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SALT LAKE CITY — The gadgets that Sharon Moore's fourth-grade students seem to intuitively understand take concerted effort for their veteran teacher to learn.
To ensure she isn't left behind by her students, Moore, a Whittier Elementary teacher, has signed up for 10 different technology classes offered by Salt Lake School District.
"My goal this summer is to get up to speed on technology. When I have fourth-grade students that are much more proficient at technology than I am, I need to get up to speed," she said.
The courses run nearly every weekday of the summer, and many of them are already full. Julie Atwood, supervisor of educational technologies for the district, said the summer school for teachers is a way of helping them adapt to the ways today's students learn.
"Our goal of our department is to help teachers be technology literate so they can help their students to achieve," Atwood said.
Classes about building professional Web pages, using GPS in the classroom, SMART boards (electronic chalkboards), podcasting and operating systems are among the classes teachers can choose from. Atwood said the district's Board of Education has encouraged every teacher to have a Web page through the Utah Education Network so parents and students can stay up to date. What's more, principals and district administrators are making efforts to get technology into the classrooms, and want to make sure it's being utilized by teachers.
"Our philosophy is hands-on (training) right when they need it ... so that our technology doesn't sit in boxes in classrooms," Atwood said.
While the classes don't cost anything for teachers, they don't pay either. Moore said it's worth it to her to gain the experience.
"When they give us an opportunity like this... to me that makes me a much more valuable teacher," she said. "I want to know it all."
Technology instructor Jeanene Prince said there's definitely a learning curve for many teachers.
"We are not digital natives," she said. "We're learning how to use it in a different way than the students are."
But even still, the teachers are excited and motivated to learn new things.
"We have to be lifelong learners, and that's why we go into teaching."
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Story written by Mary Richards with contributions from Molly Farmer.
