Greene County Raves About School Technology
Making the Web Safe Again and Bringing Parents and Communities into the Classroom
Greene County Middle School hosted an event last week to showcase their new technology designed to boost student achievement and parent involvement. The technology features eChalk, an online interactive network that connects students to the real world and parents to their children's education. "This is more like a community integration tool," said Kylie Black, eChalk's public relations spokeswoman at Sensible City in Ashville.
Parents Richard Fraboni and Donna Nethercutt said they appreciate getting email alerts about what is going on at children's school. "I get an email update every time there is a change," Fraboni said. "...I like seeing what the homework is." Parents can opt out of certain emails if they want to limit how many they get. Nethercutt said she went from posting the refrigerator with notes six years ago to checking the computer for notices. "Normally I look at the daily announcements every morning before I start to work," she said. With eChalk, parents can look at their children's classroom page and find out the assignments, what they did in school and special announcements.
Students can take part in discussions online with their teachers and other students. The discussion questions get an almost immediate response said Amy Fraboni, a teacher and technologist from West Greene Elementary. Pam Vinson, a third grader teacher and parent, said eChalk extends learning into the home and gives students access to stories, focus skills and games. It also allows students to provide input on their class page. "eChalk is one of my favorite things I have," said Tammy Noble, a sixth grade teacher. Parents who wonder why their child never has homework can get online and find out what assignments their child actually has. Noble uses eChalk for book reviews, current events, resource lists and to boost morale with congratulations to students.
She said the network is also a favorite tool for staff and committees to use. "It's kind of taking away one meeting," she said. A new feature allows teachers to post their lesson plans, said Julie Faucette, literature facilitator and curriculum coordinator. She said it has made her job easier to incorporate literature into the curriculum. Students can guess characters by reading a description and then e-mail her with their answers. "Kids know a lot about Messenger and texting. E-mail to them is slow because it's not immediate. So it teaches them to use e-mail," Faucette said.
Michael Dixon, a high school technologist, said that groups and clubs can use eChalk, and elections can be done using the technology. Megan Ormond said teachers can post guidelines, deadlines and senior project information. The discussion board helps students to review material. Pat McNeill, assistant superintendent, said eChalk provides a connection to collage and testing information. "eChalk allows us again to be safe on the Web, it allows us to bring parents into the classroom and our community into the classroom," she said.
- Margaret Fisher, The Standard Laconic