West Chatham Elem.: Technology In Class Goes to the Capitol

Students have been trying to get the attention of Georgia state lawmakers lately so they don't cut state funding, but yesterday it was to show them what's been going on in class.

West Chatham Elementary 5th grade teacher, Jason Smith visited the Gold Dome with students Xamara Aviles and Cameron Bass. The students took examples of lessons they’ve learned through technology to show to law makers.

"It was a blast and a lot of different representatives came up and visited with the students and they were very interested, very receptive to what the students had to say,”

Today, I visited the class to see how vital technology is as a teaching tool.

Xaymara Aviles is all eyes on her laptop as she types away. She may look like she's ready for the office, but she's doing her class work in fifth grade.

“It's a game of our vocabulary words... jeopardy," Xaymara Aviles says about her vocabulary lesson.

Technology trumps the textbooks in Jason Smith's West Chatham elementary 5th grade classroom.

One group of students is learning about World War II through web-based cartoons

"When you're reading through your textbooks, you concentrate, but you're there all day, but if you're using a laptop or listening to it on an iPod, I guess it's just easier." Explains 5th grader, Cameron Bass.

That's because students like Cameron Bass are growing up in high tech times.

"It's setting them up and it's helping them get ready for when they get ready to get jobs, but it's also... with students today, they're raised with the technology, they're raised with video games, computers, with facebook, with myspace," explains Smith.

And with the iPod they listen to books.

"Some people learn better by listening to stuff, so if we were to make a podcast, they can listen and learn from that,"

Smith says if the students make a podcast, they're more likely to download them at home and anyone in the world can hear it!

This is the second year West Chatham Elementary School has received a technology grant from the federal government.

The school worked with the educational technology center through Armstrong Atlantic State University.

Educational Technology Centers help schools across the state improve and promote research-based methods of instruction with teachers. Their emphasis includes the integration of multiple technologies to enrich the curriculum, effective uses of technology to increase school productivity, and distance learning to provide opportunities that would otherwise be inaccessible. The mission of ETCs is to empower students to meet the challenges of tomorrow in order to be competitive in the 21st century.