Students at Knights Elementary may be returning to the same school after their holiday break, but the way they learn will soon be drastically revitalized.
In December, the school went on a mission to make its library a learning destination on campus. The new programs will permanently alter the way lessons are taught for students. With the new era of education came a new name and the library was officially dedicated to Mr. Truman E. Kahler, Jr., a former teacher at Knights who died in February of 2015.
“In order to reach your fullest potential in life, you must begin with a solid foundation,” the plaque in his honor at the library read. “This is a requirement for any type of success and building that foundation begins here, in your library. Mr. Kahler understood this and worked with his 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students to build the strongest of foundations, a foundation of knowledge.”
Educators at Knights are determined to give their students the best chance at success. The new programs will help give them the edge in the learning process.
Heather Mallard, a speech pathologist at the school, and Dr. Brian Greeno, a psychologist at Knights, both said the new library will allow the students to do more than simply check out books.
The school now has a Skype station where teachers can have students establish connections
with sister schools across the globe, a 3D printing area, an upgraded studio, a Virtual Storybook Library, a Lego Center and Google Expeditions, which offers over 500 virtual field trips.
Mallard said, over the years, they have found many students struggle with literacy at the school and they were searching for an effective method to enrich their vocabulary. The Virtual Storybook includes pre-recorded stories that can be accessed anywhere and at any time by the students, which she said is a buy-in for teachers because it is simple to implement but also heavily based in evidence.
“For students who are really struggling with reading, no matter their grade level, that’s an extra piece of intervention for them,” Mallard said. “Whenever that student has down time and it might be a time for buddy reading in the class, or something like that, they can put the student on that computer and know that they’re getting interactive, effective and fun instruction in literacy.”
Mallard is pre-recording stories for the Virtual Storybook and she said once they are uploaded they will be there forever, allowing the library to continue to grow with little cost to the school. The program is set to be up and running by the next school year and Mallard plans to have other members of the staff help her include multiple translations of books to be inclusive of the diverse student body at the school.
The 3D printing station is currently comprised of two printers attached to a computer in the library. They’re in the process of training teachers and eventually students on how to use them. The goal is for teachers to have a project and choose an item that corresponds with their lesson to come out of the printer.
Mallard said the printers also allow students to start thinking about what careers can use the printers to get them to understand that no dream is unattainable if you set your mind to it.
The Lego Center, which Greeno said will undoubtedly be a classroom favorite, allows students to design objects on their computers and then come into the library to build their creations.
One of the duo’s favorite new programs is the Virtual Field Trip area. The system is designed around Google and controlled by a teacher on a tablet. Students will be taken into several different scenes. If they are on a field trip to the International Space Station the teacher will choose the location and then the students can turn 360 degrees to explore space.
Greeno said many of the students never make it outside of the local community. He said Knights can’t afford to take them to all of these places. However, the new program allows them to explore the world without having to leave the classroom. The program builds background knowledge, which Mallard said will bleed into other areas of the student’s learning.
“How can I expect a student to understand a passage they’re reading about the beach if they’ve never seen it?” Mallard said. “This gives them the opportunity to have access to pretty much the entire world.”
The school is funding the programs using a combination of grants and fundraisers. Greeno said
the school is great at reinvesting the A+ dollars back into the school and they plan to continue to apply for grants to keep the library updated.
While teachers may take a while to adjust to the new tools at their fingertips, Greeno said he is confident many will begin to utilize the programs and students will soon be diving deep into the explorative options provided by Knights. He said the ultimate goal is to translate the experiences they encounter at Knights into having more career options, into thinking beyond their local community.
“This is kind of a way of leveling the playing field,” Greeno said. “Providing teachers with great resources where they can do just that. Making school more than just sitting in class and listening to lectures, and more about setting lifelong goals… making that a reality and not just a buzzword.”