Technology in the Classroom

This article supports the suggestion of Flavia McKnight, one of our Esperanza founding board members.
Article published Feb 20, 2012School expands use of technology in the classroom

ROCHESTER— When William Allen School teacher Kristen Truax wanted to see how well her second grade students were understanding math questions, she didn't ask them to raise their hands or write questions on a sheet of paper — she asked them to pull out their iPads.

Truax's class was using an app called eClicker Friday afternoon, which allows her to create multiple choice and true or false questions for her students that can then be sent to each student's iPad. Students then answer the question within a certain amount of time, sending their answers back to Truax's device, which puts the data into graphs that clearly show her how well her students understood the question.

These second grade students, like many others at the school, have been working with teachers and staff since the beginning of the school year to increase the technology used in their classroom, as well as use that technology in deeper and more interactive ways than simply playing games and using apps.

The school used Title I grant money to purchase 50 iPads for the school and to install a schoolwide wireless Internet system at the beginning of this school year, enabling the use of more technology in all classrooms.

And while the first half of the school year was spent familiarizing students and teachers with the devices and how they can be used to supplement learning, the school's Assistant Principal Kat Crosby said Friday that in the second half of the year the school's goal is to use them in even more meaningful ways — to help students do research, create projects, and present them to fellow classmates.

"We're looking to take it to the next level," she said. "Before it was all about the device, but now there's been a shift and it's about the endless opportunities for learning the device can provide."

So far, Crosby said, students and teachers alike have responded positively to the increased use of the iPads in their classrooms, adding that teachers have been getting plenty of training and professional development in the devices to be sure they can use them to their fullest potential.

"If we want students to use technology we have to put the technology into the hands of teachers and teach them how to use it," she said. "They've become more comfortable and they've become excited seeing the impact it's having on student engagement in their classrooms."

That engagement was clear Friday in many William Allen classrooms, where teachers were working on bringing their students' use of technology to that next level.

Truax's students cheered, jumped and danced with joy Friday when they got a question right, trying to hurry the program along to get to the next question.

Truax said that while that day was the class's first experience with eClicker, they use the iPads everyday in some form and that both she and the students love what they bring to the classroom.

"In the beginning, they thought they were just going to be playing games, but they're really enjoying going into the programs and learning to use them," she said. "They're very engaged, wholeheartedly, and very excited."

Truax said the devices have also done a lot for her teaching, not only through apps like eClicker, helping her see very quickly which students need more help with which instruction, but also by making her just as excited as her students.

"I'm learning right along with them," she said.

Just down the hall, in Melissa Marcotte's second grade class, students were using iPads for a writing lesson Friday, utilizing an app called Book Creator to create a digital version of a persuasive writing piece they wrote earlier.

Like, Truax, Marcotte said that branching out from the math and reading games the class did the first half of the year to more of the creative apps has only engaged her students more.

"They love it, it's so motivating for them," she said. "For kids who don't like writing to be able to say, 'here, do it on the iPad," and have them be excited about it really helps."

Second grader Emilei Morin, 7, was working on her persuasive writing piece Friday, in which she explains her reasoning behind wanting two kittens and said she enjoys being able to use the iPads in her classroom.

"It's fun, there's lots of games," she said. "For writing you get to use your finger, not a pencil."

Third grade teacher Kelly McMullen was also using the iPads in her classroom Friday, and was also trying to branch out from using educational games and move toward apps that will help students research and create projects to present. Her students were learning how to use Pages, a word processing application, to do just that.

Students focused on finding pictures online, through safe websites already set up for their use, inserting them into a document, and adding special effects, from borders and shadows in varying colors to reflections of the picture below it on the page.

Third grader Sadie O'Donnell, 9, was working on adding special effects to a picture of an owl Friday, and said researching and creating projects is much more fun when it is done on an iPad.

"We've done games and taken pictures, I like it because it's a touch screen," she said.

In one William Allen fifth grade classroom, taught by Amy Garland, even more students were working on research projects using the iPads.

Benjamin Martin, Curtis Smith and Olivia Cirles, all 10, were working together to research Mercury and create a travel brochure about the planet — all without using a pencil and paper.

And the students said they like it that way.

"It's helpful, there is an app for everything," Martin said, sounding like an iPad commercial.

Cirles agreed.

"It's exciting because they're touch screens, there's no keyboard, it's more fun than even a computer," she said.

Garland said it is obvious when using the iPads for projects and presenting information that the students are more engaged than they would be doing a traditional project.

"The technology and information is literally at their fingertips," she said. "It's much more motivating."

As the school year progress, teachers will be looking for even more ways to use the iPads creatively in their classrooms, with the ultimate goal of better the educational opportunities available at the school, Crosby said.