LINCOLN – Wikis, podcasts and blogs.Do you have any idea what those words used in Internet and computer lingo mean? Ask your children or grandchildren who go to Talladega County schools about those words. They can clue you in.
Talladega County schools showcased how they are using technology in the classroom to better teach their students at the 21st Century Learners Showcase at the Alabama Industrial Development Training Institute in Lincoln.
Schools Superintendent Dr. Cindy Elsberry said the technology is going toward teaching students “21st century skills,” which goes beyond learning only the facts to teach critical thinking, communication skills and how to work as a team.
“Over 40 percent of employers rate new entrants that come out of high school with a diploma as deficient,” Elsberry said. “That tells us that we have work to do and that we are not getting it right. We’re preparing students like we did in the 20th century, but the jobs out there require new skills.”
Cathy Gassenheimer, president of the Alabama Best Practices Center, said the new technology being utilized appeals to younger generations to keep them interested in learning.
With the technology being used in public schools, the education gap between students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds is being narrowed.
“We no longer can afford to just educate the elite,” Gassenheimer said. “We’ve got to educate everyone and educate them well.”
Kelsey Smith, a sixth-grader at Fayetteville High School, demonstrated how her class, taught by Rachel Sherbert, used a wiki page for learning.
“We’re reading a book called ‘The Uglies’ and my teacher puts discussion questions on the wiki space for all my classmates to answer,” Sherbert said. Students can look at how their classmates answered questions and can have discussions about the book online as well as use several other options.
Julie Byrd, a fourth-grader at Fayetteville High School, demonstrated how to use voki technology. Students can choose the picture of a character they like and a voice the character will use to speak.
“You can talk into the microphone or type on the computer, and it will say what you wrote,” Byrd said. The voice Byrd chose for the demonstration sounded like Sylvester Stallone.
Jacqueline Cosper demonstrated how technology is used in teaching students dissection. She was filling in for her brother, Phillip Cosper, who is a seventh-grade science teacher at Childersburg Middle School.
Cosper uses a smart pad and an image of a frog on a screen to show how to cut the frog and points out what students should be looking for during the dissection.
“He doesn’t have to stand in front of a chalk board or dry-erase board, and this way everybody can see what he’s doing and follow along,” Jacqueline Cosper said.
