Troy students will have new computers when school starts

Troy students will start the upcoming school year with a technology advantage. The school district is using the One-To-One program to provide Chromebooks to every student in grades one through 12.

To help prepare the teachers for the upcoming school year the No Bull, Google Rocks training seminar was held at Morrison Elementary in Troy. It marked the second consecutive year that the event was held in Troy. During the two-day session local teachers learned how to integrate Google Docs, slides, forms, sheets and other tools into their curriculum. They shared ways to implement these tools into their teaching, and developed lesson plans.

There were 72 teachers from the Troy area that attended the event.

 “These teachers are so excited to bring innovation and collaboration to their students,” Ann Brucker, a technology integration specialist for Billings public schools and one of the event leaders for the event, said. “You couldn’t keep us away.”

The One-To-One Chromebook program helps prepare students for the technology-rich learning and working environment.

“Eureka went One-To-One last year,” Brucker said.  “Troy, is going One-To-One with Chromebooks for students this year. It’s the middle of July and I think it’s pretty neat that we had this many teachers attend. It’s a two-day training session in a hot gym, I think it speaks volumes to their dedication.”

Shelly Stanton, a Billings high school teacher and one of the event leaders, said it’s a huge step forward for education in the area.  

“It’s pretty progressive for this area,” Stanton said. “Information is so abundant online that it is extremely progressive for Troy to take this newer approach to education. The blend of technology and the awesome pedagogy the Troy teachers have is going to offer more engagement and learning in the classroom. Allowing every student access to a device allows the learning environment to grow from within the walls of the school building to all over the world. It took a huge commitment from the staff. They’ve had to change up the way they teach their lesson plans.”

Stanton, a Libby High School graduate in 1995, said bringing back her knowledge to the area in which she grew up is important to her.

“A lot of rural areas don’t get to see stuff like this, and being a Libby graduate, it means a lot to me to give back to the community where I received my high school education.”

Brucker said these training sessions are important for smaller school districts that don’t have the resources of a bigger school district.

“We are from Billings, my husband is the technological director,” she said. “If the teachers in Billings have a question or a problem, they can just go to his office. Whereas in smaller districts, like here in the Troy area they don’t have anybody like that on staff that they can turn to if they have a question. Everybody has to play a part in the learning experience and become an expert.”

Brucker said she enjoys training teachers on how to effectively use technology in the classroom.

“The teachers may know of the applications, but they may not know how to use them or how to access them,” she said. “What we do is we come in and show them how to use these tools effectively in their lesson plans. That’s a big reason why we do these training seminars. We are teaching them, but we also see a lot that we can share.”

Brucker and Stanton are just two of four Google certified trainers in the state. They know the importance of sharing their knowledge and showing teachers in Montana how to effectively use technology in the classroom.

“We try to show the benefits of all the applications,” Brucker said. “Why you want your kids to have access to email and Google drive. The tools are powerful and collaborative. The students can work together. Not just students in the same classroom, but they can work with kids in a different classroom or another school.”

Diane Rewerts, the principal at Morrison Elementary in Troy, is looking forward to integrating the new technology into the classroom.

“With this program we will be able to integrate technology more seamlessly into the classroom,” she said. “It can naturally be part of the classroom and school day, rather than taking the students to the computer lab. Every student in first grade to 12th grade will have a Chromebook.”

The elementary students won’t be able to take their Chromebooks home, unless they get special permission from their teachers. The high school students will be issued a Chromebook when they are freshman and be allowed to take them home, keeping them until the day they graduate.

“Incoming freshman will get issued a Chromebook and they will have the same Chromebook until they graduate,” Jacob Francom, the Troy superintendent said. “The idea is to surplus those Chromebooks out after they graduate.”

Rewerts said that the elementary teachers had five Chromebooks in their classrooms last year to help prepare the teachers and students for the implementation.

“The elementary teachers are very excited,” she said. “They are pretty tech savvy. We’ve had a number of training sessions.”

Brucker said Chromebooks will be vital tools in the education of Troy’s students.

“People think of iPads and Chromebooks as toys. But, if they are used effectively they can be a powerful tool in education.”

Francom said that implementing technology into the curriculum has been a focal point for Troy.

“One of our goals as a district is making sure our technology is up to date and is accessible to our students,” he said. “We have been ramping up our infrastructure to make sure our students can access the Internet. We’ve increased our Internet capabilities over the past five years. We’ve gone from a connection of five megabytes to 20 megabytes to 60 megabytes last year. In August we are going to go up to 100 megabytes.”

Rewerts said it’s important for the schools to teach students how to use technology, as it plays a major role in future education and workplace environment.

“The kids are digital natives,” Rewerts said. “Technology is an important part of life and the world now. It’s important for us to prepare them for that.”

 Francom said that Troy is able to take part in the One-To-One program thanks to money being freed up from grants the district has received.

“Every superintendent has a big bucket of money under their desk that they can just pull out every now and again,” Francom said. “That’s the joke every Superintendent uses when asked how the school district was able to afford something. We’ve had so many grants that we’ve been able to acquire over the past two years that has helped free up money in other areas.”

Francom said that the school board in Troy played a big part in bringing the One-To-One program to Troy.

“The board is very forward thinking,” he said. “They want to have technology as a focal point and making sure our students are getting the instruction they need. It’s important for our students are comfortable with technology. So much of our jobs and postsecondary education is dependent on technology. Any job you go into now, you are using technology all the time.”

Brucker said that parents who are worried about their kids accessing inappropriate websites don’t need to worry.

“Each school district has a site manager,” she said. “The site manager blocks the inappropriate websites.”