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May 9, 2013
Tech
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Redefining the classroom one e-device at a time Story and photos by Darin Moriki
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imberly Jezek’s students use today’s technology to solve age-old math problems. “I think my hands are a lot cleaner — they’re not covered in marker and chalk,” Jezek said jokingly in a May 17 interview with Colorado Community Media. “I rarely use markers on my board — I use this app (Edmoto) almost every day.” Jezek’s teaches mathematics to seventh- and eighth-graders at Clayton Partnership School in Thornton, and student participation is a hallmark of her approach — along with incorporating modern technology into her lesson plans. Students in Jezek’s class, like seventh-grader Laksmin Lavanderos, use more modern devices to solve mathematics equations that date back hundreds, if not thousands of years. “Using the information you have here for the base and the height, what would the equation be to solve the area of this parallelogram,” Jezek asks Lavanderos as she uses her wireless stylus pen to write in the angular measurements on her iPad several yards away at her desk. Lavanderos then uses another stylus pen — along with the measurements, which appear simultaneously on a whiteboard projection screen at the front of the class — to write an equation using given measurements that appear on the screen and on Jezek’s iPad. Jezek’s classroom — like many others in school districts throughout the state — is a example of how students learn, share and research information in an in-
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This Week: Tech in Schools
creasingly digital age. “I think in order to succeed in this world, they need to have access to technology and be able to use it, otherwise they’re not even going to be in the running for things later on,” said Lisa Furlong, a Clayton Partnership fourth-grade teacher who transitioned from a chalkboard to an interactive board last year after the school relocated into Mapleton Public School’s new Skyview campus. “It’s finally allowing (students) to be competitive at an early age instead of trying to force it all at the very end to make sure that they learn it,” Furlong said. “ If they’re starting it at this age, they’ll actually be able to compete in the job field when they get older.”
Moving forward, changing perceptions
Using new devices and tools in classrooms is not necessary a new trend for school districts and educators as technology innovations are regularly introduced and marketed to consumers. But what has changed, school officials say, is the general perception of how learning occurs in the classroom. “Tech used to be what I refer to as ‘the icing on the cake,’ but
‘The device knows more than the instructor, so what we see is an adjustment in the way teachers teach – they begin to facilitate lessons and not just lecture.’ Matt Cormier, executive director of educational technology we can’t do it that way anymore because it’s in the standard for most core content areas,” said Julie Bowline, instructional technology and library services director at Adams 12 Five Star Schools.
“We used to just stress the learning of technology tools, but what I’ve seen is more of a shift toward having students learn those tools and apply it throughout their curriculum.”
Top, Jonathan Rust, a fifth-grader at Clayton Partnership School in Thornton, uses an iPad to write out a fractional equation for his mathematics class that is displayed on the SMART Board at the front of the room. Mobile devices, such as tablets and notebooks, are being introduced as learning tools within school classrooms as the costs for these devices decrease over time. Left, Kimberly Jezek, a seventh- and eighth-grade mathematics teacher at Clayton Partnership School, sketches a parallelogram for her seventh-grade class on an iPad using a program called Educreations, which turns an iPad device into a whiteboard by recording live video and handwriting movements that are then projected on a screen at the front of the classroom.
Bowline said this shift of perception over the last decade also illustrates a need for educators to stress the importance of technology literacy and informed use, since almost anything — regardless of credibility — is available at a student’s fingertips with a few computer keystrokes. Matt Cormier, executive director of educational technology at Jefferson County Public Schools, said these perception shifts have also changed the traditional instruction model within the classroom. Since answers to simple questions are easily searchable on the Internet, Cormier said teachers must now formulate more complex questions for students as a way to stimulate the learning process. “In the past, the teacher was the person who had the knowledge and was delivering that knowledge to kids, but that isn’t always the case anymore,” Cormier said. “The device knows more than the instructor, so what we see is an adjustment in the way teachers teach — they begin to facilitate lessons and not just lecture.” However, Cormier said, this collaborative learning process between teachers and students is no longer confined to the classroom. An example, Jezek said, are individual Gmail e-mail accounts created by the Mapleton Public School district for each one of her students. These email accounts allow for students to reach out to her for help even when class is not in session. “For many years, we could say, ‘Education happens within these four walls and happened from Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.,’” Cormier said. “What we see with technology is that it breaks those walls down.” Tech continues on Page 9