Schools

PEF Presents the Classroom of the Future

Interactive "chalkboards," iPods for every student and blogs to enhance learning are just some of the new gadgets available to local educators

The classroom of the future will have an interactive blackboard where students and teachers can write and record their lessons, iPads loaded with apps to help kids learn everything from spelling to algebra and microphones so that teachers don’t have to strain their voice.

Except the future is now and many of these gadgets are already available to educators, whether they know it or not.

That was the lesson more than 30 Petaluma teachers got at a technology innovation workshop Wednesday, put on by the Petaluma Educational Foundation (PEF), which last year gave away some $190,000 in grants to local schools. The event was meant to highlight the latest in classroom technology and help teachers figure out how to incorporate it into their curriculum.

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“Textbooks and overhead projectors just don’t do it anymore,” said Tyson Steeves, a sixth grade teacher at who attended the workshop. “All of the kids’ parents have iPhones, so we need to at least meet them half way…We need the bells and whistles to keep their attention.”

One of the ways Steeves is doing that in his classroom is with iPads, which Meadow Elementary purchased with an impact grant from PEF. Steeves uses iPads as a presentation tool and in group activities and says they have improved his effectiveness in the classroom.

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“Kids are just more focused and engaged,” he said.

Maureen Rudder, principal at , shared her experience with SMARTboards, interactive blackboards that are like giant iPhones that allow students to move objects on an electronic screen, spell out words and play educational games. Rudder expects all classrooms at her school to be outfitted with the boards by the end of October.

“You ask teachers and they’ll tell you that it’s really changed their instruction,” she said.

As part of the workshop, held at Frontrow, a Petaluma company that produces audio technology for classrooms, teachers sat in on a webcast of an Illinois teacher showing how she used interactive whiteboards to do everything from teach math to show the anatomy of a frog, clicking on points on the frog to dissect it.

"What was emphasized today was how hungry teachers are for an exchange of ideas and for professional development," said Janet Ramatici, executive director of PEF.

All schools applying for funding this year will be required to attend a grant writing workshop at PEF on Wedensday, October 12. For more information, check out www.pefinfo.com


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