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October 15, 2001
One Hamburger at a Time
By Susan McLester, Editor in Chief
How do you eat a whole cow? One hamburger at a time. That was a joke my daughter brought home from preschool a few years back, one that doubled her over with laughter every time she told it. It's been a while since those days of naps, plastic castles, and around-the-block Halloween parades, but that joke's punch line still crops up around our house when somebody is faced with a challenge or task that seems overwhelming or daunting at first. Tackling a large problem bit by bit, one day at a time, sometimes through trial and error, is a theme that emerged again as I reviewed the profiles of the three technology programs that editors Amy Poftak, Kristen Kennedy, and I put together after visiting schools and talking to educators and students. The programs are diverse-an experimental high school in southern California; a suburban district in Massachusetts; and a university-inspired initiative on the University of California, Berkeley campus-but each one of them is an example of what can be done when the drive and the determination is there. As Orpheus Crutchfield, director of the Berkeley Foundation for Opportunities in Information Technology told me during my visit last summer, their program for minority students is still a fairly small, grassroots effort, but they're "chipping away" at the digital divide, one piece at a time. You can read about what all three institutions are doing to teach students and educators with and about technology in this month's cover feature, "Taking the Initiative: Three Ed Tech Programs."
Also, this month we're happy to bring you the first in a series of pieces from Bill Bateman, whose column we've dubbed "The IT Guy."
Know any students who'd like to get published in T&L? Visit "Portraits of Learning," a photo and short essay contest for kids. But hurry, the deadline for submissions is October 22.
Regular readers of T&L know that we take pride in providing you with educated, critical evaluations of software, hardware, and Web products on a regular basis (these reviews are also archived and searchable by numerous criteria at the Product Guide). For this issue's Picks of the Month, longtime reviewer Roxanne Schneider spent many hours researching and test driving the current crop of homework helper products for kids, parents, and teachers. Her tips and assessments of more than 13 offerings, along with a detailed chart, can be found at "Homework Helpers to the Rescue." As she and senior editor Kristen Kennedy found during the writing of that review, it is not always easy to keep up with the new features and ever-changing publishers as one company partners or merges with another, the next iteration of a product ships, and new technologies are honed and added to Web sites. It's a big mountain of a job, but we're on the case and eager to continue taking on the challenge-one hamburger at a time.
Read other articles from the October Issue
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