What's Inside - Channelview Independent School District

10
A new wireless world of learning
Technology brings
‘real world’ lessons
to life for students
The digital age is opening up new and
innovative worlds of learning for students
at Alice Johnson Junior High in the
Channelview Independent School District.
With the upgrade of the wireless system at
the school, Principal Peter Griffiths saw a perfect
learning opportunity that would keep students
engaged in learning and incorporate the use of
technology. In January, Alice Johnson launched
its school-wide wireless initiative, where students
were allowed to bring their laptops, IPads or similar
devices to help them with classroom projects.
Upon walking into the school library – a
place where someone would normally see
students digging into books for research – teams
of students are now huddled around laptops,
gathering information for a variety of projects.
As a guest walked through the library, students
in Tracey Thomas’ English classes were conducting
research through internet sources for a major
project. The students had read the novel, “Children
of the River,” which is a story about the challenges
children face in Cambodia.
Thomas asked the class to
compare and contrast the
issues in the story to life
in the United States, using
a combination of internet
and library resources.
“Giving our students
the opportunity to use this
technology has not only
heightened their interest,
but it is also making
learning more relevant to
the real world,” Thomas
said. “With the expansion of technology, our
students are truly living in a digital society – and
allowing them to use these types of resources on
a regular basis is preparing them for their future
in high school, college and beyond. When we
provide them with these technical skills, we are
also giving them an advantage in the real world.”
“Allowing students to use
these types of resources on
a regular basis is preparing
them for high school,
college and beyond.”
Tracey Thomas,
Alice Johnson Junior High teacher
Students in Tracey Thomas’ English classes at Alice Johnson Junior High School in Channelview ISD work
as a group to research topics for a project on their laptops. With the upgrade in wireless technology at the
campus, students are now allowed to bring their digital devices to school to use for classroom work.
What students are producing through the
technology are not just your regular written
reports with a display board. Students are
incorporating their written materials with
PowerPoint presentations, online posters, video
links and even digitally
animated presentations.
“Our students are really
getting creative with the
technology,” Thomas said.
“It has opened their eyes
and minds to a whole
new way of learning.”
Eighth grade student
Christina Grueso is using a
program called Glockster
to create on online poster
to help illustrate her
written report. “It gives
us a chance to think outside of the box, and
it actually makes learning fun,” she said.
While Thomas encourages creativity in the
students’ projects, she also educates them on
how to properly research internet resources. She
does not allow the students to use encyclopedias
or the site Wikipedia as references, “because
the information is vague and not as in-depth.”
Thomas and other Alice Johnson teachers
encourage students to use search engines to find
online newspapers, magazines and periodicals
that will provide them expanded information on
the topic they are researching. “We also teach
them to go beyond keyword searches,” Thomas
said. “When they are doing a search, we instruct
them to be as specific as possible so that they
can narrow down what they are looking for.”
Griffiths likes the results he is seeing
from the school’s wireless initiative.
“By the use of technology, it sparks student
interest and allows them to become more
involved in finding answers and creating work
that is multi-dimensional in scope,” he said.
With more students bringing their wireless
devices to school for use in the classroom, Griffiths
said he plans more staff development training
for teachers so they can better help students use
technology to its greatest potential. “It’s our job
to prepare our students for the future,” he said.
“Technology is at the forefront of our world and
especially the job market. The time is now to
prepare our students for those challenges and set
them on a positive direction toward future success.”