Clear vision for success

NEA Today, Nov 1996

Who:

Karen Peterson, technology coordinator, Peakview Elementary, Aurora, Colorado

E-mail address: Kpetersn@ccsd.kl2.co.us What:

Technology plays its part in teaching children cooperation and initiative as well as academic skills. Inspiration:

"Peakview Elementary has six computers per classroom and has incorporated some of the latest technology into its curriculum. But it isn't a magnet or a special technology school. It was created in 1991 as the next new elementary school in our district. "But during the planning stage the district administration gave the principal and the initial 12 teachers the charge to rethink elementary education. One of the most important questions we asked ourselves was, `What do we want our students to look like as a result of being with us?'

"We wanted to develop the child as a whole, incorporating academic skills as well as skills like compassion and initiative. So we decided to include many types of reform, including multiage groupings, special ed inclusion, and performance-based assessments.

"Then we decided to use the tools of technology to enhance and individualize our students' learning. We regarded technology as a resource, not as a separate subject that students wouldn't be able to transfer to their daily activities.

"Consequently, many basic classroom activities involve technology. As a replacement for textbooks, we chose materials such as interactive software programs, laserdiscs, and Internet activities. By using dollars traditionally spent on consumable materials. like workbooks, we're able to offer a lot of hands-on technology learning. "A good piece of software can help reinforce a math skill or new science concept or help students re-evaluate their work. For example, HyperStudio, a multi-media program, gives our students the freedom to construct their own knowledge through projectbased work.

"Our students gain initiative from project-based technology programs like these, making our school a community of learners who aren't dependent only on the teachers. And it's in that sense that technology works-it helps us achieve our vision. Click:

"When technology is used throughout a school day as a learning resource that reinforces what teachers are doing, when technology moves us to different levels of educating children and changes the way we look at children and education, that's when I'd say that technology has been incorporated successfully into the classroom." More About:

The "Teacher TV" episode "Integrating Technology-More Than an Electronic Blackboard" takes a close look at how Karen Peterson and her Peakview colleagues incorporated technology into their curriculum. To order videotapes ($15.95 for NEA members), call 800/229-4200. To ask about Peakview's annual Institute for Educators, call 303n66-1996.