Wireless teaching a hit at Paloma High

By: CATHY REDFERN - Staff Writer
Technology increases interaction in math, language arts classes | Thursday, February 14, 2008 1:07 AM PST ∞

MENIFEE -- In some Paloma Valley High School classrooms, chalk is ancient history and dry-erase markers are fading from memory: Wireless remote controls are the writing instruments of choice.

The students in these classrooms are not channel surfing -- they are using wireless computer technology to interact with their teachers and classmates and they are seeing their work projected instantly on a screen at the front of their rooms.

Last year, teachers at Paloma Valley began using Interwrite Pads, a keyboard-type wireless device about the size of a binder that allows them to stroll around the class as they write things on the board. The students have remote controls called "responders," and can press buttons to answer questions and almost instantly see a graph of how the class answered, among other uses.

The technology has been around about five years. It includes educational software and uses Bluetooth wireless network devices to hook up with a computer in the classroom.

Jody Oliver, project specialist for the California Technology Assistance Project, said she saw the device in use at a San Bernardino elementary school about two years. She estimates 80 percent of the kindergarten through 12th-grade districts in her area -- Riverside, San Bernardino, Inyo and Mono counties -- now have some of the devices.

At Paloma Valley, several English teachers and a few math teachers are using them.

"It's changing classrooms," she said. "It's really exciting to see. We've probably trained close to 300 people since May, and you can see the impact on kids. They are watching the screen and the teacher is facilitating and learning with them rather than teaching at them.

"I've had teachers e-mail me to thank me for rejuvenating their careers, people who have been teaching for years and years."

Oliver said many schools begin with a computer, a projector and the pad, which cost about $2,000. The responders can be costly, she said, running from $1,000 to $3,000 for a set of 32.

Wednesday, in a remedial reading class at Paloma, the students participated in vocabulary lessons projected on a large screen. Teacher Joseph Williams had three pads at his disposal, and would hand them off so students could take turns answering questions on a sample test projected on the screen.

The students didn't need to leave their seats. There was a lot of discussion and some teasing, of course, but most of it was focused on the lesson. Williams said discipline problems have decreased since students are more engaged in learning and less engaged in goofing off.

"Is that supposed to be an 'n'?" one student asked, referring to a classmate's imperfect penmanship.

"Hey, hey, it's not easy to use that pen," Williams said. "Have you ever tried to sign for a UPS package?"

One student pointed out relevant synonyms, and said that "bumped" can mean to crank up the volume on a stereo and "rumbled" can mean to fight.

Brandon Duckworth, 15, said the pads and responders help him to become more accustomed to technology. The board also has less glare and is easier for him to see than a white board, he said.

"It's pretty cool," he said. "And it's fun to use the pen."

The students had traditional tools on their desks, too; workbooks and paper lessons. The technology allows teaching in several "domains," besides the traditional verbal one, Williams said. The interaction leads to social teaching, he said, and the screen and software make the experience visual, spatial and kinesthetic.

"It's dynamic and keeps them interested," he said.

In a Paloma geometry class, it was a similar story.

At the start of class, students used responders to punch in their homework answers. Their responses popped up on the board, next to their name, with a red 'X' or a green check showing if they got the right answer.

Student Taylor Boardman said she thought the technology was "awesome," and that the embarrassment factor is a big motivator to do the homework, as everyone sees who doesn't do it.

Teacher Brett Cowan said it used to take him several days to get the homework corrected and back to the students, and that now they can see right away if they are doing the right mathematics.

"I now have about 10 times as many kids in at lunch looking for help," he said.

Later, Cowan used the system's software to draw perfect triangles and to review the steps necessary to get the right answers on the homework. It can also be used to paste information from Web sites, he said.

"The sky is the limit, really," he said.

Teachers get two days of training on how to use the technology, said Dottie Price, an English teacher at Paloma who helped find funding for Interwrite after seeing it at a conference.

"For students who need more visual input, they are a necessity," she said.

Vice Principal Dean Hauser predicts the technology will eventually be in every school district.

"I would've died for something like this when I was a teacher," he said. "We would like to move them through all our classrooms. ... If it helps student achievement, this district will find a way."

Doug Whittaker, a former teacher, sells the Interwrite systems and teaches educators how to use them, as head of Redlands-based Digital Edge Learning. He says the technology has caught on at districts across the country, as it fills a need.

"We really have to analyze the way we deliver instruction to today's kids," he said. "Today's kids are not only digital kids, they are English language learners (for whom English is their second language). This brings in the visual, which is so much needed in today's classrooms."

-- Contact staff writer Cathy Redfern at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or e-mail credfern@californian.com.

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