Making A Difference Wally Driscoll

Fifth-grade teacher at Roosevelt Elementary 26 years in education

A computer museum lines Wally Driscoll’s classroom.

Over the years, he’s purchased about 15 second-hand Apples, fixing up the old-time machines himself.

Computers are important, he admits. But he would just as soon see his students read a book than tap on a keyboard.

So he’s compromised.

His students use the computers to enhance good old-fashioned skills like reading and writing. They pop in a CD-ROM and do a reading exercise. They use word processing to concoct stories, hunting and pecking on the keyboard.

Driscoll saw his own children’s imaginations soar years ago when they wrote using a computer. That’s when he decided they were useful classroom tools.

“I’ve watched what happens when kids start writing on the computer,” he said. “They begin to play with language.”

But no one’s mistaking Driscoll for a technology junkie.

“You can’t replace P.E.; you can’t shortchange the library,” he said. “I still want kids to have books in their hands every day.”