SPONSORED POST: This is a paid post. The Road to The Good Life chose to work with Bing for their commitment to digital literacy in the classroom. All opinions presented are my own.
School bells have rung for the last time until Fall. However, now's not the time to forget your local schools. Let your fingers do the walking and change our community's perception of the Tech industry. Let's help bring technology into local classrooms and introduce kids to technology as a way to inspire and satisfy their curiosity.
Almost every where you go in The Mission, you're confronted with private buses that take employees of tech companies from their SF homes to their Silicon Valley jobs. And, often the way of these buses are blocked by protestors wanting to force tech companies to help local communities. These shuttles remind community members daily of the conspicuous consumption, lack of empathy, and isolationism practiced by many who work in Silicon Valley yet choose San Francisco as home. Tech is not viewed positively.
Tension in The Mission Towards Technology
The Mission has always been home to recent transplants to The City, formed in 1910, by refugees from the Mexican Revolution. In past history, these transplants have been the working class. These refugees were followed by the Irish, the German, and the Polish, who later relocated to the suburbs, and since World War II has been primarily home to Central American immigrants. (Ms Ferro, a US History educator at Mission High School has published San Francisco Neighborhoods Immigration Project, a good resource for learning about the history of San Francisco's multicultural heritage.) Each change in the makeup of The Mission's residents has involved tension.
Any time you get a group of college educated, white collar professionals together to brainstorm about solutions to the rising rents and income disparity noticeable across the city education comes up. Specifically, retraining the population to fill roles in Tech. While that's overlooking the many roles needed to support a flourishing community, there's an opportunity to give all kids in our community a chance at pursuing their dreams.
Support Digital Literacy in Your Schools
We need to change how our community and its children view technology and we need to do so in a safe, ad-free, private search environment. Kids need to learn that technology is a tool to fuel dreams and to satisfy their curiosity. Bing in the Classroom is an ongoing program focused on doing just that. It includes daily lesson plans that inspire critical thinking and a rewards program that we can use to earn tablets for our local schools.
So why get involved with Bing in the Classroom? Because it's a way to make a difference in your local community without getting the local government involved. It's a way to give back to your community. It's a way to use technology to bring technology into community schools whether you are a parent or not. Isn't it about time that our local community stopped viewing technology as only available to those of privilege?
To see if your local schools are participating in Bing in the Classroom visit the website and enter your zip code. But, don't stop there. A school's participation is not enough. We need to get involved; we need to get tablets into the hands of our kids. And we can earn a Microsoft Surface tablet for your school with Bing Rewards!
The beauty of getting involved with Bing in the Classroom is that we don't have to wait until local government enacts taxes on the shuttles or the company's decide to give back to the community. We can help our schools bring technology into their classrooms faster simply by earning credits towards Bing Rewards just by searching with Bing from our home or mobile device.
All Citizens Whether Parents or Not Need to Be Involved
Every morning and evening over the course of an hour, at least six Silicon Valley shuttles go past Horace Mann Buena Vista K-8. If those buses, which typically hold between 40 to 60 people seated, are even half full, that's 120 to 160 people. (More buses go past and they're typically more than half full, but to keep it simple, let's just go with this assumption.) That's over a hundred people who could be doing something now to support their local schools, instead of getting irate when protestors block the path of their bus. In other words, about 60 regular Bing Rewards users can earn a Microsoft Surface tablet with Type Cover in a month for a school, with no limit on the number of tablets a school can earn. If everyone in this simplistic example switched to Bing for their Internet searches, we're looking at six Surface tablets Horace Mann Buena Vista K-8 could be receiving this Fall.
When I went to check whether or not the school down the street from us, Horace Mann Buena Vista K-8, was participating in Bing in the Classroom, I wasn't surprised that they were. I was surprised that only one local resident was supporting the school, a school within sight of many of the various company shuttles that go up and down Valencia Street and 24th Street.
As a community we should be ashamed of ourselves. If we want to make an impact and leave a positive legacy in the neighborhoods we now reside in, we need to start caring out the broader community and taking action to help.
How to Donate Microsoft Surface Tablets to Your School
- If you're not already participating in Bing Rewards, sign up for Bing Rewards via my referral link (*affiliate link). (When you get to Silver status, I'll donate the 500 credits to Horace Mann Buena Vista K-8.)
- If Bing is not already your default Internet search engine, on your home device, set it now.
- If you don't have the Bing app installed on your smartphone, install it now.
- Whenever you are searching for a nearby late night dining establishment or authentic dive bar, use Bing and earn credits for the school of your choice.
- Log into Bing Rewards.
- Go to the Rewards tab and click REDEEM.
- Under the primary navigation, click Donate.
- Click Learn more in the Donate 50 credits to local schools banner.
- Click Set as goal to show your progress towards your reward (a Microsoft Surface tablet with Type Cover for your school).
Now every time you login to Bing Rewards you'll see how close you are to donating credits to your school of choice.
P.S. Don't feel like commenting? Strike up a conversation with me elsewhere: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+, or Pinterest.
Credits: All layouts designed by and images taken by Eden Hensley Silverstein for The Road to the Good Life.
This post contains an affiliate link followed by (*affiliate link). I feature services that I use or subscribe to. I have participated in the Bing Rewards program mentioned in this post since Fall 2013. All opinions presented are my own.
I'm required to disclose a sponsored partnership between our site (The Road to The Good Life) and Bing. I have been compensated in exchange for this post in the form of payment, product or experiences.
