By EVE NEWMAN / lbedit6@laramieboomerang.com • Friday, October 14, 2011
When Laramie High School social studies teacher Will Plumb wanted to show his students an example of the prevailing attitudes during World War II, he turned to the comic books of the era.
He obtained digital copies of Marvel comic books published in the fall of 1941 — the months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor — as primary source documents demonstrating the way Germans were villianized in the public consciousness.
To complete the lesson, he had students compare those comics with recent ones that look back to World War II but demonstrate a more contemporary nuanced view of America’s enemies in the war.
Such a lesson wouldn’t be possible if Plumb couldn’t have obtained digital copies of the decades-old comics because hard copies are too expensive.
“That’s how we get kids in before they know they’re in … the technology,” he said.
Plumb, LHS social studies teacher Chuck Kern and Rock River social studies teacher Kyle Stucky are several of the teachers in the Albany County School District who are expanding the use of technology in their classrooms, and they gave a presentation about their work during a school board meeting Wednesday evening.
Teachers in the district have access to a variety of tools, from interactive whiteboards and document readers to iPods, iPads and online resources. The district has more than 2,500 computers, more than 250 iPads and wireless online access in every school, technology director Tony Czech said.
But not every teacher uses every tool.
“They’re used very purposefully. They are placed strategically throughout the district,” he said.
Plumb, who teaches a remedial class during the summer with Kern that uses a computer game to simulate World War II, said facilitating online interaction and discussion allows more students to express themselves.
“This is helping our kids who are not the hand raisers,” he said.
“Adding to what we normally get in the classroom, we’re getting everybody.”
The simulation, called Making History, draws students in because it’s a game, Plumb said. By playing, students absorb geography and economics and can test out alternate histories.
He said 92 percent of the students in the class earned a higher grade than their cumulative grade point average, and two students earned the first A’s of their high school careers.
In other school board news:
— The board tentatively adopted a policy on the use of seclusion and restraint, as required by a new state law. The Wyoming Legislature is requiring all districts to adopt rules by Dec. 31.
Special services director Becky Anderson said the district’s existing practices fit within the template mandated by the state.
“It pretty much follows what we already do,” she said.
— At the September meeting, the board approved a 1.6 percent salary increase and five additional vacation days for five central administrators, retroactive to July 1.
Board recognizes conservation district’s trish penny
Teachers and students praised the work of Trish Penny, education coordinator for the Laramie Rivers Conservation District, during the school board meeting Wednesday evening.
The board recognized Penny for her work through the conservation district’s outreach program, through which Penny has helped a number of schools establish gardens and has taught students across the district about outdoor issues.
“Trish helps us with so many things that other kids in our country would not even dream of doing at school,” Lab School fifth grader Catie Weathermon said in a presentation to the board recognizing Penny’s contributions.
ab School students have worked with Penny at an outdoor learning center at LaBonte Park as well as during annual trips to Curt Gowdy State Park.
“She’ll do just about anything for us,” Lab School teacher Barb Deshler said.
“Trish is the conduit that bridges the many experts in our town.”
Penny has helped start gardens at schools including Rock River, Linford, Spring Creek and Slade. At Indian Paintbrush Elementary School, she helped kindergartners plant fruit trees last spring, and this fall she joined the fifth graders on field trips as they learned about the Laramie River.
“With Trish came all the answers,” kindergarten teacher Vicky Peters said. “She was able to make their dream a reality.”
Colleen Worman, who helps with the garden club at Linford, said the school’s garden has empowered students and their families while also being a therapy tool.
“Trish has been a wonderful, contributing member of our community,” Worman said.
Superintendent Brian Recht said Penny has influenced more than 5,000 students from pre-school through high school through her outreach work.
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