By Andra Bryan Stefanoni

news@joplinglobe.com

PITTSBURG, Kan. — When Pittsburg teacher Sherry Turnbull began her career in the late 1970s, she used a chalkboard to communicate concepts and facts to students, and they used handcrafted posters to communicate what they had learned.

Those chalkboards slowly gave way to dry-erase boards and overhead projectors.

“Technology has changed a great deal since the old purple mimeograph, filmstrip projector and overhead projector that I started with 30 years ago,” Turnbull said. “We thought yellow highlighting markers were a cool tool then.”

With technology evolving even more rapidly, the Pittsburg School District this year has put into place several initiatives to help teachers keep up with the changes.

“Technology has become a tool in our classrooms, one that we don’t even think about using,” said Noah Grotheer, district technology coordinator. “It has been worked into the everyday procedures and into our curriculum, and is now just another part of our teaching strategy.”

A year ago, the district also hired Pat Walker, whose title is technology facilitator.

“Pat’s role in our district is to research and plan implementation and training for new technology in our district,” Grotheer said.

Walker created “Mondays @ 4,” a professional development program open to teachers every other week. He said it gives them a chance to delve into technology they need to learn more about while he provides tips and guidance.

In addition, Dragon Tube — similar to YouTube — allows teachers to post videos and have an instant means of networking at their disposal.

“There is a wealth of knowledge to be gained from others,” Grotheer said. “This is a site that allows teachers to link to streaming media such as what’s found on YouTube, or to upload their own content, and it gives us the ability to manage the content and keep unwanted material out of our classrooms.”

At Pittsburg Community Middle School, administrators gave technology teacher Debbie Polen an hour each day so she could help other teachers with projects that incorporate technology.

“If a teacher e-mails me with a request for help with a project, I can bring software to her classroom, help her map out the steps, and make instructional videos to have ready for her class to view as the students start working on various parts of the project,” Polen said.

In one case, an eighth-grade language arts teacher wanted to create podcasts of poems her students wrote.