December 4, 2009
Netbooks
New technology is a hit at Sts. Peter and Paul School in Haubstadt
Sts. Peter and Paul teacher Katrina Martin watches as fifth graders solve math problems using their Netbooks. (Message photo by Mary Ann Hughes) Click for a larger version.
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
This year, when fourth and fifth graders arrived at Sts. Peter and Paul School they were given their very own netbooks, which are small laptop computers featuring 10 inch screens and keyboards.
It didn’t take long for the students to adapt to the new technology, and it didn’t take the teachers much longer. Math teacher Katrina Martin said, “I’m in my twenty-seventh year of teaching, and when I started teaching we did not even have computers in the classroom.”
The netbooks have been incorporated into math, reading comprehension, writing and grammar classes, and she has found the netbooks “very easy, the way they are set up.” The Haubstadt school has wireless everywhere in the building, enabling the students to use their netbooks anywhere.
On a recent Monday morning, the fifth graders were solving multiplication problems on their netbooks under their teacher’s supervision. As she stood in the back of the classroom, she was able to see that all of the students were using a specific math program, and she was able to detect how many correct and incorrect answers they each had.
“I can see anyone who is struggling, and I can look at every screen and see if they are with me.”
She is able to easily work with students who are learning at different levels, and there are sites with tutorials if a student needs extra help.
The students can take their spelling tests on the netbooks, write papers and do research. The school has an internet filter which locks out inappropriate websites.
Bart Burke is the technology coordinator at the school. He said “there is always a teacher present when they are being used. The sources on the Internet are phenomenal, and they [the students] never go on the Internet without a teacher going there first.”
Kalyn Herrmann is the principal at Sts. Peter and Paul School. She said the netbooks first appeared at the school when the science teacher received a grant to purchase nine of them. When she realized how effective they were in the learning process, she decided “we’ve got to get them for our kids.”
She contacted parishioners as well as area businesses and asked for donations; she was able to raise the $9,000 necessary to purchase one netbook for each fourth and fifth grade student.
“They use them every day, all day. You go by the rooms anytime of day, and the kids are working on them. It’s really been a positive thing here.
“They are really good with them, and they take care of them.”
Sarah Foster teaches writing and grammar. She said her students adapted “immediately” to the netbooks. “They tend to know more about technology than teachers sometimes. It was second nature to them.”
Her students think their netbooks are “fun, and when you can make learning fun that’s a benefit.”
She added, “I don’t know how we could every go back.”