Grant will put advanced technology in West Fork classrooms
Posted on Thursday, May 25, 2006
WEST FORK — One area school is leading the state in technological advances thanks a sixth-grade teacher’s initiative.
West Fork teacher Tracey Gibson proposed the idea of bringing interactive SMART Board technology to the city’s middle school, making it the only school in the state to have SMART technology in all 20 of its classrooms. "We saw a need and knew this would benefit the students," Gibson said. "I wrote a proposal and worked with Karen Parker, program director for Wal-Mart Giving, to get the donation."
An interactive white board experience, SMART Boards encourage classroom participation with cutting-edge technology.
School district officials and representatives from Wal-Mart announced the $83,780 donation during a presentation at West Fork Middle School on Wednesday. "As we know, technology is such an important investment in schools and education," said Kristi Pugh, a representative from the Arkansas Department of Education. "Now is the time to invest in our children and to prepare them for the 21 st century."
SMART Board technician Robert Greene demonstrated the SMART Board for faculty members during a brief presentation. "The interactive white board allows students and teachers to touch the board. Your finger becomes the mouse or you can use the interactive pen," he said. "A teacher can write her notes up here and save them. That way, she can recall them anytime she needs to, unlike chalk board formulas that get erased. She can also print her notes and e-mail them so all students can have access."
Greene said the SMART Board features interactive programs that grab students’ interest and enhance student-teacher interaction. "This is a video era," he said. "I remember when I was in school and we used to play outside. Now, it seems like kids are more interested in playing video games."
According to the SMART web site, research findings from the United States, the U. K., Australia and Canada demonstrate the positive impact interactive white boards have on student engagement, motivation and knowledge retention. The technology also benefits educators with better student involvement, streamlined lesson preparation and enhanced lesson materials. "Other schools have interactive white boards, but we’re the only school to have them in every classroom," Gibson said. "We’re so excited about it. I think it will make a big difference in motivating students to be more involved in the lesson plans."
According to SMART Technologies, interactive white boards allow computer-based learning without isolating students in front of individual computer screens. Different learning styles are also accommodated by the technology, improving the chances of retention by all students.
Visual learners benefit from note-taking, diagramming and manipulating objects or symbols on the large screen, while kinesthetic and tactile learners can reinforce learning through exercises involving touch, movement and space.
Deaf and hearingimpaired students also gain from on-screen visuals and simultaneous use of sign language, while visually impaired students with some vision ability can manipulate objects and text and participate in ways not possible on small computer screens.
Wal-Mart’s donation to the middle school comes as just one chunk of money given to West Fork schools this year. The high school, for instance, was recently awarded a $40,700 grant from the Arkansas Department of Workforce Education. The funds will be used to set up a new computer lab for the school’s marketing program and will cover about 85 percent of the cost of the technology.
Earlier this year, the high school received a $2,500 grant from Best Buy to purchase new desktop publishing software for classrooms. The Best Buy award was part of a company grant program that gave awards to teachers at schools within 50 miles of Best Buy stores.
Other grant money was awarded to two of the school’s history teachers for an all-expense-paid trip to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville to participate in a seminar on the American Civil War.
In addition, the school’s family and consumer science teacher received a $40 grant from the Arkansas Beef Council to help subsidize the cost of beef used in her food and nutrition classes.
Earlier this year, the West Fork School District was awarded a $10,000 grant through Arvest to purchase 19 computers. The district also received $777,892 from the Arkansas Department of Education’s "immediate repair fund" to subsidize $1.1 million in building repair projects. The board issued $380,000 in second lien bonds at a March 13 meeting to pay for the district’s portion of the repairs.
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