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First Avenue Middle School maximizes classroom efficiency
Overview
Arcadia is a suburban school district in California with a strong foundation of community support. School attendance is high, as is the pressure to maintain academic excellence, while keeping students motivated and engaged. Since Arcadia has a significant population of English as a second language (ESL) students, effective visual presentations are an essential part of the learning experience.
The challenge
For Semeen Issa, a veteran 6th grade teacher of 25 years at First Avenue Middle School, technology in the classroom has traditionally been a hindrance rather than a helpful aid in the teaching and learning experience. Semeen’s class had limited access to an overhead projector that didn’t work properly. Preparing lessons was a tedious, lengthy process since she had to use transparencies for everything she wanted to teach. And, when technology takes countless minutes to power up or shuts down unexpectedly, valuable learning time is wasted and student engagement plummets.
The Solution
Years ago, the Arcadia School District began a search for the best technology to create “classrooms of the future”. The goal was to provide students and teachers with tools to extend their abilities to communicate effectively, and to provide engaging and interactive strategies to successfully deliver curriculum.
Scott Bramley, Director of Technology and Information Services for the Arcadia School District, explains, “Our school district uses a Model Technology program to pilot and test new technologies with small groups. This allows us to determine the effectiveness of equipment prior to making large purchases for district-wide implementation.” Scott continued, “For our latest pilot, teachers wrote grants to receive one of several different classroom of the future configurations. Each configuration included a combination of audio, video, online and interactive components. Based on feedback collected from teachers, we determined what components best met our needs and created a district standard for classroom of the future technology. Overwhelmingly positive reviews from teachers, staff and students drove our decision to put PolyVision’s ēno interactive whiteboards front and center in our classrooms of the future.”
Presently, 50 classrooms in the Arcadia school district are equipped with ēno boards. Over the next five years, the plan is to install ēno in all 400 of the classrooms in the school district.
The Benefits
PolyVision’s ēno interactive whiteboards have exceeded Scott’s expectations. He explains, “ēno is a very durable interactive whiteboard that is rich in features. Our number one priority was to find a resilient hardsurface whiteboard that enabled teachers to utilize both dry erase markers and digital multimedia during lessons. When we learned that ēno met that need and required no power, cords or cables, it was a huge bonus! ēno is also extremely support-friendly from a technical standpoint. All of the technology resides inside of the stylus, not in the board.” Scott continued, “With ēno, we have everything we need in one board—plus simple installation, a low total cost of ownership and seamless integration with other classroom technology, such as audio equipment and laptops.”
Scott finds it exciting to watch how teachers integrate the new technology into lessons as they move into their classrooms of the future. He said, “Students and teachers alike have quickly become comfortable using ēno.Teachers are constantly collaborating with one another to explore new ways to facilitate meaningful and engaging interaction in our classrooms. I’ve heard a number of teachers wonder aloud how they taught before ēno was a part of their teaching process.”
Semeen was initially concerned with how long it would take her to learn to effectively use ēno.She said, “After teaching for 25 years, I’ve had to make major changes in the way I deliver lessons using technology. That takes some time and patience. I am proud to say that not only am I now proficient at teaching with ēno, I actually help other teachers deliver interactive lessons.” Semeen continued, “I created a template that any teacher can access when using interactive maps on eno. I was happily surprised to learn that my fellow teachers are using the template when doing class activities!”
Since the integration of ēno into her classroom, Semeen witnessed firsthand how 21st Century technology transforms the learning environment. Semeen said, “Students are captivated by the interactive lessons I teach with ēno.During History class, I simply click on video clips to surround students with the sounds and images of what life was like during the time period we are studying. Students are eager to get out of their seats and manipulate interactive grids and stopwatches on eno. And, in English class, I utilize Google Earth’s interactive maps to ‘fly’ students to the exact location of a story we’re reading so they can view the setting of the book with their own eyes.”
With ēno, lesson preparation has been a breeze for Semeen. She said, “I am blown away by the time-saving benefits during lesson preparation and the resulting improvements in classroom efficiency. I save or print notes and homework assignments that are on the whiteboard and use them in other classes. I can also publish them to our class website so students and parents can access them at home as needed.” Semeen continued, “Easy access to copies of lesson materials is a huge benefit for visual learners. And, the best benefit for me? Thanks to ēno, I’ve said goodbye to transparencies,” exclaimed Semeen.
Semeen’s story proves that ease of use coupled with dynamic interactive features add up to the easy choice for even the most timid of technology users—eno!
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