New program gives MPCSD state-of-the-art classrooms

By BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

The Mt. Pleasant Middle School got to test a new and unconventional style of teaching last Thursday and it?s a type of teaching the school hopes to build on as the school year progresses.

Now being only one of four schools in the state of Iowa to use this new teaching method, the middle school has adopted an Integrated Learning Center (ILC) classroom into its program and the positive results are already starting be come to fruition. This past Thursday marks the first time that the staff of the middle school has actually used the ILC for actual class time.

The program itself mirrors state-of-the-art classrooms that are currently being used at the University of Iowa called TILE spaces. The idea of TILE spaces is to better integrate technology with learning in order to more effectively teach and serve the children of today.

The funding for this new classroom at the middle school comes from a $50,000 grant from the STEM Advisory Council. The classroom itself cost about $55,000 to build.

Equipped with six monitors, five computers, tables that come equipped with write-on tabletops, web cameras for each computer, speakers and an iPad for the teacher to use, these rooms are a tech-savvy student?s dream. The room also comes with a wireless network to support the web-based programs that can be used.

?This type of classroom does many things for teaching,? said Darren Hanna, the school?s director of technology and instruction. ?For one, it teaches students how to network and problem solve with others.?

This was clearly demonstrated on Thursday as a class of seventh-grade students from the middle school was tasked with an assignment to use the classroom?s capabilities to teach an interactive science lesson to kindergarten students from Harlan Elementary. The elementary school is also using some of the same technological features as the middle school and was more than willing to be used as models for the test-run on Thursday.

Middle school science teacher Laura Fernandez was very ready to test out the new equipment and gage student?s thoughts on the new system. ?The kids have to get creative and think outside the box, which is really what we want,? she said in regards to the trial run. ?We always talked about taking the class outside of the classroom and this is giving us the push that we need to do this.?

Fernandez, Hanna and Principal Jason Martinez have many ideas for the classroom?s capabilities and tools. One common idea that they share is the push to put more emphasis on the students taking charge of their own learning. ?This classroom puts the focus on students to learn and take the emphasis off the teachers,? said Hanna. ?The old model [of teaching] is the teacher working their tail off, and the kids just sitting there.?

Now, says Hanna, roles will be reversed. With this new technology, the grunt of the teacher?s work will be in the preparation of the lesson while during class time the students are more in charge and expected to do the work.

Some skeptics of the program might not like this new approach to teaching, but students at the middle school didn?t seem to mind. Middle school student Dakota Triska said he really enjoyed using the new technology. ?I think it went well,? he said after completing a lesson with a small group of kindergartners from Harlan Elementary. ?The kids were nervous at first, but they eventually liked it.?

Another student also praised the technology saying, ?It was fun to teach the kindergartners. Using the new computers was really, really fun.?

With one classroom now up and running, the middle school is in the process of building a second classroom and has plans for a third in the future. As Mt. Pleasant is leading the way in Iowa for ILC classrooms, this might not be the case for long. According to Martinez, he has already been fielding calls from school officials all across the state as well as representatives from the Department of Education that want to know more about ILC rooms. Mt. Pleasant Middle School has also been partnering with the University of Iowa doing studies on the effectiveness of these types of classrooms.

Overall, the faculty was pleased with the trial run on Thursday and plan to update partners at the university on both the positives and negatives of the session as well as ways they can improve. Middle school faculty also plans to continue to pick students? brain about what they like and don?t like about the program.

With the trial run now completed, Fernandez is already looking into ideas for the future to expand the room?s capabilities and open up a new world of learning to her students. ?I have a school in Costa Rica that I used to teach at that is ready to do this kind of thing with us, we just have to set it up.?

She said she is also looking at ways to eventually go paperless in the classroom. Fernandez says that the new program would easily allow for it and that is would make a lot of sense.

Other faculty is also looking at the classroom from a long-term lens. Hanna says that he now has his work cut out for him and that he is very excited for the challenge. ?My job now is simple,? said Hanna after the first class was successfully completed. ?It?s to make sure our wireless system can keep up with the kids and whatever they come up with to learn and teach about.?