After completing a unit on sundials and measuring shadows created by the sun, Mountlake Terrace Elementary sixth-grade teachers Dean Ross and Trish Bauman had exhausted the variety of ways they could verbally explain the shadow measurements. Although each student had calculated the movements, they were not able to visually understand the concept.
But by using the document presenters each classroom in the Edmonds School District has gained thanks to the passage of the district’s capital levy last May, Ross and Bauman were able to recreate the movement of the sun — in less than a minute rather than 24 hours, Ross said.
And just like that, the students understood.
Dynamic learning situations like this indicate that the passage of the school district’s four-year, $44 million capital levy has benefited teachers and students alike.
“We have gotten great feedback from the teachers and the kids,” said Kim Mathey, manager for instructional technology for the school district.
The bulk of the levy funds, $20 million total, is going toward improving technology districtwide. While the district continues to roll out equipment during the next several years, the first stages of improvement have already affected the way teachers organize their classwork, said Lori Soderberg, instructional technology coordinator for the school district.
The first phase of the tech levy involves installing a document presenter, projector and laptop in each classroom, she said. This stage costs approximately $4 million, Mathey said. To date, almost all of the schools in the district have already received the document presenter and projector, and the laptops will be installed this spring and into next school year, Soderberg said.
The document presenters allow the teachers to showcase students’ work without needing to prepare overhead transparencies, as was the case with the overhead projectors formerly used, she said.
“It makes the learning experience more authentic,” Soderberg said.
Not only can teachers display handouts and assignments with the document presenters, but they can also show 3-D projects, artwork and artifacts, she said. The equipment is more like a video camera, she explained, and it has the ability to zoom.
Bauman used the technology to display artifacts, like a shark’s jaw, she said. She was able to zoom in on the teeth of the jaw to point out small details that the students wouldn’t normally see, she said.
With the addition of the laptops and upgrading the network, teachers will gain better access to information online that can be shared with students.
Spruce Primary second-grade teacher Anna Walter said the equipment is a tool for the students.
“Kids are using this as a presentation tool,” Walters said. Students can show their writing on the screen so they are learning from each other, she said.
At Meadowdale Middle School, Principal Ray Houser and teacher and instructional coach Mel Cooke said they’ve been able to engage the students more.
Teachers can visually demonstrate ideas and lessons using the document presenters, whereas before they could often only talk about the lessons, Houser said. This helps students who are more visual learners, while maintaining the oral descriptions for auditory learners.
It takes time for teachers to be able to integrate new technologies into their classrooms, so almost all of the schools in the district have a teacher who helps other teachers, Cooke said.
“It’s allowing our teachers to become adult learners,” Houser said. Teachers and students are learning new aspects of the technology at the same time, which serves as a good example to the students, he said.
“The technology’s not just for the teachers,” Houser said.
Schools and classrooms will receive additional student computers as well as mobile labs, which will contain 15 laptops that teachers can check out to use for demonstrations in their classrooms, Soderberg said.
Also in the planning stages are more network printers, additional library resources and an electronic reporting system. The e-reporting system will allow parents and students to check grades and assignments online.
There are several other components of the capital levy that are currently in the planning stages, said Marla Miller, executive director of business and operations for the district.
The district is assessing each school’s need for earthquake-safety and science-lab-safety upgrades, she said. The plans to improve playgrounds and athletic fields are also being discussed, and it’s possible these improvements may begin at the end of the summer, Miller said.
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