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The tragedy of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon; the terror, shock, sorrow and anger that swept our nation and the world; the world coalition that quickly formed to fight terrorism&emdash;stopped us all dead in our tracks. The Computer Learning Foundation was no exception. As we struggled to make sense out of everything that was happening around us and worked to locate and get our colleagues, families and friends back home safely, we were struck by how irrelevant and trivial our traditional Computer Learning Month activities and contests were for this year.
So, we reevaluated how we should respond. As a school psychologist turned educational technologist, my concerns shifted to children struggling along with us to make sense out of the world events surrounding them. Unlike adults, however, many children lack the basic knowledge or communication skills either to understand or express how they feel about the events going on around them and adults' reactions to these events. Since we believe that technology offers powerful tools for helping, we decided to focus our activities this year on how technology can help us and our children cope with today's tragedies and events and make our world a better place.
I remember as a little girl my mother telling me about what it was like to be alive when Pearl Harbor was attacked. She spoke strongly about how in an instant the entire nation was united in a way she had never seen before or since. I heard her words, but never fully comprehended what she meant until September 11.
As the horrors of the tragedies unfolded, we witnessed something so powerful that we all felt it and will never forget it&emdash;not just the uniting of the American people, but people from all over the world. Overnight, we witnessed people's priorities shift to what's truly important in life&emdash;family, friends, community, freedom&emdash;sometimes seemingly lost in the times of peace and prosperity. On September 11, the trivial was set aside; artificial lines in society were discarded; a compassion and generosity sprang forward like nothing most of us have ever seen. Out of the rubble, we've found strength, compassion for others, goodness and a realignment of our priorities that can help make us stronger than we've ever been before.
Now is a time to help our children understand the values we hold dear. Help them understand and express their fears, their hurt, their anger. Help them understand the world around them, what freedom means and why we cherish it. Help them explore how we can make their world a better and safer place. We need to help make learning relevant to their world.
Technology can help. The Internet allows you and your children to research the countries, the histories, the alliances and the events. Word processing, desktop publishing, web page development, desktop video and graphics tools can assist in telling the stories, expressing the fears and the pain, and communicating messages of tolerance and unity. Helping children reach out to others in the community and around the world not only strengthens our unity today; it assures it for tomorrow.
Inside you will find a beginning list of meaningful learning activities for children at school and at home. As you create your own activities and as children create their projects, be sure to share them with us so they can help others. We'll add them to our Web site across the year.
We wish everyone strength and comfort during these trying times. God Bless America.
Sally Bowman Alden
Executive Director
Computer Learning Foundation
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