First-grade teacher Brooke Williamson has fun using a StarBoard during a teacher training class on the new technology at Poinsettia Elementary on Tuesday.
John Koster / For The North County TImes
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Poinsettia teachers get prepped on high-tech gadgets
By: PHILIP K. IRELAND - Staff Writer | ∞
First-grade teacher Brooke Williamson has fun using a StarBoard during a teacher training class on the new technology at Poinsettia Elementary on Tuesday.
John Koster / For The North County TImes
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CARLSBAD ---- High-tech digital "whiteboards" ---- standard equipment in every classroom in Carlsbad's newest elementary school ---- may spell the end to a favorite low-tech tool of the class clown: the spit ball.
Teachers at the Poinsettia Elementary School got an introduction to the digital whiteboard, and other whiz-bang technology that will be used at the school, during a four-hour seminar at the campus on Tuesday.
Officials said the gadgets mean teachers will spend more time moving around the classroom and less time writing on a wall-mounted white board with their backs to students ---- an invitation to all kinds of classroom misbehavior.
The $15.6 million Poinsettia campus is set to open with 18 regular education teachers, a few special education teachers and 418 students when school starts on Aug. 27, said Principal Steve Ahle.
The room buzzed with excitement Tuesday as 21 teachers asked questions of presenter Art Schindele, a distributor of the Hitachi StarBoard ---- a $500-$600 digital scratchpad about the size and thickness of a magazine that can travel with the teacher anywhere in the classroom.
Using an electronic pen, the teacher can write on the StarBoard, which is linked to the teacher's laptop via a wireless network, Schindele said. In addition to the laptop and StarBoard, each classroom will have a digital camera and a digital projector --- a technology package worth more than $3,000, Ahle said.
With the StarBoard, anything that can be created or accessed by a computer ---- class notes, a video, a photograph, a spelling lesson, a map of the United States, a Web site, an excerpt from the student textbook ---- can be displayed on the wall via a digital projector.
The technology means the days of the teacher standing in front of the class writing notes on the whiteboard --- or even at an overhead projector ----- are numbered, officials said. Instead, a teacher can wander around the classroom writing notes that instantly appear as a projection on the wall.
"You can sit next to a kid as opposed to having your back to the classroom," Ahle said. "You can solve a problem created by one kid and include everyone."
Nicole Kistler, a 15-year teaching veteran, called the idea "classroom management by walking around."
Kistler said she had a "challenging class" last year and lost the attention of some students as she wrote on the overhead at the front of the class. Now she will be able to move anywhere in the classroom as she writes on the digital board ---- a neat trick, she said, because inattentive students tend to focus better when the teacher is standing nearby.
Teachers said StarBoard's ability to pull together various documents and images into a single unified lesson plan will make teaching and learning more effective.
The multimedia lessons also will be easier to put together and more engaging and interactive for students, said Triesta Shuck, a first-grade teacher at Poinsettia.
And most kids love technology, Shuck said. Tapping that interest is another advantage of the StarBoard.
"Kids are very tech-literate," she said. "They'll probably be teaching us."
Each classroom at Poinsettia also will contain three student computers, and students and teachers will have access to two encyclopedia databases: World Book and Grolier's.
In addition to the classroom technology package, each six-classroom pod has a central learning area with computer terminals. The school also has a computer lab with 37 computers.
Contact Philip K. Ireland at (760) 901-4043 or online at pireland@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.
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Sandra wrote on Aug 15, 2007 6:10 AM:All this from a school district that cannot afford to keep their school libraries open. What a shame.
Cbad teacher wrote on Aug 15, 2007 7:52 AM:Libraries will be open when students are in school. Cuts are only to non-student days. We need this technology to keep us up to date, just like workers in other fields. Students will use technology through school and college, so this helps them, too.
Peter wrote on Aug 15, 2007 7:53 AM:Shame on you Sandra
Sandra wrote on Aug 15, 2007 8:44 AM:Chad, you are not correct in your information. Most of the elementary school libraries have been cut throughout the year, meaning that students will not have access to their libraries before or after school, and limiting their access during school hours. You need to inform yourselves about the issues.
Carol wrote on Aug 15, 2007 9:01 AM:I am a parent in the district and my child will not benefit from the new technology because she does not go to Poinsettia.I feel that the libraries are an essential part of my child's education. I also know that at my child's school the libraries will no longer be open before and after school due to the budget cuts making it more difficult for my child to do her homework, research and study. What a terrible shame that more thought wasn't given to the impact the cuts will have on the students.
Clare wrote on Aug 15, 2007 9:43 AM:If this technology is so important, why isn't it given to all the schools in the district? Shouldn't all our students be prepared to achieve?
Carlsbad parent wrote on Aug 15, 2007 9:51 AM:I'm all for technology advancement but the baseball field and the wrought iron enclosed fields and the stone veneers were not necessary at Poinsettia Elementary school. Our district cries poor but will pour millions into an elementary school. Watch how the board will propose that Carlsbad doesn't need a second high school now. I encourage all to attend school board meetings and keep a close eye on the school board.
RR wrote on Aug 15, 2007 11:25 AM:How about class size reduction in Kindergarten? Why do we have 30:1 in Kinder when neighboring districts (Oceanside) are 20:1. Keep building fields, the implications of this will hit when these Kinders reach testing age.
Mike wrote on Aug 15, 2007 12:17 PM:Sandra, I think you need to do some additional research. Funding for building new schools is separate from funding for libraries, etc. I don't think the district controls that. Sounds like there's lots of jealousy in these posts. Every time a new school is built, it SHOULD get the latest and greatest technology. If you supported the school proposition last year, funding for technology upgrades for ALL schools was included. Try to focus on the positive!
Estaban wrote on Aug 15, 2007 1:22 PM:If you’re going to build it then build it right! It’s a lot easier to put things in when you start from scratch, but if you wait till after its built good luck. All you jealous cry babies need to relax.
Sandra wrote on Aug 15, 2007 1:43 PM:I think it is wonderful to advance technologically. However, don't you think we need to pay attention to the BASICS of fully staffed schools, ie: Adequate libraries and the staff to run them, adequate kindergarten teacher staffing,adequate office staffing? These are basics, and to alledge that this is different funding is nothing but a cop out, simply put. Wake up Carlsbad Unified, your crown is slipping. Oceanside Unified is passing you by in so many respects.
A First wrote on Aug 15, 2007 7:20 PM:Sandra, that's a first! Someone from Carlsbad with Oceanside envy? My entire life it's been the other way around. I think you need to pay more attention to what Mike is saying. How are these things funded? What "pots" of money can/are used to support various things? Every district is at the mercy of not only local, but State and Federal guidlines/restrictions on what can and cannot be done. Personally, my kids go to charter schools precisely because the do NOT suffer from these same restrictions. The bureaucracy (unions, lawers, federal, state, local govts, etc) are what is ruining our schools. And there just isn't any easy way to reverse this.
Patty O. wrote on Aug 16, 2007 4:52 AM:Congrats to the Poinsetta staff on their new Starboards! I began using mine two years ago and can't imagine teaching without it now. My students and I also use it to create "mathcasts" or whiteboard movies of their work. If you'd like to learn more about how to create mathcasts with your own students, I have posted examples and directions at Enjoy your new technology! Patty O. - Woodland High School
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