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- August 18, 2009
By: Edward L. Kenney/THE NEWS JOURNAL
New school is rooted in
technology
Computers 'an
imbedded part' of Middletown elementary
Technology and its
accessibility to teachers should help set the new Bunker Hill Elementary School in Middletown apart from many
other public schools when it opens next week -- including interactive
whiteboards in every classroom and a central pod area with extra computers for each
group of classrooms in the same
grade.
"Our philosophy is that the technology should
always be an imbedded part of instruction, not just part of a computer lab," said
Appoquinimink School District Superintendent Tony Marchio, who helped show off the
school Monday.
"We're giving these teachers more support so the technology is
really utilized."
"It really challenges even the most novice teacher
and even the most experienced teacher to really plan out their instruction with
this technology," added John Camponelli, a technology teacher at the school and
its building technology coordinator. "They don't have to wait over a month
to use the computer lab."
There is much more to crow about in the gleaming
$20 million school, where workers are putting in a few finishing touches this
week, including caulking tile in the hallways. The school features a "cafetorium"
that includes a gym with a climbing wall that can be separated with a
collapsible partition from an auditorium/cafeteria.
The triple-use facility features overhead stage
spotlights and soundboards on the walls for a theater stage and theatrical venue that
would make high school actors envious.
A theater sound room backstage will bolster
productions, and a door leading out the back of the stage to the outside reveals an
amphitheater-like seating area for outdoor productions.
Adjoining the gym is a fitness room with treadmills
and workout bicycles, as well as a 50-inch video screen that will give children
the incentive to exercise, as Wii games are projected upon it.
The 800-student school also features collapsible
partitions to separate classrooms and allow more than one group to take
part in a lesson. The partitions are magnetized so artwork can be hung on them, and
they also feature bulletin
boards, making further good use of the
space.
Assistant Principal Laurie Wicks, who taught last
year at Silver Lake Elementary School, where there is a similar partition system,
likes that aspect of the school a lot.
"There are so many benefits to working together,"
she said of her earlier experiences. "We did many multi-age activities. It
really promoted respect and cooperative group work."
Each classroom also features an overhead LCD
projector and a document camera to project the written word from both books and
handwritten papers, as well as surround sound that allows every child in the
classroom to hear the teacher
equally through a microphone the teacher
wears.
Marchio, who has seen the number of schools in the
burgeoning district grow from five to 14 since he started there in 1995, said he
also is impressed with the "green" aspects of the school. Energy-saving
devices include lights that dim or brighten according to outdoor light streaming
through the windows and come on in tune with motion and body heat, shutting off when
no one is in a room.
"The nice thing about it is it will save probably
30 percent in energy," he said. "It will pay for itself in three to four
years."
School Principal Jeff Davis, who was an assistant
principal in the Caesar Rodney School District last year, said many of the
teachers for the 24 classrooms at Bunker Hill Elementary have been drawn from Silver
Lake and Cedar Lane elementary schools, but they include teachers from
other district schools as well.
Teacher Shafta Collazo actually came from outside
the district -- and the field -- because she worked for the past 10 years as a
marketing representative for health insurance.
"I'm new to teaching altogether, so to come to a
school like this is amazing," she said, adding, "I have to learn to use the
technology."
The school's teachers already have received three
days' worth of technology training, and Camponelli will be busy as the school
opens keeping everyone up to speed, he said.
District spokeswoman Lilian Miles said the
technology in the school should give teachers the ability to go to the next level in
instruction.
"This school is like a learning lab," she said. "In
some schools, you might have a classroom or two -- but this is an entire
environment."
Pictured above: Bunker Hill Elementary School
principal Jeff Davis shows off one of the computer pods. The Middletown school
cost $20 million.
Photograph: The News Journal ROBERT
CRAIG
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