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Woodlawn students display tech skills at expo

By Richard Muhammad on Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Elementary schools from Woodlawn had a chance to display their computer skills at the 2007 CUIP Technology Expo at King College Prep High School , where over 30 projects were displayed as part of efforts to inspire greater and more effective use of technology by students and teachers.

"Anybody who has seen a student interact with technology knows that it grabs them in a way that's very different," said Shaz Rasul, managing director of Chicago Public School-University of Chicago Internet Project (CUIP).

"What we do is we help teachers think about how to use the technology in the course of their regular classroom, in a way where it can grab the student's attention and be a real asset for classroom instruction," Rasul continued.

"We believe technology can have a transformative effect just on how everybody views education and how the students learn. And it increases their life chances, a student that has done internet research in grade school is going to do well in high school and is going to have a better shot at college," he added.

New technology connects with Black history

Students in social studies teacher Amanda Davis' class at Andrew Carnegie Elementary School were intrigued by a historic photo of Emmet Till, the Black teenager killed by two white men in Mississippi in 1955.

The photo was the famous and horrific shot of Till's open casket which showed his brutally beaten body. The photo sparked discussions and led to an internet-based project that was displayed at the May 24 expo.

The PowerPoint presentation focused on Till's life and death, his legacy and the impact of his passing. It also examined what was happening in America before his death in terms of race relations and the second class status Blacks endured.

Students also examined his mother's decision to allow the world to see the body of her grotesquely disfigured son and her outspokenness about racial injustice after his death. The presentation was called "A Wreath for Emmett Till."

"Everybody says that Martin Luther King started civil rights, or Malcolm X civil rights, or Rosa Parks, but really is was Mamie Till who really made her speech and made it strong enough for all the civil rights leaders to stand up after that," said Robert Hill, 13, a seventh grader at Carnegie.

The students used the internet to find pictures of Till and to research additional information, including facts about Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, the men who killed him.

Through the project, Robert learned Till was more than someone who was killed for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Till's death inspired Blacks to fight for justice and equal rights, Robert said.

Jade Dryer, 12, a seventh grader at Carnegie, said the presentation explains how racism drove the men to kill Till and what can be done today to keep racial violence from happening in the future.

The internet made the project easier to handle and people can view it to learn about Till, she said. Jade would like to see the presentation made into a movie.

Google maps, digital cameras and blogs, oh my!

 

 

Sixth-graders from Woodlawn Community School used digital photos, sound and PowerPoint to document a two-day trip to Detroit and Canada and their African American heritage.

Student Alexandria Richardson enjoyed the African American Heritage Tour, which included four museums – the Motown Museum , and the Charles H. Wright African American Historical Museum in Detroit ; and the Underground Railroad Museum and the Uncle Tom's Cabin Museum , which are located in Canada . The trip took place May 10-11.

Carisa Johnson, a technology and lab teacher at Woodlawn Community School said the students used technology in several ways.

Before the class trip, the students used Google maps to plot their course, digital cameras captured 400 photos during the trip and PowerPoint with audio narration was used to bring everything together, Johnson explained.

The students also wrote blogs about what they expected before leaving and what actually happened during the trip, she added.

A website was created to allow viewing of the photos that did not make the 30 photos chosen for use in the PowerPoint.

Twenty-one students went on the trip and five students worked with Johnson to put the PowerPoint presentation together.

"Students love technology. This is the technology generation. Our students have a short attention span as is, so you have to try to find whatever approach you can to hold their attention and technology is the key to hold their attention," said Johnson.

With just a few lessons, students will take projects to high levels, she said. Woodlawn Community School is a K-8 school with an African-centered curriculum and rites of passage program.

Alexandria learned more about history and dealing with photos, but she has been working with PowerPoint, sound and photos since the fourth grade. "I really liked the project," she said. Alexandria plans on going to Kenwood High School and wants to either become an architect or work with computers, digital cameras and software.

She also participated in program that allows students to take apart and reassemble desktop computers and download software. After rebuilding the computer, Alexandria and 14 of her classmates were able to take the desktop computers home. The Dell Techno Program, which is a Chicago Public School initiative, provides 17 computers per semester which go to 15 Woodlawn Community School students, said Johnson. To qualify, students must come to school, behave properly and maintain a "C" average or better, she said.

Pauline Killian, lead literacy teacher for grades 4-8 at Sexton Elementary School , had her students demonstrate their technical know how and creativity by creating and posting poetry to a blog. Students reading poetry were also recorded on the blog, she said.

"The kids really like because it really gives them a chance to express themselves," Killian said. A lot of the students at the expo could identify and empathize with the poetry, she said.

Through technology the Sexton students are essentially publishing their poetry and are able to get feedback. Blogging can be done for free and with a blog you don't have to wait for a publisher, Killian noted. Nine poems are currently on the blog, but dozens more are back at school, Killian said. Poems will rotate on and off the blog, a committee of students will decide which poems are posted, and students will soon post the poems themselves, she said.

Expo brings younger kids to high school setting

Six-hundred elementary school students were invited to the expo, according to Shaz Rasul, who directs the CUIP program. A scavenger hunt is used to circulate students through the projects and they get to just look around, he said.

CUIP works with 30 schools in North Kenwood-Oakland, Woodlawn, Hyde Park and South Shore neighborhoods to help instructors use technology to classrooms and provide some technical support.

It was initially set up to serve elementary schools that fed King, Hyde Park and Kenwood high schools, with funding from the Joyce Foundation, and later by the university of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools provided funding, said Rasul. Two-years-ago funding levels dropped and CUIP takes contributions from individual schools, he said.

But, Rasul added, the partnership continues with the original elementary schools, even if the schools can't make a contribution. The expo and quarterly events with principals and tech coordinators allow CUIP to connect with more schools than those who are able to pay, he said. CUIP had a t-shirt giveaway and bus transportation for students who couldn't work to the expo.

King high school students do a "what to expect in high school" session for elementary students and King students work with University of Chicago students and staffers to put the expo together, Rasul said.

"It's a good experience for the kids, they get exposed to different technologies and they get exposed to different subject matters. Where I believe the event really wins is when teachers who are presenting get to see other teachers' work," he said.