Middle schools trade textbooks for techbooks | The Valley Breeze
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10/8/2014
Middle schools trade textbooks for
techbooks
There's a Chromebook on every desk in Sean Connolly's 7th-grade social studies
class at North Cumberland Middle School. But that's not unusual. Techbooks
replaced textbooks in Cumberland's middle schools this year and every class
looks like this now. Up front, there's a white board where Connolly is projecting
images from his own Chromebook screen. (Valley Breeze photos by Marcia
Green)
NCMS Principal Coughlin: 'Learning has never been better.'
By MARCIA GREEN, Valley Breeze Editor
CUMBERLAND - Educators had done their research and thought they knew pretty much what to expect
when they replaced middle school textbooks with the mini-computers called Chromebooks this year.
But one surprise for Principal Bethany Coughlin at North Cumberland Middle School is the low hum of
student voices that fills the air, replacing the silence that used to come with passive listening.
These mini-laptops are making possible more student collaboration than ever before. From class to class,
she says, teachers are no longer lecturing, but "facilitating" learning for students clustered into "pods"
and linked to new curricula and often the Internet.
What used to be "very passive" classes, she said, have shifted to where the "students are very active."
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It's the same at McCourt Middle School, Principal Jay Masterson told the School Committee two weeks
ago.
Both principals said they're surprised at how quickly the Chromebooks took center stage in their schools.
And how fast every teacher adapted.
"I can honestly say that learning at the middle
school has never been better," says Coughlin.
Every class, except physical education, is using the
Chromebook, and even websites with related
information are offered.
In fact, the only books in use are some paperbacks
in the English language arts class and borrowing
from the library.
The entire process runs through Google Classroom,
an operating system released to the middle schools
only in August.
The emphasis is on communication. Every teacher
has a website where they post assignments and have the ability to email one or all of the students at any
time.
Central to the system is the school's emphasis on posting daily classroom agendas - what teachers will
cover in class that day, and targets - what students are expected to learn.
The same information shows up on the whiteboard of every class, too.
The Breeze spent 90 minutes at North Middle last Friday touring three classrooms to see the new
technology at work.
The target for Sean Connolly's 7th-grade social studies class last Friday was "to be able to discuss the
dangers of extracting fossil fuels, placing an emphasis on our national parks."
Watching Connolly at work, Coughlin called it a "vibrant learning environment where kids feel
comfortable engaging, kids feel comfortable giving answers and possibly being wrong. They're
comfortable taking risks because the ability is in front of them to find answers to their own questions and
do their own research."
At McCourt, Masterson, too, has said his students "walk around with more confidence."
Coughlin says there's "an exorbitant amount of material" within the Discovery Education curriculum for
Connolly and others to access.
Setting a lively pace in a very focused class, he used brief videos to talk about the United States and fossil
fuel consumption and a Socratic questioning method to elicit the answers, at times seeing every hand in
the air.
Connolly, who calls them techbooks, is a new graduate of St. Anselm College in New Hampshire. He
attended North Cumberland Middle School just eight years earlier.
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"I absolutely love it," he told The Breeze later about the technology revolution he arrived in time for.
"There are so many different resources, so many supplementary resources instead of the traditional
textbook. Their learning is so much enhanced."
No one is more pleased than Paula MacMillin, a Cumberland Hill 5th-grade teacher for 12 years who
moved to North Cumberland Middle as the IT coach. Her counterpart at McCourt is Keith Caldwell.
She uses the word "transformational" to describe the impact of Chromebooks on the schools.
She was braced for weeks of training - and some cajoling - as she brought the faculty up to speed on the
Chromebooks technology that uses apps similarly to tablets, including some that mimic Word, Excel and
PowerPoint. All is stored in the cloud, making for a seamless access from device to device. Students who
forget their Chromebooks can log in on the family PC desktop, for example.
She's working, instead, with an enthusiastic group asking for more and more information, and that
includes the kids who write polite emails requesting appointments to learn more about the capabilities of
the technology.
"The staff jumped right in and uploaded resources and videos," said MacMillin.
Coughlin said, "The level of engagement was immediate."
"The curriculum is supported by the new technology and the technology gives the students the access
they need.
"All three collide to create this positive benefit," she said
What surprises MacMillin, she said, is that students are emailing her directly for help. "That is really
neat," she said.
She smiles watching the students change classes, Chromebooks tucked into protective cases, that they
carry like bankers with briefcases.
She's dealt with a few mishaps so far, but fewer than she expected.
Chromebooks were purchased for the two middle schools this year using $650,000 in surplus town
funds. The purchase was questioned by some on the Town Council who thought the school surplus fund
should have been tapped. Under the plan, 8th-graders will take them to the high school and next year's
6th-graders will get new ones so that eventually all high-schoolers have them, too.
Another Chromebook surprise hit Coughlin and MacMillin before school had even started.
Coughlin tells the story of writing a welcome email to all 600-plus students on the day they first received
the Chromebooks.
"What I didn't expect were 600 responses," she said. And those replying typically used the shorthand text
and informality they'd learned using their own personal devices.
Coughlin says an assembly was quickly called about rules of email etiquette, not just how to craft it, but
understanding when is it appropriate to ask a question via email. Asking what's for lunch that day is
decidedly not.
She says they caught on immediately, politely framing "Dear Mrs. Coughlin" notes to her thereafter.
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Change is everywhere.
Even the morning announcements are delivered electronically now.
Teachers, who used to spend their evenings marking papers, are now reading the papers online.
And that shift offers lots of advantages.
Anytime a student has a document open, whether at home or school, the teacher can take a peek at how
it's going, even adding comments and messages of encouragement.
Social studies teacher Tanya Rao tells the story of remotely watching a student struggling to find the right
word. She typed it in for him and he sent back a note of surprised thanks.
Reo said her comments while work is in progress require some commitment, but she'd rather steer the
student during the draft than mark down a completed paper.
And by the way, points out MacMillin, "Gone are the days of doing a paper the night before."
Teachers can not only check in remotely, but can review the history of exactly when, and for how long, a
paper was worked on.
That feature also allows him or her to look at a paper produced collaboratively and see what contribution
came from each student.
In Rao's class Friday, the topic was the 18th century trade triangle, and students, in groups of four, were
writing about a document of that era.
As a group they were sharing and organizing the key information in preparation for a presentation.
Rao walked from group to group checking and encouraging.
Coughlin remarked later that another unexpected benefit has been that teachers freed from standing in
front of a class are interacting more and getting to know each individual better.
Rao invites emails from them up to 9 p.m., and says she was flooded the night before an assessment the
week before.
Coughlin says one of the neater shifts this year has been in math classes, where class work and homework
are flipped.
Students' homework is typically to watch a video lecture about a new math concept. Classroom time is
devoted to the problem solving that used to be the homework.
Students work alone or in groups or at the board to solve problems with the teacher right there to keep
them on track.
Eighth-grader Max Bonnici said he feels like the class is covering the material quicker than in past years.
That pace seems likely to continue.
Coughlin told the school board last month, "I can't imagine ever going back to teaching and learning
without it. All our lessons are centered around the Chromebook."
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Middle schools trade textbooks for techbooks | The Valley Breeze
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Hands fly up in Sean Connolly's 7th-grade social studies class, as he prods the
kids about fossil fuels.
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Sixth-grader Michael Clapprood, like everyone else at North Middle, carries his
Chromebook like a briefcase as he moves from class to class. The school has
seen about a dozen Chromebook accidents in the first month and most were
before the protective cases, which arrived late, were distributed.
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Middle schools trade textbooks for techbooks | The Valley Breeze
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An animated social studies teacher, Tanya Rao, talks to group of students writing a
collaborative "paper" about slave trade. In the foreground on the Chromebook
screen is the document they're preparing for a presentation that same day.
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Comments
Outstanding!
Permalink Submitted by SteveLemois on Thu, 2014-10-09 09:51
Cumberland, you have done a great service for your students!
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