Classrooms venture beyond blackboard

Published 12:57 am Thursday, March 24, 2011

John Small Elementary School teacher April Hagwood demonstrates the use of Smart Response, an interactive device that gives teachers the ability to instantly track quiz results and student comprehension of lessons. (WDN Photo/Betty Mitchell Gray)

There’s no more squeaking chalk on blackboards and no more pounding erasers during recess in Beaufort County Schools.

Instead, students and teachers are writing with special pens on interactive Smart Boards that can hone in on cities around the world and display mathematics problems and their answers from anywhere in the classroom.

Students are using hand-held, interactive Smart Response devices that give their teachers the ability to instantly track quiz results and student knowledge of lessons.

“We’re not waiting three days to get back to them when they miss a question,” said John Small Elementary School teacher April Hagwood. “It’s very immediate. It’s right there.”

Hagwood was one of several Beaufort County teachers who demonstrated the array of technology used in the classrooms in prekindergarten through 12th grade in schools across the county at a Technology Showcase held at Washington High School on Tuesday night.

It was the second such event sponsored by Beaufort County Schools to give parents and community members an opportunity to see how classroom teachers are using various devices from flip cameras to computer-based quizzes to improve learning.

“They’re not just gadgets,” said Beaufort County Schools Superintendent Don Phipps, who first attended the showcase via Skype, a program that gives people in different locations the ability to see and speak to one another. “We want to try to engage students in the classroom.”

Those attending the showcase answered questions with Smart Response, wrote their names on Smart Boards and made videos using flip video cameras.

A third Technology Showcase is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Southside High School.