FORT SMITH — Trinity Junior High School became the first school in the River Valley to equip its classrooms with advanced technology, including tablet personal computers and wireless Internet access.
As part of its ongoing technology program, the school is investing more than $150,000 to incorporate computers and the Internet into classroom lessons.
The technology also includes ceiling-mounted projectors and electronic whiteboard screens, which are the 21st-century version of a chalkboard. Wireless Internet access will allow students to do class research on 30 portable laptop computers and share their results with their classmates.
Sister Judith Marie Keith, RSM, executive director of the Trinity Educational Trust, said, “This technology activates students in the learning process and involves them in pursuing new knowledge.”
Three years ago, the Trinity Educational Trust set a goal to raise $150,000 to buy new technology and invest an additional $300,000 to establish a permanent fund to be used to update and maintain the system.
Currently, the physical science classroom is set up as a model classroom. By the end of the school year, seven other classrooms in English, religion, math and social studies will be similarly equipped.
“Bonnie Gondolfi, our technology teacher, and I will be available to give teachers in-service training in utilizing this new equipment during their planning periods,” technology coordinator Theresa Piechocki said.
The training will include instruction on using tablet personal computers to project educational Internet sites and notes written via Windows Journal on to whiteboard screens. These PCs will be linked to each student’s laptop through wireless connections.
Teachers will use Vision software to monitor and interact with students as they conduct their research. If a student finds information worth sharing with the class, the teacher can project his Internet screen on to the whiteboard. Teachers’ notes will be available on their Web sites to assist students in their studies at home.
The whiteboard screens will also be used to display educational television programs from the Weather Channel, Discovery Channel and other cable stations.
Three English classes were already equipped because the school is updating its English textbooks this year. Many new textbooks have interactive online lessons and online textbook access that can only be fully used if the classrooms have advanced technology. As textbooks and classrooms become more interactive, Trinity’s teachers will find many more uses for this classroom-based technology.
Robyn Bryan, physical science teacher, has been using technology in her model classroom. Her students have given PowerPoint presentations, studied meteorology through Science Link, an interactive component of their earth science textbook, and participated in virtual science labs.
Before buying hardware and software, the Technology Advisory Committee, composed of faculty, business, community and student representatives, visited University of Arkansas at Fort Smith to see what technology is currently being used there.
They also studied the technology and curricula being used in area public high schools to make sure their program and curricula would be compatible. (There are no Catholic high schools in Fort Smith.)
Finally, they decided to meet with technology faculty in Trinity’s three feeder schools — Christ the King, Immaculate Conception, and St. Boniface schools — to insure that their students would be exposed to the concepts that will allow them to take full advantage of Trinity’s new technology.
Richard Udouj, chairman of Trinity Junior High School’s board of trustees, praised technology committee chairman Joe Herrmann and the committee for its vision, thoroughness and dedication.
“We certainly are on the cutting edge with the integration of technology into the teaching process, and it is being done with a focus on what makes effective instruction at Trinity,” Udouj said. “Technology is being introduced into the classrooms of excited and eager faculty members.”
Several schools are trying to move toward an extensive technology program. St. Joseph Junior and Senior High School in Pine Bluff received a grant from the Beaumont Foundation and a donation from the Parent Teacher Organization to buy 30 laptop computers for its computer lab. The lab is open each day from 7-7:50 a.m. for students.
