Kendall Miller, 11, had a hard time imagining creating the same poster by hand that he had created on the computer.
Using an online program on a library computer, Kendall clicked on a button that added a black-and-white houndstooth-check background to his poster. He browsed through blinking animated arrows and picked one to highlight features on his poster. He found images of nonfiction book covers online and added them, too.
“I couldn’t do anything like this” on poster board,said the fifth-grader from Root Elementary in Fayetteville. “It would take three times as much time. It’d be a lot easier to come on here and do it.”
Technology is becoming more prevalent in classrooms as teachers adapt to the new Common Core State Standards, which set expectations for what students should learn, as schools prepare students for a new era of online testing.
Districts continue to add to their desktop computers and wireless devices so students have more access to technology beyond just acomputer lab. More teachers, particularly those who are just starting their careers, are comfortable using technology. A growing number of online tools, some free, are at their disposal.
Under new writing standards, starting in the third grade, students will be expected to use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others. By fourth grade, students need to have enough keyboarding skills to type a one-page paper in a single sitting. Beginning in the 2014-15 school year, students will take new standardized tests on computers or portable devices. Arkansas is part of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, which is a consortium of 23 states using federal grant money to design a student achievement test on thebasis of new standards.
“The test in an odd way will be the catalyst that will spur teachers [to use more] technology in the classroom,” said Cheryl Gall, literacy specialist for the Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative. The cooperative provides training and resources for 16 school districts in Northwest Arkansas.
The use of technology continues to vary by district, by school and by teacher, Gall said. Many students still create posters by hand, instead of on websites such as Glogster.
Some teachers in Benton and Washington counties still struggle with basic computing skills, but their students will have to type and submit work on computers for new standardized tests that are in development, Gall said.
The most proficient teachers are comfortable with technology and make an effort to take their students to computer labs or check out carts of netbooks or iPads, she said. Teachers also are more likely to use technology for learning when campus and district administrators show an interest in technology.
TAKING THE LEAD
Districts in Benton and Washington counties tend to be ahead of the rest of the state regarding technologyuse in classrooms, though some districts have more technology than others, said Sam Karnatz, technology coordinator for the Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative.
“Everybody’s got a lab for the kids to use,” Karnatz said.
Districts have purchased iPads and netbooks to increase student access to computers, he said.
He anticipates that more districts will follow Fayetteville’s lead in allowing students to use their own smart phones and electronic tablets in class, Karnatz said.
The next step is getting everybody accustomed to the technology, he said.
The Fayetteville School District spends an average of $2 million a year on technology, using money from the state and federal programs, said Susan Norton, chief information officer for the district of 9,140 students, which has an annual budget of more than $109 million.
“The expectation is that students will be comfortable and familiar with all kinds of technology,” Norton said. “Technology is an essential resource to allow students to be more proficient in reading and math.”
Within the past two years, the district has upgraded its wireless network to accommodate more devices and to ensure wireless access throughout campuses, Norton said. Zero-interest bonds from the federal government provided money for campuses to purchase electronic devices for students’ use.
“There’s so many resources out there. It’s astounding,” Norton said. “There’s an outbreak of creative resources.”
Every classroom in the Fayetteville School District has at least a mounted video projector and screen, audio equipment, document camera and video player, according to the district’s technology plan. Many campuses also have interactive “whiteboards,” which are high-tech screens mounted on classroom walls that can function like computer screens and can be manipulated with a finger or a stylus. The campuses also have carts with classroom sets of mobile computing devices, such as mini-laptops or iPads.
The district continues to work toward increasing theratio of devices available to students, according to the technology plan.
STARTING IN FIRST GRADE
Even first-graders are logging onto computers. At Asbell Elementary, first-grade teacher Lindsey Griesse had her 6- and 7-year-old pupils log onto a collection of netbooks, laptops and computers to create talking avatars, or animated characters, through the online Voki Classroom.
The talking avatars are called “Vokis.” The website explains that the name is a combination of the Latin word for voice, “vox,” and a prankster character in Norse mythology, Loki.
Griesse spent about 15 minutes guiding 17 children through the process of turning on their computers, launching a web browser, typing in an abbreviated website address, and typing in a user name and password. At least one boy shouted, “Yeah!” when he succeeded in logging onto the Voki Classroom website.
Each first-grader had written a short paragraph on a worksheet the previous day about staying safe during severe weather. Madeline Dinger, 7, chose to write about hurricanes.
Her paragraph read, “I am going to tell you how to stay safe during a hurricane. First take your pets with you. Next evacuate your town. That is how you stay safe.”
“I did these all by myself,” she said.
On her computer, she clicked a blue box for typing text and typed in her sentences.
“You go to there, press this,” she said, demonstrating.
The children had to finish typing their sentences before they could choose their avatars. Madeline chose as her avatar a girl with purple hair in pigtails. She could push a button and hear the avatar read her sentences.
“It’s fun,” she said. “You get to make your own character. I wish I could have this at home.”
Madeline said her family has computers, but they are usually in use.
Deisy Mendez-Hernandez, 6, chose a puppy as her avatar. Her family has a computer, but it doesn’t work, she said.
“I looked at the letters,” she explained of working in the Voki Classroom. “I pressed adog, and it was funny when he talked.”
The online program allows the children to hear what they have written, said Griesse, who is in her third year as a teacher.
“I just remember a paper and pencil,” Griesse said of her days as a student. “We had the projector with the transparency paper. We never had computers in our classroom.”
STUDYING LITERATURE
As a teacher, Griesse routinely uses technology, whether creating a presentation for her pupils or letting them play math and literacy games on her interactive whiteboard. The district also has instructional technology coaches such as Marjo Burk to assist with incorporating technology into lessons. Burk assisted Griesse on the day her children worked on their Vokis.
“I am able to easily access it,” Griesse said. “It’s user friendly. In every single subject I teach, I use some sort of technology.”
At Root Elementary, fifthgraders chose one of five genres of literature to study, librarian Diane Carpenter said. Computers assisted them in researching each genre and creating interactive posters on Glogster for their chosen genre.
Kendall had chosen four titles for his poster: Afghan Dreams by Tony O’Brien and Michael P. Sullivan; the Candy Bomber book; Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff and Paula Kahumbu; and 2030: A Day in the Life of Tomorrow’s Kids by Amy Zuckerman and James Daly.
Kendall had read Afghan Dreams. The book tells the story of two children from Afghanistan who are split apart, with one child going to Australia and one going to the United States. They reunite 30 years later, he said.
“I’ve learned about some other books I did not know were nonfiction,” he said.
The children also will be recording themselves discussing one of the books from the genre they are studying, Carpenter said.
“The kids are a lot more engaged,” Carpenter said. “It’s always kind of amazing just watching them and listening to them.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/18/2013