Fifth graders issued iPads in Mineola’s ‘grand experiment’ |
On Board Online • November 22, 2010
By Marc Humbert
Senior Writer
When Mineola Superintendent Michael Nagler persuaded his board of education to give every fifth grader at the district’s Jackson Avenue School a new Apple iPad, he knew it might shake things up in the classroom.
You could say it has turned them topsy-turvy.
“One of the beautiful things is watching a student teach a teacher,” Nagler told On Board.
Nagler said he went to Mineola’s board this spring with the idea that devices such as the iPad might eventually replace standard textbooks, and that both students and teachers would benefit from a pilot project to use the tablet computer, which is configured for high-quality display of books and magazines as well as Internet access.
“The school board, to its credit, realized that even in tough financial times, if we are going to move in a positive direction in educating students to 21st Century skills, you need to do initiatives like this,” the superintendent said.
Board approval in hand, Nagler ordered 100 iPads at $500 each through Nassau BOCES. Using BOCES will allow the district to spread the cost over five years. The teachers received their machines, along with some training, over the summer.
Students have embraced the high-tech tool, said Matthew DeLuca, a fifth-grade teacher at Jackson Avenue Elementary. “They think of (each assignment) as a puzzle – and using a great tool to solve the puzzle,” he said. “What a great opportunity for children to take charge of their own education and run with it.”
DeLuca estimates that students are already using the iPads for about 20 percent of their classroom work during the school day, but says that is increasing as both students and teachers become more familiar with the devices and the apps available for them.
“By the end of the year, probably 80 percent of their time will be on the iPad,” he predicted.
Nagler, the superintendent, said he expects to expand the program next year, perhaps to fifth graders in other schools and possibly to sixth graders as well.
“We all know that education has got to change. We can’t do it the same way we’ve been doing it,” he said. “It’s this grand experiment. Are we going to engage children and teach children at a higher level, and be effective with it?”
Nagler noted that Gov. David Paterson vetoed legislation in late August that would have allowed New York school districts to use some of their textbook aid for technology-related purchases. Paterson said he feared such a move would drive up school spending by about $1 million a year at time when the state can’t afford it.
Nagler said he hoped the state Legislature and Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo would allow textbook aid to be used for such purchases.
“It’s coming,” he said. “There is no way to avoid the conversation or the notion that the way we currently use textbooks is not going to be the future.”
Jackson Avenue’s principal, Matthew Gaven, said the project has been “a tremendous experience for both the teachers and the students.”
Gaven and Nagler said they were especially pleased by the reaction of the teachers.
“The real key is to have teachers buy in, (and) the teachers have really run with it,” Nagler said. “My veteran teachers will tell you they’re rejuvenated.”