News
Wayland
Community
Connect
WaylandeNews
Wayland eNews provides news and information to Wayland residents. We welcome editorial exchange; present your views at our Discussion Forum!
To stay informed of news, events, and town deadlines around Wayland, sign up for our email newsletter
Our list is spam-free, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Why 'Lighting' up Wayland is 'Smart':
Wayland Public Schools Foundation strives to provide 21st
century technology to classrooms
As Ken Altshuler’s Physics class students slid into their seats and waited expectantly for class to begin, he switched on his digital projector. Large images of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce snapped on a screen where everyone could see them. “Who needs to know physics?” he asked his class, and then launched into a discussion about what these athletes needed to know to do their jobs. Using a motion detector connected to a computer, Mr. Altshuler then projected an image of a live bouncing basketball onto a screen. He also displayed a simulation program from the internet on the same screen. This program enabled him to show the students via real time graphs the position of the bouncing ball at each moment in time while also showing the velocity of the ball at each point in its bounce. The students all immediately understood that the ball underwent a constant acceleration while it bounced, a concept that was very abstract before.
Does this sound different than the classroom experience you remember as a kid? Welcome to the classroom of the 21st century. New technology has made it possible for teachers to present information to their students in ways that they couldn’t before. The blackboard and other two dimensional media are quickly becoming obsolete, as is the traditional overhead projector with transparencies. In their place are a variety of tools that make teaching much more dynamic, interactive and tailored to the needs of the students.
These tools transform a traditional classroom into a “smart” classroom. With a computer at its core, “smart” classrooms include other key components such as LCD projectors, document cameras and interactive whiteboards, to name a few. These technologies enable teachers to quickly and easily incorporate visuals and share the resources of the Internet, scientific experiments and more with an entire class at once. What’s more, student response, known as Activ Voting, technology can be added to enable students to answer questions electronically about what they are seeing so that the teacher can know instantly if they understand a concept.
Consider this. In a writer’s workshop at the elementary school level, a teacher can use a document camera to enlarge and project a digital image of a student’s essay onto a screen for all students to see. The teacher can quickly lead and even record a class discussion on editing and point of view. In a social studies class at the middle school level, the teacher can share original source materials from our country’s founding with the class without having to make copies for everyone, saving a lot of time and money. And at the high school level, a Latin teacher can project an assessment exercise up on a screen and then tabulate the class’ performance real time. He immediately knows what students don’t understand and can tailor the day’s lesson to improve their grasp of the material.
“Regardless of the grade level or
curriculum unit being taught, the document camera and
projector can enhance the instruction and learning
opportunities,” says Carrie Dirmeikis, English teacher at
Wayland Middle School.
While “smart” classrooms are clearly the wave of the future,
they are in varying stages of being implemented in many
school districts. Tight budgets are a key reason for this.
In Wayland alone, tight school budgets have resulted in more
than a $1 million shortfall in funds needed to meet its
technology plan. Nearly half of all Wayland classrooms still
need dedicated equipment like LCD projectors.
Towns such as Wayland and Weston have turned to other sources of funding to supplement tight school budgets. In Wayland, the Wayland Public Schools Foundation has been instrumental in raising money to support cutting edge programs and technology in the town’s schools. Currently celebrating its 25th year of operation, the Foundation has funded over $1.5 million for nearly 500 teacher grants to promote excellence in Wayland’s schools. “We have received an increasing number of grant requests for “smart” classroom technology by teachers,” said Jim Bryant, President of The Wayland Public Schools Foundation. “The WPSF has funded $383,000 for “smart” classrooms over the past 4 years, and has received nearly $600,000 in “smart” classroom requests this year alone.” Bryant acknowledges that it will be almost impossible to fund all the requests for “smart” classroom technology that The Foundation has received this year unless the Foundation’s fundraising efforts are successful. “We are trying to raise $250,000 as part of our 25th Anniversary Appeal to bridge the gap in this area,” he said. “That would buy us 72 new “smart” classrooms over the next two years.” In Weston, most classrooms already have installed projectors and the Weston Education Enrichment Fund Committee (WEEFC) recently funded $100,000 for interactive whiteboards at all five Weston schools.
The goal is to bring as many classrooms as possible into the 21st century to encourage teacher creativity and enhance the learning experience of students. “Today’s students live and play in two worlds – physical and virtual,” said Bethann Monahan, Technology Integration Specialist at Wayland Middle School. “Teachers are quickly recognizing the need to teach students in a similar fashion not only to engage them in the curriculum, but to prepare them for their future.” Mr. Altshuler could not agree more. As he shows his physics class a clip from the movie Mission Impossible 3 of Tom Cruise swinging like a projectile between buildings in a rescue scene, he uses a simulator to show students how to use physics to calculate Mr. Cruise’s next rescue attempt. “Yes,” he tells his riveted class, “everyone needs to know physics.”
About the Wayland Public
Schools Foundation:
The purpose of the Wayland Public Schools Foundation is to
enrich the education of Wayland’s children by funding grants
for innovative projects and creative units of study not
funded by the regular school budget. Grants are made
possible through the generosity of Wayland residents who
contribute to the WPSF through its Fall Block Party, letter
campaign, spelling bee, and Hats Off program. Proposals to
the Foundation come from Wayland public school teachers with
the support of school principals and the superintendent. To
help support innovation in Wayland’s schools, please visit
the WPSF website:
www.waylandpublicschoolsfoundation.org
