Cape Girardeau teachers receive training in classroom technology

The old-fashioned blackboard is being replaced with interactive Smart Boards in most Cape Girardeau elementary classrooms this school year. About 25 teachers from Alma Schrader Elementary School learned how to use the touch-screen technology Tuesday at Southeast Missouri State University's education department computer lab.

"Kids are used to doing things with technology," said Alma Schrader Elementary principal Ruth Ann Orr. "Some of our teachers hesitate, but for the kids it's very intuitive."

Susan Reinagel, who teaches at Alma Schrader and Southeast Missouri State University, led the training as teachers prepare for the new school year that begins Thursday.

Before this school year, a few classes had Smart Boards, but thanks to funds the school district received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act now nearly every classroom will have them, Orr said. All of Cape Girardeau's elementary schools are getting more Smart Boards this year, Orr said.

Smart Boards allow teachers and students to touch, move and erase objects projected on the board. They can also write or draw on it using their fingers.

"We know from research that the more immediate the feedback is, the more effective the lesson is for the student," said Orr. "With the Smart Board it's immediate, you know what you did."

Orr said Smart Boards also help the school district to stay "green" and prevent printing more traditional worksheets.

Susan Bartlett, who has been teaching for 26 years, will have a Smart Board in her classroom for the first time this year.

"I'm very much looking forward to it," she said. "The kids will absolutely love it because for them it's like playing a computer game, but the whole class is engaged."

Teachers can choose from more than 5,000 images in the Smart Board's accompanying computer software, from basic shapes and letters to a virtual dissection of a frog.

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