Published: September 06, 2006 10:42 pm      

Deer Creek grant garners ‘SMART’ technology

EDMOND — Gone are the days of teachers pushing overhead projectors and television sets to their rooms to enhance their classroom lectures at Deer Creek Elementary School.

Thanks to a $79,000 grant from the Oklahoma Educational Technology Trust (OETT), Deer Creek Elementary is one of 17 schools in Oklahoma receiving funds for SMART Boards, SMART Slates and Airliners.

“Because of this grant, each classroom will receive a SMART Board (an electronic white board that can be plugged into a computer), and each grade level will receive a SMART Slate and SMART Airliner to write with,” said Debbie Straughn, principal.

“After visiting school systems in Olathe, Kan., Plano and McKinney, Texas, and looking at the technology they were using in their classrooms, a pilot program was begun two years ago in the Deer Creek Elementary’s fifth-grade classes to see if classrooms could benefit from the SMART Boards,” Straughn said.

In order to apply for the grant, the principal of the school must attend a seminar by Oklahoma Achievement through Collaboration and Technical Support (Oklahoma ACTS), a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Partnership.

“Through the SMART Boards we are integrating technology and leadership to train the teachers and they in turn utilize their experiences and learning to educate our students,” Straughn said.

The $79,000 grant will provide 17 SMART Boards, one for each of the classrooms, installation and teacher training.

In addition to the regular classrooms, SMART Boards will be in the art and music classes, the Media Center and the computer laboratory.

“In October, we are hoping through passage of the school bond issue we will be able to buy four additional SMART Boards or portable boards for the Special Education classes,” Straughn said.

SMART Boards not only save the classroom teacher’s time, but they also allow instant feedback to the students when grading their papers.

Fifth-grade teacher Michelle Brown has been involved in the pilot program using the SMART Boards for the past two years.

“I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful the SMART Boards are,” Brown said.

“In addition to saving time, the student not only hears the correct answer, but they can see it at the same time,” she added. “It is also easier to go back and revisit a problem missed.

“Our math textbook is online and the SMART Board makes it so easier to grade the student’s assignments, and it also helps them ask questions more easily.”

The SMART Boards can be used to post assignments, teach lessons and present new concepts as well as review concepts already

presented.

They also can act as overhead projectors, and they can be used as DVD players, to play educational videos, to show experiments on Internet educational Web sites and for Power Point

presentations.

“Debbie (Straughn) likes to keep on top of 21st century learning, and SMART Boards benefit everyone,” Brown said.

Because of its involvement in the community, Deer Creek Elementary also has been named a National Learn and Serve America school for 10 years in a row.

“Elderly people from the community living at Epworth Villa come and tutor our students and then our students teach them computer skills and show them how to use the latest technology available including SMART Boards,” Brown said.