The Weekly Inventory (which at this rate should be renamed The Often As I Can Inventory) has been returned, tabulated, and analyzed. So far, the data has been supporting my view that typewriters are still a useful tool in the classroom and that many high school students will use one if given the opportunity.Is this any surprise? Anecdotal examples are all around. Tom Furrier, by way of his interesting blog, says that he has noticed that a trend has become a movement. Matt, a 16 year old in Massachusetts, has his own typewriter-centric blog called Life in Typewriterdom that is clearly a source of author's pride. Typewriters are not just for crusty old journalists or the social contrarian.
I could go on and on about how much the inventories support this information. For example, 100% of 53 students who use a typewriter in my classes "enjoy using the machine" and find that they "feel their writing has more meaning" when they use a typewriter. I could mention that 67% of the students who responded to the question feel "that they have a unique connection" to great authors who used a typewriter. I could also tell you that 90% of 53 students like the sound of the typewriter "very much."
But, I would rather have some of them tell you what they like best about using the typewriter. So, for the next few days I am taking some special responses from my students and will post them as typecasts. Each will bear the title "Typecasts from the Front." You will be able to hear directly from them what it is about typewriters that make them so special.
Also, December 13th marks the three-month mark for the Classroom Typewriter Project. I don't know what excitement we will have planned, but it will be something special!
UPDATE: I am awaiting the installation of a scanner before I proceed with the typecasts. My school has a wonderfully complex ticket system that would be perfectly at home in the movie Brazil. While I can educate children I do not have the intellectual capacity for installing a basic computer accessory. Patiently I wait.
