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Jordan Ridge Holds Technology Night For Parents

Oct 07, 2015 09:29AM ● By Bryan Scott

Jordan Ridge

By Julie Slama

Jordan Ridge’s sixth-grade parents got a chance to get a crash course on computer programs their kids are using during the school’s first Technology Night.

“It was a parent night where parents could see what technology the sixth-graders are using in their classroom,” sixth-grade teacher Cindy Epperson said.  

The Aug. 19 night began with about 120 parents and students gathered to learn some computer programs such as Skyward, a program to access students’ records; Think Through Math, a program that is geared to ensuring there are no holes in students’ understanding of math; Alex, a math program geared for students in the accelerated class; Keyboarding for Kids; Utah Compose, a program that gives students’ writing prompts to help them practice writing and receive feedback; Google Classrooms, which allows students to access classroom assignments, work together on assignments with peers and turn in their work online to the teacher.

After the initial meeting, parents were invited to their students’ classrooms.

“I had 10 computers set up and I thought students would show their parents what we’re doing or the parents would try to log on, but more of them wanted to learn in-depth what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.  We spent the majority of our time in Google classrooms, which is something that many of them weren’t familiar with,” she said.

Epperson said that in her classroom, she may have the day begin with students logging into Google Classrooms and seeing a prompt to write a couple paragraphs or they may watch a video where they can pause it to take notes at their own speed.

“The kids can access it at home or at school and work on assignments at their own pace.  I can see how many times they worked on it, how many drafts they may have written, how much time was on it, if a peer edited it and what changes were made and so much more.  It’s giving us the opportunity to see how each individual student is doing during the process as well as the end result.  The kids are enjoying the access and technology,” Epperson said.

Parents seemed to appreciate some advantages of technology, such as students not having to print assignments to turn in and students learning programs that they’ll use in junior high, Epperson said.  

However, they have had to do some troubleshooting when one student forgets to log out at home and another one begins doing their homework without putting in his or her password.

“We’re learning to work through some things, but at the same time it’s fun and amazing to see how much students are gaining from having technology in their classroom,” Epperson said.