Michigan
Schools Use Technology in Exceptional Ways
Summer 99, Journal of
Adventist Education, written by Janine
Lim
Technologies can contribute
to school excellence in many different ways. In this
expanded column, we will visit two schools that are
making innovative uses of technology.(1)
The Edith B. Garrett
Elementary School in Benton Harbor, Michigan, has 25
students and two teachers. Susan Bendrat, principal
and upper-grade teacher, leads her school in the exceptional
use of technology.(2) She knows
that innovative and appropriate use of technology in
the classroom cannot happen without sustained, appropriate
staff development. Bendrat attended over 75 hours of
training in the last two years. Some of this training
was provided by the Lake Union Education Department,
the rest by the Berrien County Intermediate School District
as part of a grant for teachers in the county.(3)
The school's teachers
decided that technology skills are best taught in the
upper grades. The younger students are still struggling
to become readers and independent learners, so they
need to focus on basic skills. However, when students
reach Bendrat's classroom, they put their skills to
work learning about their world.
Though the school has
only six computers, they are arranged for maximum use.
The students use one computer in the back of the classroom
as an Internet research center or the focal point for
small group presentations. In order to use the computers
effectively, Bendrat divides the class into two groups.
One group coached the younger students, while the others
work in the lab on their projects.
Technology is integrated
into the curriculum. "We don't allow games during
school," Bendrat states. Instead, the students
use the computer for worldwide communication, to supplement
their oral presentations, and to find information related
to their studies. Many other non-computer activities
also reinforce the concepts taught.
Bendrat does not allow
Internet access without supervision. She logs students
on and they know they are not allowed to access the
Internet if she is not in the room.(4)
This is part of the school's policy, which parents
and students signed at the beginning of the year.(5)
The class is currently
studying a unit on languages of the world. Bendrat found
a friend in Spain with E-mail access, and the students
write to ask her questions about the culture and language
of Spain. Each student types a letter and has it graded
before E-mailing it.
Students' letters and
responses from the friend in Spain are kept in a portfolio
for this unit. Other activities included drawing free
hand maps of the world, labeling the countries and continents,
and learning words from other languages around the world.
When I visited this classroom,
some of the students showed me their presentations from
a recent unit on amphibians and fish. First they conducted
their research, using books in the library, the textbook,
and the Internet. Then they created a detailed storyboard
showing what content and images would be on each slide
of the presentation, and used PowerPoint to compile
tthe information. Finally, they presented their findings
to fellow classmates, students from the lower grade
classroom, and a teacher. Students were graded on presentation
skills, such as looking at the audience, appropriate
gestures, and other skills. Their projects will be featured
at the spring open house and entered in the annual Berrien
County Arts and Sciences EXPO.
Other projects include:
(1) a study of the aqueducts of Ancient Rome, using
information from bookmarked sites on the Internet,(6)
after which students will build their own aqueduct;
(2) an Internet treasure hunt on U.S. presidents sponsored
by the Michigan Conference, and (3) a slide show that
the 8th-graders are preparing for their graduation.
With each of these projects, the computer is used as
a tool to accomplish curriculum goals.
Bendrat has some words
of wisdom:
- Don't use the computer as a reward or punishment.
- Allow all students access to the computer.
- Students who struggle academically often show their
strengths when using the computer. They learn the
software quickly and transfer this success to their
schoolwork
Other learning activities
comprise the lesson and reinforce the concepts taught.
Herein is the success of this school. The technology
is truly integrated into all that the students learn
and do.
****
Next, we visit the Niles,
Michigan, Seventh-day Adventist School. We feature this
elementary school because it received one of the first
annual "Awards of Excellence" given by the
Adventist Association of Online Evangelism (7) to the best evangelistic and
supportive web sites in Adventist ministry. The Niles
school, with 63 students and four teachers, was the
only K-12 school listed as a finalist for the Award
of Excellence.
Principal Melvin Wade
is also the upper-grade homeroom teacher and Webmaster.
(8) He and the other teachers
see the school web site as another avenue to "provide
information to parents and prospective students, to
publish student's work, and to create starting points
for the students use of the Internet."
Everything produced by
or about the school, including the constitution, strategic
plan, handbook, calendar, and weekly newsletters, is
published on the school's Web site. Unlike many school
Web sites, which are outdated and incomplete, the Niles
Adventist School site features its newsletter each week,
along with recent student work.(9)
Student work displays only the pupils' first names.
This year's project is called the World Fact Book. The
students research each country in the world, compile
the information using Microsoft FrontPage, and publish
it to the Internet. Teachers also use a classroom page
with links to tools that they need for their projects.
Wade is piloting a unique
fundraising use of the Web site. Many E-commerce retailers
have an associates program to promote their site. The
school has registered with several such sites. When
someone clicks on the retailer link to purchase a product,
the school receives a percentage of the sale.
The school has also established
an active technology committee that meets once a month
to review the status of the technology infrastructure
and to find ways to upgrade and improve the system.
Wade says: "All the individuals have expertise,
time, and/or talent in different areas of technology,
and they handle the maintenance, upgrade, and repair
of the computer network. This saves the school a considerable
amount of money in outside labor costs."
The technology committee
has also be helped increase the number of computers
in the classrooms. The school uses donated 386 and 486
computers as terminals. Wade describes how this works:
"We took one of our newest computers, a K6-2 333Mhz,
added some extra memory, and installed Microsoft Windows
NT Terminal Server Edition.(10)
Then we set up the 386's with Windows 3.11 and installed
the Terminal Server Client. With this in place, the
older computers were not doing any of the work themselves.
(11) The students see a screen
that looks and acts like Windows 95." These computers
are used for classroom writing tasks, Web page design,
and Internet research.
These schools have found
ways to use the tools at hand to accomplish curricular
and school goals. It is important for teachers and administrators
to integrate technology into the essential tasks of
a schoo, such research, writing, presentations, open
house, sharing policy with parents, and displaying student
work. In this way, technology can contribute to the
making of an exceptional school.
Notes and References
- These schools are only two examples of those that
are doing exceptional things with technology. Let
me know about your creative uses of technology by
E-mail at janine@janinelim.com
- See http://www.fromnowon.org/eschool/eschool.html
for some excellent reading.
- More information about this program can be found
at http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/techlit/Goal2.htm
- The Garrett School E-mail address is garrettschool@ameritech.net.
Susan Bendrat will gladly answer your E-mail questions
and comments.
- This is called an Acceptable Use Policy. More information
can be found at this address: http://www.erehwon.com/k12aup/
or you can see an Adventist school's AUP at http://www.tagnet.org/niles/aup2.html
- Bookmarking sites for students to visit later is
a great way to guide their research on the Internet.
- http://www.aaoe.org
- http://www.tagnet.org/niles/
- Documents can be converted by saving as HTML in
most word processors, or by using Adobe Acrobat, software
for fast web publishing. See http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/
for more information.
- Windows NT information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/
- When the computer receives a command, the command
is sent to the server. The server does the computing,
and sends the resulting information back to the computer
screen.
