Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6B
BARROW JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2008
HANDS-ON WORK
A student at Westside Middle School uses an Activslate to answer questions in
class.
Westside shows off technology
EXPLAINING THE PROCESS
Pam Sloan, a teacher at Westside Middle School in
Barrow County, looks on as students interact with
another classroom via video conferencing using the
new Promethean Activboard.
Westside Middle School
recently opened its doors
to special guests for a high-
tech showcase of its new 21st
Century classrooms.
Eighth grade teacher
Pam Sloan demonstrated
the Barrow County School
Districts Direct-to-Discovery
(D2D) initiative within
an Advanced Broadband
Learning Environment
(A.B.L.E.) classroom.
The A.B.L.E. classroom
enables students to connect
directly to and interact direct
ly with real world researchers
in real time.
What makes this pos
sible is the district’s access
to PeachNet (dubbed “The
Network for Education in
Georgia”) and Internet2 (the
foremost U.S. advanced net
working consortium) com
bined with the Promethean
Activclassroom technologies
(Activboard, Activslates and
Activotes).
This “bundle” of technolo
gy allows teachers to incorpo
rate video, sound, interactive
assessments, web conferenc
ing, web content and other
rich multimedia into their les
son plans.
With this hi-tech combi
nation, students have the
opportunity to connect to real
world situations, such as the
research laboratory at Georgia
Tech University, an observa
tory in Australia and to other
classrooms around the world
creating a truly global educa
tion experience. The districts
goal is for every classroom in
Barrow County Schools to be
an A.B.L.E. classroom.
After the technology dem
onstration, students expressed
how they come to school
early, stay late, and visit their
A.B.L.E. classroom to work
on projects for other classes
that are not yet equipped with
this technology.
“In Barrow County Schools
we are creating world class
education that is hometown
based,” said superintendent
Ron Saunders.
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MATH MASTERS
The third grade parents and teachers at Holsenbeck Elementary School recently cel
ebrated the students’ accomplishments in the Math Masters Program. This is a fact-
memorization incentive program to assist students in achieving math excellence.
Each student will take a timed math test once a week on 100 math problems. The
tests are timed for six minutes for the first level. The students will move through the
operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division at this timed level.
They do not move to a new operation until the have correctly completed all 100
problems correct. After moving through the six-minute level, they will do the same
100 problems, but at the four-minute level, and then three minute level. After com
pleting all of the three-minute level operations they move onto six-minute double
digit addition. This is a very exciting and motivating experience for the students as
they strive for the ultimate goal of becoming a Math Master, school officials said.
Trip to Great Britain set for summer
Need a holiday gift idea that’s guaranteed
to fit and delight? Consider the Brittania, an
11-day trip to Ireland, Wales, Scotland and
England in June 2009.
The trip is sponsored by Winder-Barrow
High School English teachers Cheryl Sauls
and Matt Perry, who have been leading sum
mer trips to Europe for more than a decade.
“I can’t imagine a more exciting gift than
the gift of travel - a chance to see a part of
the world you’ve never seen before,” said
Mrs. Sauls.
In addition to a chance to kiss the Blarney
Stone and listen to Irish music in Dublin, the
trip will include a ferry across the Irish Sea
to visit a castle in Wales.
“From there, we’ll head up to Scotland
and Edinburgh, which is always a favorite
with our students,” Perry said.
The trip will end with a night train from
Edinburgh to London.
“We’11 visit both historic and cultural loca
tions. We’ll also make time for things like
shopping at Harrod’s,” said Sauls.
Trips are arranged through EF, the world’s
largest student travel company.
“We’ve been very happy with their ser
vice; that’s why we’re repeat customers,”
said Perry.
However, the trips aren’t limited to WBHS
students.
“Community members are more than wel
come to join us; it’s a great way to travel
with some ‘home folks.’”
For more information, contact the teach
ers by calling WBHS at 770-867-4519, or
emailing them at csauls@barrow.kl2.ga.us
or mperryl 1 @barrow.kl2.ga.us.
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