Teacher technology (aka what would happen if we adequately funded this)

 Good morning all,

I'm teaching from home today.  I have a district that provides a chromebook and desktop to each of us, as well as a good webcam and peripherals.  However, I have supplemented like crazy to make my classroom fully functional during this pandemic.  I have my own macbook pro from like 2012, a newer lenovo yoga i7 running ubuntu, a new huawei "macbook killer," a 17 inch gaming computer, a wacom tablet, ipad, touchscreen large monitor that will be my jamboard replacement, standing desk, biking desk, and a 1000 mbps internet connection that actually does about 500 mbps over wifi to those devices.  I also purchased an $80 gaming keyboard and a great, rechargeable logitech mx master 2s, as well as a plantronics rig headset.  

I can't help but think about what would be happening in education if every teacher was so well equipped.  If they had the technology that made them comfortable, made them effective, could keep up with their minds and their fleet fingers when they were planning lessons.  This is one of the overarching goals of the @gr8fullyfeclub, but it should not have to be.  Teachers should not have to depend on charity to have the supplies they need.  There are well funded branches of our government, and we in education feed every industry in this nation.  We can teach 21st century skills with chromebooks and 10 year old desktops, but imagine how well we'd do if everyone was as well equipped as I am?  The things I just listed indicate a $3000 investment I've made in my teaching infrastructure.  None of those things were provided by the school(s) I've worked in. I've done some donorschoose.org things, and gotten a laptop and good mice and keyboards and printers, but we shouldn't have to ask family and friends to fund our unfunded mandates.

Anyhow, I don't mean to say that I'm ungrateful for what I have.  I have functioning technology and I can make it work.  I add what I add because it makes me even more functional, because I use this technology every day and I want it to supplement my efficacy not get in the way of it.  What if every teacher had what they would like from their wishlist?  What if we were funded at a level that meant that the tools we need to most effectively deliver instruction were readily available, we received training in it and we could use it effectively?

Maybe I can start this with some donated linux machines, and by helping students who don't have their own devices.  But it's a problem we could solve as a society by deciding to fund education appropriately.

Have a great day all and a wonderful holiday!

Mark