TeachingStrategies photos on Flickr

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Our faculty and administrators at our school are attending a 2 Day workshop on "Learning Focused Strategies."

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Our faculty and administrators at our school are attending a 2 Day workshop on "Learning Focused Strategies."

POWER ON TEXAS at Arp ISD 3 by POWER ON TEXAS

Arp Independent School District has a unique challenge that technology in education has helped them face: Preparing students to leave their hometown to find a job.

powerontexas.com/

Educators in tiny Arp Texas have a unique challenge: with few opportunities for employment in the community, they have to prepare students to find work elsewhere.

And so what we are trying to do is work with our students to give them skills where they will be ready for the future, for any future, in any city where they go for employment.

In a town without so much as a public library, the first challenge is getting students excited about school.

Our kids do not typically get a chance to go out and see museums, or go out and see things that you know a kid in a big city might get to see, so we have to find ways to spark learning.

Technology is seen as an important tool for engaging students. In the lower grades, that means keeping kids moving while stimulating their minds

The dance mat gets the whole body involved, and those kids absolutely love it.

For older students, technology spices up even routine exercises.

I had one student that does not care about literary terms at all, does not like to participate, come up to the board, 'what word and I going to get out of the box?', he was excited about what word he was going to draw out of the box in the mimeo, and I'm thinking wow.

And I've seen kids that didn't want to do much with pencil paper tasks, they're flying with technology.

Students also gain confidence through the district's unique student mentor program... teaching the teacher how to use technology.

They feel that, that this information they're imparting is appreciated by the teachers.

It's better than gossip; they're ready to share it.

I like just being able to help teachers out.

Over time, educators in Arp have achieved their goal. Technology has transformed the school and the way students look at the world.

They spend more time.

They want to be in there during lunch, during afternoons, they want to come in during other periods when they're not doing anything.

When they're extending their own learning, and expanding on their own learning, to me that's success.

In the process of expanding horizons for their students, teachers in ARP have discovered exciting possibilities for themselves.

I love the creative flow, that's the most exciting part of teaching to me.

I'm overwhelmed, and I am so pumped for we can do in the months and years to come with our students because it's just opened up a whole new world for us.

To find out more about how Arp ISD joined the digital learning revolution, go to POWERONTEXAS.com.

The Texas Education Agency

www.tea.state.tx.us/

In partnership with

AMS Pictures

pi.amspictures.com/

Present

WWW.POWERONTEXAS.COM

POWER ON TEXAS at Arp ISD 2 by POWER ON TEXAS

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