Chamber gets schooled on technology

PLAINS – The Plains Chamber met at the school for their monthly meeting, discussing technology within the school, primarily focusing on SmartBoard technology.

After a lunch was dished up to the attendees, the group traveled over to a classroom for a presentation, climbing into the desks of students.

Math teacher, Sunny Alteneder, took to the board explaining many of the operations the board is capable of.

The SmartBoard helps learning become more interactive, showing students hard to learn concepts on an easy to view screen.

Superintendent Thom Chisolm explained the school is full of SmartBoards.

“We have a SmartBoard in all of our K through 6 classrooms and probably at least 50 percent in our 7 through 12 classrooms,” said Chisolm.

The SmartBoard technology was first installed about seven or eight years ago.

Technology Coordinator Kenny Marjerrison said the average cost to install one of the systems is $2,000, which does not include the hardwiring.

The possibilities are endless with this technology, allowing teachers to use projectors, iPads and laptops to sync up with the board.

“Kids don’t know it’s not supposed to be there,” said Chisolm explaining how technology driven teaching has become. “We’re probably only missing five or six to have them in every room,” said Chisolm.

Numerous teachers in the district are heavily dependent on their SmartBoards and the benefits that come from teaching with them.

Chisolm explained that in a perfect world each teacher would be equipped with a SmartBoard and training on how to best use it. And he stressed the importance of keeping the equipment with the children as they grow explaining that once a child is used to learning that way, it can be hard for them to go back to the simple methods of using a regular whiteboard.

A tour of the campus showcases the different ways the teachers set up their SmartBoard technology, allowing each class to flow and function the way they need it to.

As Alteneder showed what the technology was capable of, she tapped her finger on the screen and brought up previous material the system had saved. With ease, she manipulated parts of triangles and parallelograms, demonstrating how to find the areas of each.

Chisolm said any money he has left over is funneled into expanding technology.

“I do have a certain technology fund that I can spend but it doesn’t cover everything,” said Chisolm.