School District 118 Gets SMART

There was a time when a blackboard lined with chalky erasers was a fixture on the front wall of every classroom. But if you walk into any classroom in District 118, what you'll find instead is a high-tech alternative that has changed the very way teachers teach.

As of this fall, every faculty member in Palos Community Consolidated School District 118 will not only be trained on how to use a SMART Board, but will have one in his or her room. That includes gym teachers, music teachers and speech pathologists.  It is an effort the district hopes will help students learn, and teachers teach.

"We have to accommodate students' needs," said Deb Balayti, the district's Coordinator of Teaching and Learning Technologies. "We can't be afraid of what they know. We have to embrace it."

And what they know is technology. In an increasingly digital age, children are engaged electronically at a younger age and with much more frequency.  By embracing technology as a learning tool, teachers are able to reach students in ways they couldn't before.

At first glance, SMART Boards resemble a dry erase white board.  A projector fixed to the room's ceiling projects the screen's display. Teachers and students can then access the Internet, specially designed applications and software. The board responds to the touch and can be written on. (See the included video for a demonstration.)

Fifth-grade teacher Angela Turner has had a SMART Board in her room the last two years. She saw the benefits immediately.

"I love what it does for me and what it does for my students," Turner said. "A kid who might not otherwise raise his hand will, so he can get up there and use the board."

Turner was the first teacher in the district to use a SMART Board and has since become a trainer of the technology.  She says it has infiltrated every part of her teaching strategy.  She uses it to break apart a piece of writing, engage students in solving math problems and even look up the answer to a curious student's question.

Tim Pritchard uses the board to give tests to his fifth-grade class. Each student is given a "clicker" and answers questions as they appear on the screen. This method of assessment allows results to be seen immediately and gives students who may respond better to visual or auditory questions a chance to excel.

"The software records the results, and you can adjust your teaching to them right away," Pritchard said.

Pritchard was named a SMART Exemplary Educator for his work on devising new testing strategies using the board.  He emphasized the usefulness of SMART's software sharing program that allows teachers all over the world to share lessons with each other for free.

District 118 paid for the boards by selling bonds.  It's an investment that has already begun to pay off for some students.

"The students who are lower achievers are becoming more focused," said fifth- grade teacher Tabitha Swain.  "The SMART Board really pushes them to excel."

Swain and third-grade teacher Kelly Miller also were named SMART Exemplary educators.  Both said that after only one year of using a SMART Board, they couldn't imagine teaching without one.  In both of their classrooms, students almost immediately grasped a math lesson that usually takes several days to understand.

"They saw the problem being solved on the board two times and got it," Swain said. "Just because of the way it was presented to them."

Miller says the student response to the new technology has an effect on teachers as well.

"You see the value the kids place on it and you just want to do it for them," Miller said.

That is the key to the program, according to Balayati — not only giving the teachers new technology, but also continuing to offer professional development classes and new teaching strategies.

Katie Daugird is an education solutions specialist for SMART Technologies in Illinois. She says Illinois is just beginning to catch up with the nationwide trend of incorporating SMART Boards into the classroom.  For her, the sense of community between teachers is one of the program's best features.

"Palos has a shared drive where they share all of their applications with each other. It really builds a sense of collaboration," Daugird said.

District 118 also uses webcams and podcasts to expand the educational opportunities of its students. Balayti says the technology efforts contribute to maintaining the level of academic excellence the district has long enjoyed.