Saratoga school excels in tech

Sherry Knotek has the right name: She does "know tech" as the technology teacher at St. Clement's School in Saratoga Springs.

Now she knows even more, thanks to a $100,000 grant from Richard and Mary Flaherty, parents of a student.

Thanks to their donation, the school is equipped with cutting-edge educational technology, like "smart blackboards," classroom laptops and computerized Palm Pilot-based testing.

Smart moves

Much of the grant money was spent on the installation of "smart boards" in every classroom. While they look like an ordinary white marker board, they have sensors and circuits behind them to make them function as a large-scale computer monitor and input device.

Children can interact with material on the smart board by pressing and dragging, as well as writing using special markers. Writing on the smart boards is translated into input on the teacher's computer.

Mrs. Knotek believes that smart boards allow for greater interaction between teachers and students, up the chances of a visual learner's engagement with the material, increase excitement in the class, and allow teachers to do more.

Engagement

St. Clement's teachers have been using the smart boards to engage children in grammar and language lessons, and send home class notes, worksheets and assignments to absent students.

They also scan worksheets to put up on the smart board to complete with the class, she said.

"It motivates the students to learn," said Mrs. Knotek, who notes that many of the children use computers and interactive media outside of school. "They are more motivated when they're interactively involved with the lesson versus just being lectured or taught at a chalkboard."

Lap-tops

The school is also using the Flaherty's gift to purchase a second laptop lab and Palm Pilot lab.

The former is a cart containing two dozen numbered laptops that can be brought to each classroom for research, typing or educational purposes.

Connected to the school's wireless internet, the laptops allow students to do research and work on computer-related assignments while in class.

Palm Pilots

The Palm Pilot lab assists teachers in testing and certain lessons. Older grades use the Palm Pilots for testing, as well as round-robin writing assignments, mathematics reinforcement software and lessons in computer animation.

"Say you can't go out for recess one day," Mrs. Knotek said. "You can bring the Palm Pilots out and do multiplication and division games. "I use it to teach computer animation or reinforce a lesson."

She noted that the lessons are thus brought up to what students expect in their generation: sound, color, interactivity. "It captures their attention more and increases the learning big-time for a visual learner," she said.

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