HAMLET — Richmond County Schools’ middle through high school math teachers gathered at the Cole Auditorium Monday for their first look at Discovery Education’s new Math Techbook.
Upper-grade students could begin using the software by the first of the year. Discovery Education bills it as a “breakthrough digital textbook that will change the way North Carolina students and teachers experience math.”
Made possible by the support of the Golden Leaf Foundation, the day of professional development began with a catered breakfast from Panera Bread as teachers gathered around tables in the conference room, setting up their electronic devices and connecting to the Internet and greeting each other.
Linzy Hull of Rockingham Middle School shared a few of her thoughts about the training as she signed-in before entering the conference room. Hull is a second-year teacher from Pennsylvania.
“I expect, well, we’re learning about Discovery Education here and it’s a tool to help kids learn,” Hull said. “They have access to videos and other forms that they can see material in other than just the teachers standing at the front of the class and the students just taking down notes. This is a technology-based system, which they love, so I’m expecting to learn how to use it effectively and actually be able to implement it in my class more than just once a semester. I want to use this to help my instruction weekly if possible, but if not, monthly.”
Keynote speaker Hall Davidson of Discovery Education offered a layman’s explanation of the concept as he arranged his notes at the podium.
“We’re here for the math part of STEM today,” Davidson said. “We’re going to be using the Math Techbook, which is all digital, so it runs on machines and in the Cloud. You can do your homework from your phone, from any device. It’s a real transformation and the data is really clear that it’s better for students and better for teaching.
“Taking a day like this is important because it’s not magic. You can’t just go ‘poof!’ and have them (the teachers) know, so we’re going to teach them how to use it. None of this stuff is obvious, so this is a day about investing in people. You can never go wrong when you invest in people. So that’s what this day is about.”
Davidson praised the partnership between Richmond Community College and Richmond County Schools, noting that several states around the nation would give anything to have a model like it of their own and that the opportunity to graduate high school with two years of college already accomplished, and college offered to students at no cost who meet the GPA guidelines, is “a very good thing.”
Anna Strassner, also of Discovery Education, explained that Math Techbook is not a program, but a resource — one that comes with a commitment to ongoing professional development for Richmond County’s educators.
“It is still about the instruction,” she said. “It’s a tool to help teachers engage students on a much deeper level. In programs a lot of times you sit in front of a computer and go through a preconceived pathway. That’s not at all what we have built. The environment for students to go in deeper and problem-solve, real-world problems connected to the community and jobs and those types of things, so it’s really different than a program.”
Kelly DeLong, K-12 math director in curriculum, said the tools and resources in Discovery Education are truly valuable to the teachers and students.
“It’s the change of a mindset,” she said. “I think the most exciting thing is how systemic this is. Every sixth-grade through high school math teacher in the county is here today for this launch. They’re all dedicated to the idea of blended learning and integrating real-world examples of mathematics, and I’m so excited.”
DeLong said the teachers are recognized as artisan teachers,”because they’ve got tools in their toolboxes and they are crafting beautiful lessons and crafting instruction for students to really understand mathematics and to make a true transformation. This is one section of the bigger picture, of the bigger Golden Leaf project.”
Mike Williams of the Richmond County Schools IT department thinks the project represents a leap into the future — one that will have the district leading the pack instead of struggling to catch up when it comes to technology.
“It excites me that teachers are going to have such a wide variety of resources, things they’ve never had in the past,” Williams said. “And it’s going to be interactive and they’re bring technology into all these classrooms where technology has not been in the past. It’s going to motivate our kids to want to do more and succeed and have better math knowledge than they’ve ever had. This is a great thing that’s coming to our school system and we’re glad it’s here.”
Reach reporter Melonie McLaurin at 910-817-2673 and follow her on Twitter @melonieflomer.
