GENTRY — Educating through technology is a focus of the Gentry School system and was clearly an emphasis at the Nov. 21 school board meeting.
With mandatory online testing just three years away, the school district is preparing for that and for other online instruction by working on the infrastructure which will be needed to use the new Common Core Curriculum and the end-of-course examinations used to measure student achievement and evaluate the performance of schools and teachers.
One of those infrastructure projects under way is extending wireless accessibility to the entire Intermediate School campus and improving networking district-wide. While wireless networking is already in place at the other school district campuses, it is not yet in place at the Intermediate School.
The district cannot yet begin purchasing the devices which will be needed in the use of the state's Common Core Curriculum because we don't know what they will be, said Gentry School District superintendent Randy Barrett, but we can start working on the infrastructure we will need to use those devices, he said.
In a related presentation to the board, Phyllis Berry, math instructor at Gentry Intermediate School, demonstrated use of a new mobile interactive white board she is using to teach math classes. The device permits her to move aroundthe classroom freely, watching students, and to put math problems and test questions on the board to check how well her students are grasping new material. Students use a device similar to a television remote to key in their answers to questions and problems.
Berry says the new device allows her to teach her classes, hold the attention of her students and immediately see whether her students are understanding material or if more instruction is needed or individual students are struggling to understand new concepts.
Her students like the device and beg to use it, she said.
The mobile interactive white boards are also being used successfully by other teachers in different subjects to teach and to measure student comprehension of the subject matter, Berry said.
The board also passed on its first reading a policy change which would allow students to bring their personal electronic devices - items such as smart phones, iPads ande-readers - to use in facilitating instruction. The policy includes strict guidelines on the use of personal electronic devices, such as muting ringtones and sounds, making their use in the schools and classrooms subject to principals' and teachers' guidelines and setting specific rules and guidelines for electronic communications and social networking.
The recommended policy change came about, at least in part, because of the lectures of Bill Daggett on improving education in the 21st Century. Daggett suggests that personal electronic devices can be used to improve instruction and better prepare students to succeed in an age of technology. Daggett is a speaker for International Leadership in Education and is helping schools prepare for the implementation of the new Common Core Standards.
The proposed policy change goes to the district's personnel policy committee for review and recommended changes before coming back to the school board for a final decision. Any changes would become effective in the next school year.
News, Pages 1 on 11/30/2011