Using Technology, Ken Royal Challenges His Students To Learn

By Jeff White

Newtown is fast becoming a technology-driven school district, and one has to look no further than seventh-grade science teacher Ken Royal’s classroom to see the new, interactive ways students are learning.

Walking down the D-wing hallway in the hours after school has been let out, electronic, almost musical bleeps exit Mr Royal’s classroom, where he is locked into an e-mail exchange of ideas with a colleague in England, via AOL instant messenger. A veteran teacher of 27 years, Mr Royal is new to Newtown’s school system this year, and has brought a distinctive instructing style to the middle school, weaving technology seamlessly into the curriculum.

“I want to make technology almost invisible in the classroom,” he says of his desire to render the use of computers almost second nature in each of his students. “I’m hoping that [technology in the classroom] will become an ordinary thing, not an extraordinary thing.”

Students in Mr Royal’s class do not use a traditional textbook, opting instead to combine individual research with detailed lab reports and unit notes posted on the class’ Web page.

Mr Royal maintains this extensive Web page as a one-click student learning resource. There are comprehensive class assignment links, where class work and homework are assigned on a daily basis, along with general class summaries from the day before. As one scrolls through these pages, other links become apparent, paths that take students to lab research information pages, demonstrative pictures and various slide shows sponsored by the Chicago academy of sciences.

In addition to class assignment pages, the Royal Homepage includes links to a school calendar, his published articles, columns that he has written for teachers hoping to employ technology in their classrooms, science pages, a unit syllabus and class requirements. Overall, the homepage is Mr Royal’s method of making things assessable to his students, but he will admit that another goal is make student information available to parents.

“I’ll post assessment standards on the Web, so parents can easily access their children’s assignment lists and see the ways in which their students will be graded,” he explains.

Another innovation Mr Royal has introduced into his classroom is a student-authored online magazine. Each student must post one magazine article per marking period, for a total of four in a school year. Articles are comprised of student responses to their own individual research on a scientific topic of their choosing. Class member Doug Dunleavy just posted a story about mummies, conceived of while watching a television program on the subject.

The articles count toward students’ class grades, but most importantly, says Mr Royal, the magazine allows students to read and absorb what their fellow classmates are learning and thinking. Each class has a handful of magazine editors who read the copy of the rest of the classes, trimming and tightening where appropriate, and posting the completed stories online for all to read. The magazine is a link off of the class’ homepage.

Mr Royal’s use of the electronic written word applies to global correspondence as well. For the past few years at Whisconier Middle School in Brookfield, he has developed a relationship with a British science teacher who teaches at the same grade level. The two have linked their classes electronically, so students can write back and forth in what Mr Royal refers to as a “Key Pals” program.

Mr Royal can pose scientific problems and questions to his class’ British counterparts, and they respond with their answers, allowing for an electronic dialogue between students. Added to the barrage of e-mails, the use of a Quick Cam linked to the Internet allows Mr Royal’s students to see the British students on television, and vice versa.

In the past, Mr Royal has set up a similar program with students in Australia. The Key Pals program made its debut last week, and already there are digital pictures of the students’ British counterparts on the walls of the classroom.

The marvel of Mr Royal’s classroom setting is the efficiency with which students work, using the high tech resources Mr Royal has made available and progressing with assigned units almost independent of traditional classroom lectures. Each student knows what he or she needs to do during a given class. They know who works with who, which student is responsible for entering data into the class computer, and after a few brief opening comments from Mr Royal, they set out on the task at hand.

Besides a laptop which forms the class “mainframe,” often beaming images onto walls via a computerized projector, students peck away at their magazine stories on three computer stations, one of which is linked to the class’ Web page.

“They don’t have to go to the library to get at [information]. They can get it right here,” he says. “They can be part of it. It’s a living, breathing thing instead of just something out of a book.”

The technological manner in which Mr Royal’s class learns translates, he feels, into his students spending more time learning science. “Personally, I feel that the students that spend more time with almost anything tend to do better.”

His students are encouraged to do work at home, accessing the classroom pages via their own Internet connections, and e-mailing Mr Royal with any questions and concerns. Mr Royal encourages the same correspondence with parents as well.

Students have responded well to their teacher’s classroom style. “It’s easier to find more information on the Internet,” says Doug Dunleavy. “It’s more effective. If you forget something during class, you can just access his Web page and get the information.”

“I think it’s really helpful,” adds Jessica Yakush. “It lets you do more, instead of just sitting and listening. You focus on the subject.”

Ultimately, Mr Royal preaches about a marriage in the classroom between teachers, students and computers; he feels that all three need to be present in any contemporary classroom environment. And with the positive student response he has received thus far, Mr Royal has the challenge of further fine tuning his approach to serve as an example for other classes. 

“If you can do it with a chalk board, and you could do it with an overhead projector, you can certainly do it with this stuff. You just have to know a few tricks,” he says. “I have kids that leave the classroom late, which is neat.”