Teaching With Technology
This summer, teachers and administrators at St. John the Baptist School in Newburgh are gearing up to begin an exciting new technology program in the fall. This coming school year, each St. John student in grades 6-8 will receive an iPad to use for classwork and homework.
This move is part of a plan created by the school’s technology committee, which was formed three years ago. The school has also made technology updates that include replacing laptops in the school and adding Apple TV’s to classrooms. An anonymous donation is helping to fund the new iPads.
Principal Elizabeth Flatt said that this transition toward a more technology-based curriculum is in line with the changing ways in which we all learn and obtain information. “The students of today have access to so much more technology,” she said. “We want to keep up with that curve and keep up with the needs of our students.”
Flatt describes this switch as a major step in “a more gradual shift to online learning.” Students will use the iPads in different ways in each classroom as teachers see fit and as they adapt to this new way of teaching.
As the school routinely updates its textbooks, hard copies will be replaced by electronic versions. She also notes that, even if a textbook is not available on the iPad yet, students can snap pictures of the pages needed for their homework to avoid carrying heavy textbooks home.
Students will also use their iPads to access Sycamore Education, an online portal that teachers use to share grades, post class materials and even administer tests and quizzes.
Finally, teachers will be able to use this shift to iPads to create their own curricula that more heavily incorporate online resources like apps, websites and teacher blogs.
“We realize that technology doesn’t replace the teacher,” Flatt said, emphasizing the importance of keeping technology from dominating the curriculum. “We’re eager to find the right balance between technology and face-to-face interaction.”
In order to witness and learn from teachers who have found this balance, St. John the Baptist teachers took a trip this past spring to Scottsburg Middle School in Scottsburg, Ind., which has had a one-to-one iPad program in place for three years.
St. John is also providing teachers with technology training over the summer and throughout the upcoming school year. “We want to give teachers all the support they need for professional development,” Flatt said.
While this technology program is designed to enhance learning, the use of iPads during the school day also carries implications reaching beyond the classroom.
School administrators and teachers understand the importance of teaching students to be well informed about the dangers of the online world and the gravity of decisions concerning what to post on the Internet.
She emphasizes that “teaching kids to be digitally responsible students” is a large part of teachers’ work. “Hopefully we can teach students to leave positive digital footprints.”
