prewriting done. Instead of taking away phones, we’re making sure students are busy with them.” Interactive boards are used in classrooms throughout Chelsea School. “Most of them use an amazing new technology called Epson BrightLink, which allows two or three people to interact on the board,” said Goldman. The BrightLink projectors can be used individually or “networked so that they can project from one class into another. And they allow us to annotate anything, even video.” Goldman, who teaches advanced technology courses, uses Twitter in his classroom. “Some students are shy about using their voice in class, while others are really SEE LEARNING, PAGE 18
uel Metho n a d m Preschool
COURTESY OF CHELSEA SCHOOL
Chelsea School students diagnose and repair a PC in Information Systems Management class.
admissions@htrinity.org 301.262.5355
t is
Em
benefit, said Palumbo, is that “kids have access to the lectures 24/7 and can listen to it if they need to review.” While technology has improved students’ academic skills, the Chelsea School views it “as a means to even the playing field for our students,” said Fedalen, as many “have a hard time accessing content that may be beyond their current reading level but that they are developmentally and cognitively very able to absorb. In addition, it enhances the students’ ability to creatively and accurately express what they know and are able to do.” An important part of Chelsea’s approach to technology is that “we make sure we’re not using something at school that our students can’t access at home,” said Goldman. That means the school purchases a “license to go” for proprietary software—such as Kurzweil 3000, which “takes text and renders it into speech”—and utilizes a range of open-source software, available at no cost. Chelsea provides support to its families and students. “Two faculty members go out to students’ homes and make sure the software and technology is in place.” Chelsea also uses Dragon NaturallySpeaking, which turns speech into text, to help students who struggle with writing. “In the past, a problem was that you had to ‘train’ the software [to recognize your voice],” said Goldman. Each time you moved to another computer, you’d have to train the software again. “Now we can store a student’s profile on our server,” which eliminates the need to retrain. Students also can use the software with their phones. “The Dragon app is free on Android or iOS, so students can dictate into the phone and have their
Give your child the academic advantage of a lifetime! * Small Class Size * Exceptional Academics * Financial Aid Available * Spanish * Technology Initiatives
* Music * Before & After Care * Athletics * Summer Camp
1911968
BOWIE AND GLENN DALE, MD Serving Preschool through Grade 8
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE GAZETTE
JANUARY 2014 | PRIVATE SCHOOLS
1911932
www.htrinity.org 3