Success Stories from 2007

Each year the Techmobile Instructor identifies students and sites that have taken full advantage of the mobile computer lab and highlights the gains in these short summaries.

New Instructor, Same Success

When I started working this summer, I asked Marty (the Technology Coordinator), "Does working with the students for just a few days really make a difference?" Marty assured me that it did, but I was still skeptical because I usually work with kids for an entire school year before reflecting on all growth they have made. Well, my skepticism was put to rest after starting my second week of work with the preschool students in Sidney. After the first week of working with 3 & 4 year olds and quickly learning phrases such as, "no toques", "paciencia", "suavecito" and "siéntense", in order to get them to sit on a chair and listen to a story or be able to use the mouse and click, I started week two! With the start of week two, came a number of new faces to the 3 & 4 year old group. As the students entered the MATRIX, I had the "old" students sit on one side of the MATRIX and I had the "new" students sit on the other side of the MATRIX. This is when I saw the answer to the question I had asked Marty a few weeks before. On one side of the MATRIX, I had a group of students sitting quietly, listening to Grandma and Me or practicing skills while clicking along in the program, Jump Start Preschool. On the other side of the MATRIX, I had students jumping up from their seats, pounding on the keyboard, poking at the monitor screen, refusing to wear headphones, and needing a helping hand to show them how to use the mouse. It was then that I stood back and thought to myself as I observed both sides of the MATRIX, "Working with the students for just a few days DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE!"

I was truly amazed with the progress the older elementary students in Sidney made. At the end of my two week stay in Sidney, I introduced the students to a fraction lesson to compliment the Math Plus program. Students were asked to take two photos and combine them by "cutting away" fractional portions of one picture and then "add back in" factional portions of the other picture. My objective was for the students to see equal fractional amounts, but the kids took it a step further. As the kids worked, they realized that if they found two similar pictures, they could combine them to make them look like the subjects in the pictures were somewhat morphed. One of the best end products was when a young girl, Olivia, combined two dogs so they looked like a new species. Other students quickly caught on and the students willingly helped one another to master the skill, work with fractions, and have fun at the same time.

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