Information Officer
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Technology Officer (might have been last school year)
Director of Instructional Leadership

If you were to look at any other business in the world and saw this happening, what questions would you ask?

Warts, Duct Tape, and Education

My wife took our daughter to the doctor last week.  She's got a wart on her toe.

I made a Monty Python reference that my wife didn't get.  It was the first thing that came to my mind.

I must say though that I love our doctor.  He's as a big a dork about medicine as I am about education and technology.  I say that with the utmost respect and reverence.

He shared an article that he read about treating worts.  This isn't it but you get the idea.

Duct tape on a wart?  How do you discover this?  Who wrote the grant to try it out?  Who funded this study?

This is what is wrong with education.  The world doesn't allow us to try crazy stuff?  I guess this is where I come out against Common Core?

In education, we are forced to do it one way.  We are given curriculum.  We are given lesson plans.  We have meetings on how to do stuff.  We get packets.  We got district leaders, government leaders and parents who tell us what to do and how to do it.

Do teachers personalize things?  Sure.  We each have our flair. Passions.

But when was the last time a teacher put duct tape on a wart?  Or taught science by building a canoe?  Or taught questioning by taking students to the newsroom?  Or taught scaling by designing a basketball court?

I want to be able to put duct tape on warts in my classroom.

Chromebooks and Donor's Choose, part 2

Okay, my last post was woefully inaccurate.  There appears to be some fine print that I didn't understand and I'm not totally in favor of.

Donor's Choose includes an optional donation to them with every donation.  There is fine print that says 15% of your donation is going to Donor's Choose and not the project.  It is optional but you have to opt out of this part.  OPT OUT.  I didn't see this when I donated to my project and I'm guessing none of my donors did either.

So, instead of $194, I have $528 left to fund this project.

Regardless, it is steal of a deal for 30 laptops.  In total, it is $3500 for 30 laptops.

If I was running the Donor's Choose website, I would make it clearer that 15% of your donation is going directly to Donor's Choose.  I'd also make it clearer that you can opt out or reduce percentage.

Okay, </rant>.

I still would love to fund this project.  Can you support me and my students with $20, $50 or $100?

Thank you,

Ben Knaus