Corsicana —
The future of learning has arrived in Corsicana ISD with electronic “Smart Boards” and “Live Scribe” pens becoming the latest tools being used by students.
Using federal stimulus money, the district has purchased 225 of the “Smart Boards and 600 “Live Scribe” pens to distribute across every one of its schools.
The Smart Boards feature an almost unlimited amount of lessons for teaching students and classes from second grade right up to high school level.
They allow teachers to draw on Internet resources and create their own lessons, often featuring animated characters and music, to help engage students in a different way of learning.
From their desks, teachers can direct spelling exercises, word jumbles and math classes, among other subjects.
Students can also use their fingers to move projected images such as coins across the board, and write with an electronic pen on the board, which can be deleted instantly from the teacher’s desk top.
“This is a great opportunity for us because we are going to be able to provide a wide range of lessons for the kids,” said Rob Ludwig, spokesman for the school district. “It is more interactive than the white boards. It is a very positive step forward.”
The Smart Board lessons have varying levels of difficulty in all subjects, including higher grade lessons, said Kristen Williams, first grade teacher at Navarro Elementary.
“It talks to you, it can read to you,” said Williams. “Anything you do you can print off and take home. There is a real clock on there. You can move the hands on it and tell the time.
“I personally feel because I am a visual learner, to sit and listen and see it, it is really benefiting the children.”
Laura Ware, second grade teacher at Navarro, is also pleased with the educational tool.
“This is the future of teaching,” she said.
The “Live Scribe” pens allow students to record lessons in audio and also to record everything that they write down digitally, if necessary, at the same time. Students can access the information at any point and save it on to computers. The pens can also translate in English and Spanish.
“This is one of the most innovative technologies out there and it only took our kindergarten students a day to get into using it,” said Ludwig.
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Oliver Sheehan may be reached by e-mail at oliver@corsicanadailysun.com. Want to “Soundoff” on this story? E-mail: soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com
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Daily Sun photo/ Oliver Sheehan Navarro Elementary school teacher Laura Ware helps a student learn with help from a smart board, an item that is part of a technology drive within Corsicana ISD to give kids improved learning flexibility.
Discussion
The future of learning
Technology playing a part in classroom development
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