West Chester’s Curriculum is Going High-Tech

On a cold Tuesday night at Fugett Middle School a dozen parents gathered with Instructional Technology Coordinator, Jennifer Southmayd and six of the district’s technology specialists to get an inside look at how the West Chester Area School District is integrating technology into the curriculum starting with elementary students. Going away are the chalk boards and slide projectors. Here to stay, digital sharing and high speed internet access.

“A 25 year-old teacher, has never lived a day without internet,” Southmayd pointed out to the crowd at the start of the meeting. “A kindergartner has never lived a day without an iPod or wireless internet.”

The night began with an overview of the program and then broke into six “mini lessons” where parents were given hands-on exposure to various technologies and practices their kids routinely see during the day. At one station parents looked at sharing apps Schoology and Seesaw from the student’s viewpoint. At another they viewed various Apple apps that integrate with the iPads and help the kids master basic computer skills like video design and spreadsheet creation. At a third they got to try their hands at coding a robot. Creating a basic command sequence then watching the robot repeat the path.

An Unknown Future

While the technologies themself were impressive, the real challenge for the District and the staff is not teaching for the technology of today, it is preparing students for a world where the preferred means of communication and interaction have likely not been invented yet.

To make sure the lessons themselves don’t become obsolete, the District’s focus is on broader transferable skill sets - critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. Teachers also work to build practical knowledge sets such as knowing how to identify reliable sources and properly cite your work to crafting a respectful and informative email and practicing empathy even when shielded be a veil of anonymity.

The symposium also served to underline the importance the district and the state places on computer science’s role in the future economy.

According to the School District’s website, “Only 26 states have developed K-12 computer science curriculum standards. Pennsylvania is one of those states.”

There was a lesson for parents too. The School District can’t do it alone.

“We know without you and us working in tandem,” Southmayd said, “our success is limited.”

There are two additional Parent Technology Night’s being held January 31 at Peirce Middle School and February 6 at Stetson Middle School. You can find more details on the WCASD website.

Cara Corridoni is a member of the West Chester Sustainability Advisory Committee and editor of Hello, West Chester, a blog dedicated to sharing local news and happenings. You can read more about the technologies being used in the classroom in "Our Kindergartners are Coding".