Computers spice up language-arts lesson

PLYMOUTH – Students have a passion for learning their parts of speech in Abbie Ward and Joanna Tripp’s language-arts classes at Riverview Middle School.

That’s because Ward, a seventh-grade teacher, and Tripp, who teaches eighth-graders, make the lessons creative and fun, by integrating technology with their instruction.

They demonstrated one of their technology-integration strategies during the Tuesday, Nov. 17 School Board meeting.

Carrie Dassow, the district’s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, pointed out in her introduction of the two instructors, “We don’t teach technology separately. We integrate it. We use technology to enhance learning.”

She said teachers in the district are learning how to incorporate instructional technology activities, through a professional development class, offered as part of the district’s plan for professional development. Ward, Tripp and Riverview Middle School Principal Chris Scudella are among those who have taken the course.

Ward explained that she and Tripp gave their students a pre-test on the parts of speech. “This test was done with the use of technology, and the answers are sent to the teachers immediately,” Ward said.

She noted that students ranked high in their knowledge of nouns and verbs. “Adjectives and adverbs were not too bad,” she added.

However, they scored poorly in their understanding of prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions and interjections.

“So we realized they need a lot of grammar work and looked for tools to help them develop their writing, while using all eight parts of speech,” Tripp said.

Ward and Tripp found Storybird, a student-friendly technological tool for telling a story digitally.

“It seemed flawless,” Tripp said.

Storybird is a program in which students write short, visual stories, with the use of pictures. They share the stories with family and friends.

When students complete their stories, they can e-mail them to their parents or guardians for their input.

“It worked well. Parents could help polish the stories,” Ward noted.

She explained that students were given a set of pictures – from 20-40 of them. “They were asked to write a story involving the pictures and to use all the parts of speech, including at least five words from each part of speech,” Ward said.

In completing the assignment, students had a choice of using pictures from a specific artist’s collection or a collection of pictures based on a theme, such as trees. They were given an eight-page minimum for their stories.

Following the assignment, the teachers administered a post-test. It revealed the scores on the parts of speech had improved.

“We are happy with the results,” Tripp said. “The students had fun. Every kid was into doing the assignment.”

Ward agreed. “This is a tool to make them better writers,” she said.

Dassow pointed out that the assignment helped raise the bar for teaching, because the two instructors knew from the results of the pre-test that their students understand the concept of nouns and verbs. Thus, they could focus on the other six parts of speech, rather than repeat their instruction of nouns and verbs.

Dassow stressed too that the collaboration between students and their parents is an important skill. “Businesses want students to collaborate,” Dassow said. “Students lack that skill.

“Much of what we did as educators was to isolate the students. Now they have to collaborate.”

“I’m so excited,” Dassow added. “Technology is guiding the teachers’ instruction. They are not just standing there. They are adjusting to meet the needs of the kids, using some very dynamic tools.”

She commended Ward, Tripp and Scudella for taking the technology-integration course. Superintendent Clark Reinke agreed with Dassow. “This is the kind of instruction we want,” he said. “It raises the bar for student learning.”