Philanthropist Ms. Kathleen Patton is not only one of the Cofounders of Crossing the Digital Divide, she is also the organization’s CEO and Executive Director. With a solid background in business, having started her first NPO in her early twenties, Kathleen Patton was more than prepared to take on the challenge of opening a computer training facility. This facility has been on the cutting edge of “Reentry Programs”. City officials are heralding RP’s as being vital to the cities success as they offer support to some of the most at-risk adults who are recovering from drug abuse and other challenges. Kathleen Patton’s organization, which was formed in January 2004, gives recovering addicts the opportunity to change their lives by learning how to use today’s technology to earn a living. Crossing the Digital Divide, which is located in Los Angeles, California, has three locations to better serve the community of high-risk adults in recovery.

Kathleen Patton utilizes her business smarts to manage and oversee the operations at Crossing the Digital Divide. Because of Kathleen Patton’s efforts, the Crossing the Digital Divide staff, and the numerous volunteers, Crossing the Digital Divide is an award-winning organization that has received recognition from the local government, including the mayor of the city of Los Angeles.

In addition to her work with CDD, Ms. Kathleen Patton also enjoys a close family, friends and colleagues. Kathleen Patton relaxes by participating in swimming, volleyball, hiking, music and film.

Kathleen Patton finds special meaning in the quote, “The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.” Ms. Kathleen Patton also finds inspiration and deep meaning in a quote credited to one of her favorite writers, world-renowned author and poet Maya Angelou: "All great achievements require time."

CDD Class Report Cri-Help 5-4-10

                              CDD Weekly Class Report

                                       Cri-Help / May 4, 2010

Opening Comments:

Today was lesson 3.  I arrived 30 minutes early to set up the classroom and put the day’s agenda on the board.  Dwight soon arrived.  One of the students decided to arrive early as well.  Eventually, everyone arrived.

 

Attendance:

We took roll and passed the manuals to all the students.  Everyone was on time or early.  One student, Anthony Tella, was absent.  There was also a new student in the class, Edward Larson.  We assigned him a manual, team, and group.

 

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:

In the beginning of class, I told the students the agenda for the day, which was written on the board.  Before beginning the lesson, I also reemphasized the rules once again so they knew what to expect and how to behave in the class.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:

I covered the 1st topic for the lesson.  I spent about 5 minutes reviewing Module 1 with the students, and I asked them to follow along in their manuals.  Then, I went over the outline.  I was surprised to hear from several of the students that they already started the outlines in the previous lesson, and one or two of them wanted to turn something in.  I told the students to hold on to their outlines because they were due next week (not today), and we would be working on them during the lab sessions.  I went over the “Making an Outline Lesson” in the manual, emphasizing the “Say it 3 times” rule, and explaining each section (opening statement, body, closing statement).  I also created a handout with a simple outline example, which I gave each student to keep and use as a reference/guide.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:

Dwight covered the Computer Discovery Terms.  He quickly reviewed the 1st 6 terms from the previous lesson, and then went on to lecture the next 6 terms.  He brought in examples of each of the new 6 terms to show the class.  By using an already open computer, he showed the class where they were located on the computer.  Some students had questions about the computer parts, and so Dwight explained each term in more detail.

 

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:

None.

 

LAB TIME:

During the lab, group A was first to use the computers, and group B was the 2nd group.  Dwight worked with the students who were on the computers, and I focused on working with the students to develop their outlines.

Dwight worked with each student on the computer.  He showed them how to minimize/maximize and how to work with multiple windows open on the screen.  Some students who already had Mavis-Beacon accounts started the typing lessons after the minimize/maximize exercises. The computer lesson went smoothly and each student seemed to be getting used to the computer.  One student that didn’t know about dragging and dropping was excited that he could do it now, and he was even more excited to be able to minimize/maximize.

For the students working on the outlines, I had them get into their teams and discuss amongst themselves their outline topics.  I went from group to group to talk about the outlines in detail, and I spoke with each student one-on-one to make sure they understood how to do an outline.  As it turns out, several students didn’t know how to make an outline and didn’t understand the concept, so working with each student was very important.  I gave an analogy of a skeleton to try to help them understand what an outline was.  It helped for most, but there were 1 or 2 who still seemed confused.  They wanted to write paragraphs and long sentences, so I had to keep telling them that they just needed to list their ideas in the outline.  I also kept reemphasizing that this was their plan for the future and to try not to talk about the past, and also to incorporate the computer skills they were learning into the paper

 

FINAL NOTES:

Overall, I thought the lesson was successful.  The students continue to show excitement and eagerness to learn, and working on the outlines opened up a lot of the students.  They started to reveal a lot about themselves, and I felt touched that they were sharing this information so freely.