SMART Boards received through Elkhorn Fund proving to be beneficial at Elkhorn Area High School
By Kellen Olshefski
Editor
Two Elkhorn Area High School foreign language teachers and their students are finally reaping the benefits of a grant they were awarded last fall after fairly recently receiving two new SMART boards for their classrooms.
Christine Lira, a Spanish Teacher at the high school, said both her and German teacher Dani Schultz had wanted SMART Boards for a couple of years, ever since their colleague Margaret Adams received one.
“She told us how much it’s helped her classes with learning the vocabulary and how her kids get excited,” she said.
However, Lira said there just wasn’t enough money in the budget to purchase SMART Boards for their two classrooms as well.
The opportunity became a reality last year when Lira said Elkhorn Area Schools District Administrator Jason Tadlock suggested the pair apply for a grant through the Elkhorn Fund, knowing the fund’s board was looking for applicants.
Around October of last fall, Lira said they were informed they had been chosen to receive a $1,329 grant to cover the cost of two SMART Boards; one for Lira’s class and one for Schultz’s class. In addition, the school district pitched in about an extra $300 to get the SMART Boards mounted.
Lira said since they received the SMART Boards about two months ago, they’ve been able to engage their students in a whole new way, getting them up and out of their desks in a way that makes them want to learn.
“They like technology, so anything with the screen and the noises and its competitive, so it gets them more actively involved,” she said.
“I’d say they’re definitely more engaged, in general most of them, and there’s some that are always asking if we can do SMART Board games that day.”
Lira said the boards have proven to be invaluable in helping students get a grip on vocabulary terms through repetition in a fun manner.
“I think it has helped with the learning,” she said. “Certain students learn better with this rather than just doing textbook activities.”
Just to be clear, Lira said students aren’t just playing games on the SMART Boards, but educational games focusing on vocabulary and grammar, like matching games, that help get students get ready for quizzes and tests.
Lira said students have been excited about the new technology, noting there isn’t many SMART Boards at the high school.
In addition to students benefiting from the new technology, Lira said the boards have brought the department closer together, allowing them to collaborate more. She said with Adams having a SMART Board for several years now, it was easy to share a lot of the resources Adams had already created and Adams was able to collaborate with the two, teaching them everything they needed to know.
“That’s made the transition easier because it’s a new piece of technology you have to learn,” she said. “It’s been nice to have help from her.”
Lira said the board has other benefits including its ability to be used as both a projector and chalk board, allowing students to practice the spelling of words without the need of constant cleaning.
Additionally, she said it helps the teachers to stay organized as the software allows them to put everything for one chapter together in one digital file for easy access.
“So it can be games, it could be videos, it could be grammar explanations,” she said. “It just helps to keep everything in one nice spot for each chapter.”
