Skills needed to survive

By Katie Wilson
Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT Sat, May 17 2008

— These days, technology in the schools is not simply limited to one computer terminal in the corner.
Teachers are presenting lessons on iPods and projecting lesson plans from their computers onto high-tech white boards. Parents can now log onto the Internet to check their child’s grades.
Teachers in literally every discipline are using different types of technology to get the message across to eager students.
“The world in which our students will be a part has technology as an integral part of that workplace. We need to try to provide them with skills to be able to survive in that world,” said Tom Deadrick, associate superintendent of Marion County Schools.
When students see adults, such as teachers and parents, use technology as part of their jobs and personal lives, it helps them learn how to adapt to new technologies themselves.
Deadrick said West Virginia is part of the 21st Century Skills Initiative, which is a partnership among six states to educate students to be a better workforce for this century. The initiative blends traditional subjects with technology and critical thinking skills to create a smarter, more adaptive person with a good knowledge base in a number of subjects.
“We want to provide a workforce that is technologically literate and capable so they can compete in the global society,” Deadrick said.
Technology efforts can be expensive. Kim Wade, administrative assistant in charge of finance for the MCBOE, said last year, the board spent more than $1.5 million on technology efforts. That figure includes $786,000 from the countywide excess levy and $773,000 in federal funds allotted for special projects. Those projects are funded through programs such as Title I.
Wade said the $1.5 million covered a multitude of things, including hardware, software, programming, support calls and repair on different technological items.
Deadrick said this is the fourth year the county schools have received the Enhancing Education Through Technology grant, a competitive federal grant that flows through the state to the county level. This year, that money is going toward enhancing technology at the elementary level, including paying for a new technology integration specialist to work with the elementary teachers and staff.
Today’s students have never had to live without the Internet, cell phones or video games. To them, it’s perfectly normal to head to the library to access online computer databases instead of pulling up the manual card catalogue to find a reference book.
Diane Furman, math and science coordinator for Marion County Schools, said technology is no longer an addition to the regular curriculum; it’s a necessary part of instruction.
“Technology is just as important as the textbooks,” Furman said. “It enriches what the teachers are doing. Technology makes it more fun for the teachers and it makes the students more successful.”
Technology is very useful for science and math classes, where items such as computerized probes for science experiments and graphing calculators make the subjects easier for students to grasp and faster for them to learn.
Many classes these days have online components. Textbooks come with resource CDs and addresses for Web sites with more information and activities, Furman said.
She noted that several Advanced Placement classes have heavy technological components. Students complete labs online and use computers to analyze the data and create reports. Some high school courses are actually offered online through Fairmont State and West Virginia universities, Furman said. Those students can complete the work online at the same time as their counterparts at the universities.
These days, if students forget their math book at home, they can log onto the textbook company’s Web site and see the same page from their book, Furman said.
Technology is also bridging the gap into other subjects as well.
Last year, county school officials went through an extensive search process to adopt a new series of reading textbooks for all grade levels. Furman said the number one request from reading teachers was that the new series should have more technological applications.
“Those teachers believe technology is very important,” Furman said.
Two teacher workshops last year were dedicated to different methods of teaching to reach every student. Research has shown different students learn in different ways, meaning while one student needs to hear the material, another needs to see a demonstration to absorb the material effectively.
Technology applications are great for these differentiated instruction techniques, Furman said.
“It’s amazing what you can do, the different materials we have to teach with,” Furman said. “It makes teaching more enjoyable. There’s lots of ways to present the material now.”
In order to help teachers wade through the wealth of technology, the county board of education makes a number of workshops available to teachers. One of those, the annual Learning Academy, takes place each summer. At that workshop and others like it, teachers learn about new technologies and how to incorporate them in the classroom.
E-mail Katie Wilson at kwilson@timeswv.com.

Tools needed to prepare students for 21st century
By Katie Wilson
Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT — Teachers and students in Marion County Schools have truly gone high tech.
From computer terminals to iPods, folks in the school system are teaching and learning for the 21st century.
Diane Furman, Marion County Schools math and science coordinator said the schools don’t have all the technology they need and they’re looking for innovative ways to get grants and other funding to purchase newer gadgets.
Tracy Chenoweth, coordinator of technology services, said technology exposes students to some of the great tools they’ll be using in the workplace.
The following is a list of technology gadgets and programs in use in the schools today. The list is not inclusive and only contains highlights.
• Every teacher was issued a laptop computer this year. In addition to various classroom applications, the teachers can now use their laptops to enter grades into Gradequick software and upload them to the Edline Web site so parents can access their child’s grades online.
• Many teachers were issued Palm TX handheld computers for use in the classroom. Teachers participating in Response To Intervention programs at the elementary level use these to collect assessment data, then upload the scores to their laptops.
• Each school has at least one “white board bundle.” The bundles include a white board — or SmartBoard — which is a chalkboard-sized projection screen with interactive features, a projector and a laptop computer all on a cart which can be wheeled from room to room and plugged in. Some schools have as many as six of these bundles. Teachers use the SmartBoard bundles to show students life size images and videos. With a SmartBoard, a tiny calculator screen can be projected onto the board, allowing the entire class to see at the same time.
• The county schools have subscriptions to United Streaming and Discovery Health Web sites, which have pictures and video clips that teachers can show in class. For example, if teachers are doing a lesson on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., teachers can pull up his famous “I have a dream” speech.
“It makes the curriculum jump off the page,” Chenoweth said.
• Portable DANA labs make essay writing a snap. A DANA is a miniature keyboarding unit, like a laptop computer without the flip-up screen. They are also Internet accessible and can work with different probes and other science equipment. As students finish essays or reports, they can send them through wireless connection to the teacher’s handheld or laptop computer.
• iPods and MP3 players are beginning to be used by 15 teachers countywide to podcast lectures and other assignments.
• Video conferencing labs at West Fairmont Middle School, Fairmont Senior, East Fairmont and North Marion high schools have virtually limitless possibilities. They allow students to take digital field trips and take courses over the Internet. Principals can also use the labs for their monthly meetings, Deadrick said. That would keep the principals closer to their schools instead of traveling to the Central Office for the meetings.
Deadrick noted the board of education is looking into things like portable video conferencing labs for schools that don’t have a spare classroom.
E-mail Katie Wilson at kwilson@timeswv.com.

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