2015/05/12 -Almost 600 four-year-olds in Jackson Public Schools can be found this year huddled around Smart Tables or touching the screens of iPad minis and Smart Boards in classrooms.

Thanks to an influx of technology materials provided by federal funds, pre-kindergarten teacher Clare Sisk said she has additional resources to help students who struggle the most.

“All of this technology really gives them a boost,” Sisk, a 12th year pre-k teacher who teaches 19 four-year-olds at G.N. Smith Elementary School, said.

Sisk said she’s seen plenty of students struggle to grasp specific concepts, but pull up an activity on the iPad mini or Smart Table that incorporates songs, visual activity and the ever-enticing touch screen and suddenly the idea sinks in.

One student who she said is behind in some areas gets excited when he uses one of the computer programs to pick out a letter or number they’re studying.

After he finds it, “he looks at me like, ‘Look, I can do this too,'” Sisk described.

“The technology takes the skill and enriches it. It makes it more three-dimensional,” she said, noting how some students learn using different senses – sight, sound and touch among them.

The Smart Tables, which look like coffee tables but with screens on top, accommodate four students at a time and allow them to work in groups or by themselves.

Students have activities and apps download on iPad minis that provided each student the same experience. At the same time, teachers can download their own chosen apps to provide additional instruction on a particular skill.

“We want the technology to re-enforce what the teacher is doing – it supports what’s going on in terms of instruction,” said Erin Mason, the district’s instructional technology director.

The district will be able to assess the impact the technology has made when the students go on to kindergarten, where they will take computerized screeners that assess their skill levels in certain areas.

Ella Holmes, the district’s pre-k coordinator, said feedback from teachers and parents alike has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Unconditionally, unequivocally, the teachers appreciate it and get really involved,” Holmes said.

“Kids learn through sensory motor (skills), so what better way to do that?” Holmes continued. “Children touch and hold the iPads, deal with the iPad equipment. Children love it, teachers love it and parents enjoy it as well.”

Altogether, the pre-k cohort has 29 collaborative learning tables, 30 interactive white boards and 100 tablet devices. Each of the pre-K classrooms also has three computers.

“The JPS pre-K technology program is beginning with the end in mind,” said Superintendent Cedrick Gray. “Introducing technology early can reduce discipline problems, keep students motivated, and prepare them for the digital world we live in.”

he district began its digital learning initiative, made possible through a combination of district and federal funds, in August with the placement of MacBook Airs in the hands of all 9th graders.

The trend is taking off, with nearby Madison County implementing its own initiative this year. Clinton Public School District in 2012 began its 1:1 Digital Learning Initiative where every student and teacher was assigned a digital device, and school officials in Rankin County voted to move forward with their own plan next school year.

Source: The Clarion-Ledger 

Kate Royals