Reed Intermediate School Has The Latest Technology At Its Fingertips

By Susan Coney

Visiting with Ken Royal, director of technology at Reed Intermediate School, one thing is immediately evident: his enthusiasm for making technological advancements at the school is absolutely contagious.

Last spring, Reed was named by The Connecticut Association of Schools as an “Exemplary Technology Site.” Reed serves as a technology model for other schools wishing to advance their computer knowledge.

The school was chosen for this honor primarily for the tireless efforts of Mr Royal and his pro-technology attitude and his unrelenting quest for advancement and improvement. Reed School offers a wealth of technological opportunities to the students and faculty — things that were nonexistent in schools just a few years ago.

Although it is clear that Mr Royal is truly gifted when it comes to his expansive knowledge of computers, he is recognized as a gifted teacher as well. He passes his extensive knowledge on to his students and to the staff at Reed. Many teachers who are already knowledgeable about computers and technology are delighted with all that Reed has to offer, and they continue to seek more ways to incorporate technology in to the curriculum. Those teachers who entered the school unfamiliar with technology have become believers when they see how much it can bring to the students in their classrooms.

At Reed School for example, every teacher has a website where he/she posts assignments, projects, homework, and links for students. Every classroom is equipped with at least two student computers as well as a teacher computer workstation complete with DVD and CD capability. The teachers also have overhead LCD projectors used extensively in day-to-day teaching, allowing them to show videos, connect to almost unlimited Internet sites, and expose their students to a wealth of knowledge that is not only visual but auditory as well.

All classrooms have a gooseneck-type of camera used to project student work, science experiments, and any type of demonstration onto the overhead screen to be easily viewed by every student regardless of the seating arrangement in the classroom.

Reed School is equipped with portable laptop carts. allowing for entire classrooms to have the use of computers and the Internet to work on research, writing assignments, and projects. The laptops bring in so many more resources to the classroom and allow for more interactive, hands-on learning.

Last year every cluster was given a digital camera to assist it in recording class events. This year, with the help of Mr Royal, each classroom has been provided with a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse.

“I try to do little things that go along way educationally. The wireless mouse and keyboards are so beneficial. The kids don’t have to be strapped to the teacher’s station to do a presentation. It is a real cool and inexpensive way to make classroom more technology advanced,” Mr Royal said.

He went on to say that nothing is wasted at Reed. “Every piece of equipment and software we have we use to the utmost degree. Because the technology is here we are not just stuck in the email mode anymore. The biggest change is this: the teachers are asking for the technology and so are the parents. The educational side starts to drive the technological side,” he emphasized.

Fifth graders at Reed School work with Microsoft Word and use Excel to develop graphs and charts for a wide range of educational purposes. “The beauty is that they can make changes in a graph without erasers. It is so much easier,” Mr Royal said. The fifth graders also work with Adobe and PaintShop. They can create PowerPoint presentations using animation and sound effects.

“The sixth graders, because they have had previous exposure to the technology at Reed, are able to push the software to the limits. There is a dramatic difference from fifth to sixth grade in what they are able to do,” Mr Royal said. “The sixth graders actually use and manipulate the software. They create digital portfolios of their work. They are able to create and edit games, do actual animations in Adobe, create websites, and design PowerPoint presentations with their own artwork.”

The Achilles’ heel in the technology program at Reed is lack of student proficiency when it comes to keyboarding skills. Mr Royal stated that there is a wide range of student abilities in keyboarding skills. He said that those using the hunt and peck method are limiting themselves. He confessed that it is the biggest drawback in the technology program because it slows down the entire educational process if students lack such skills. Unfortunately, like learning math facts or memorizing spelling words, the key to overcoming this hurdle is practice.

To assist and encourage students to improve their keyboarding skills Mr Royal has secured a program called Typing Master online that provides developed keyboarding lessons, typing practice, and tests. Students can do it at home and those who do not have access to a computer at home may practice in class or during learning lab. Two versions are available; one for older machines and another for more current machines.

“I can check their progress at anytime. The kids can check their own progress as well. There is a direct correlation between keyboarding skills and reading skills,” Mr Royal said. It is an area of weakness for some students that he is committed to improving.

Reading specialist at Reed, Pam Kohn noted that the technology offered at the school makes for greater differentiating and individualizing of student needs. The entire school participates in a grammar program that makes learning much more fun. Some of the staff members have jazzed the program up by adding music and pictures. With the use of the wireless mouse and keyboards, students can pass around those items to make corrections and changes in a grammar lesson being presented on the overhead screen.

Ms Kohn went on to say that the school offers accelerated grammar software allowing students to practice areas of weakness in the computer lab or in the classroom. It reinforces skills and keeps individual records of each student’s progress.

She added, “Eventually we can create and share our own stories and grammar activities based on our own curriculum allowing the integration of what is being studied in social studies or science, essentially personalizing and catering to the exact needs of the students.”

A brief stroll through the corridors at Reed and the extensive technology being used throughout the building is apparent. Mr Royal summed it up by saying, “The board and the town have been generous with these gifts. We need to use these wonderful gifts to the fullest. We want to be on the frontline of creativity in the field. We’ve been able to do a lot here because of the people here. Can it happen at other schools? Absolutely!”