Smithies on the cutting edge

  • By Robin Hauenstein
  • December 2, 2010
  • 275
                        
Walk into Smithville High School any weekday morning, and students will be busily going to class, getting books from their lockers, or chatting to friends. While they may be doing a variety of activities, they are almost all carrying the same thing: a net book. The small high school off of SR 585 is fast becoming a leader in technology-based curriculum and education. As the first semester of classes winds down at SHS, the students and teachers have had time to implement and adjust to the presence of net books in the classroom, and implement the technology into their everyday learning. Students at the school are on a block schedule, meaning they have four, 90-minute classes, and will begin an entirely new set of courses after Christmas break, and the net books, a smaller version of a laptop computer about the size of a hardcover book, figure prominently in those courses, too. For Barry Smith, a computer and algebra teacher at SHS, the net books do two important things for the students. “It levels the playing field for students who can’t afford Internet or a laptop,” and the net books help SHS “move into the 21st century with the technology.” Leased from Dell by the district with board approval, Smith said the net books also help make SHS “become a school of choice,” in the area. Staff and administration visited a similar setup at a school in Lorain County before making the decision to purchase net books for all high school students. The net books have the name and ID of each student on their spine, and are the students to use for their duration at SHS, be it one or four years. At the end of four years, the class of 2014 will have the option of purchasing their net books. All of them work on wireless Internet at the school, but at home, Smith said students must have their own Internet provider. At first glance, it may seem a bit drastic to make such a bulk purchase of cutting-edge technology, for every student. However, Smith said the real issue was the projected cost of replacing the older desktop computers and/or adding more. The net books were also the result of hard work by Jake Carmony, the district technology specialist. Smith recalled a college professor telling him years ago that students would someday have such advanced technology, using it in every class. “There was no way a school district could afford that,” Smith said. “Now I’m eating crow. I never thought that at Smithville, small Smithville, each student would have a net book.” Foreign language teachers Joni Reichenbach and Lisa Howie, along with Carmony, plan to do a presentation at the upcoming 2011 state convention of foreign language teachers on the use of the net books in the classroom. Students in Reichenbach’s German and French and Howie’s Spanish courses use the net books to do “bell ringer” work, posted up on a SMARTBoard, every day, when they come to class. Howie’s Spanish IV students made voice recordings and downloaded them, e-mailing them to her. Students in each class e-mail their bell ringer work to the teachers, for them to grade. They also use them for compositions, presentations, projects, etc., as do many other of the SHS teachers. The net books eliminated the need for the two teachers to plan classwork around the cramped computer labs, or aging laptops wheeled around on carts. Reichenbach said worrying about enough laptops for students to do work is a thing of the past. “It’s very handy to have…I can use so many more foreign language websites.” She added students constantly look up things on them in class. “I use a word of the day and a sentence of the day. You can hear it and see it.” Students still write out notes in class, but she said “some people are better at taking notes on a computer.” She called them a “good investment for taxpayers.” Howie also remembered the pre-net book struggles. “There was just no way you could have 30 students working on the computer at the same time…it (the net books) just makes it so much more convenient.” Howie also said that while students work on specific presentations, they can synchronize their net books, with an avatar of the other person working with them on the screen, as they do group projects. The teachers said meetings were held before school with parents and students to explain the way the net books would be used, and what would not be tolerated. Parents had to sign a usage agreement in order for their child to receive one. The district has a lease agreement for most forms of damage, except intentional. Students who don’t follow the rules can lose privileges to take their net books home. Each net book is internally marked so that Carmony can track them, and monitor usage. Teachers can also use a special website to look at all net books at once, to see what students are doing. They can even track their students in other classes. Smith added that the blocker that was installed on the net books to keep out pornography and other undesired sites stays with the students when they take them home to use. No major incidents have been reported. While Smithville may be a small rural school, Howie summed to the educational advantages the students are receiving. “These technology skills are what they’re going to need for 21st-century jobs. Universities use online platforms (in classes). This prepares students to be responsible.”


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