Student: This is all about you learning your science words. What’s the picture?

Lauren: With our tech buddies, they’re learning how to work together. So it’s not just the academic piece, I think it also teaches a lot of emotional skills.

Student: So next one.

Lauren: The fifth graders feel so proud of themselves after, because they taught a younger student.

Nayeilli: See how easy that was?

Daniel: Here at John Barry, technology transformed our school. When we went to one to one devices, we saw a huge increase of student engagement.

Can you read that back to me?

Francesca: Technology gets used through all curriculum subjects, math, reading, writing, science, social studies, art, everywhere.

All right, so you are my teachers and here’s your job for today. Fifth graders will be teaching first graders how to use Google Docs to compose a piece of narrative writing.

So tech buddies is a program where we pair up one of the older grades with a lower grade to expose the younger students to various programs and apps.

Nayeilli: We teach them how to use the Chromebooks and how to search websites that they haven’t used before.

Francesca: What are some skills you want to work on with your buddy today?

Nayeilli: Help them copy and paste.

It makes me happy, because I like when they learn.

Daniel: We started it small scale. Then now every single teacher in our building is matched up with a different grade.

Francesca: Our students meet once a week for about an hour and Miss Saint J. and I meet the week prior to plan.

Lauren: We talk about what types of things are in my curriculum that my students will need to do on their own.

Charlize’s buddy, come on in.

And then we look at what is going to motivate them to learn these parts of the curriculum, what program, what device. In the beginning, we rolled it out slowly. Each week was one program. We did Google Classroom, Padlet, Osmo. Once they had the skills in each program, we put them all together and started to send to rotation model, so that they could use multiple programs in one session. So in our tech buddy session today, the first program they used was Google Docs. They were working on narrative writing.

Charlize: So once upon a time, there was a castle.

Nayeilli: Who lives in your castle?

Charlize: My tech buddies are nice. They’re my friends. They teach me how to do things by myself.

Nayeilli: So do you remember how to capitalize a word?

[bell rings]

Lauren: The second center was myON. MyON is a reading program on the Chromebook. The students were listening to a nonfiction book about a reptile.

Computer: Scientists don’t know exactly how long a sea turtle lives.

Lauren: They took notes at the same time. So the fifth graders helped them figure out, what is the important part of each page.

Sergio: It helps me learn because I get to know what they’re struggling with, so I can help them out.

[bell rings]

Lauren: And then we have Google Slides, and here’s where they’re making a presentation using the information they learned from their reptile research.

Heavenly: We’re using our facts to make a Google Slideshow of crocodiles.

Jada: I’ve been teaching how to insert pictures and change the font.

Want it bigger?

Student: Yes, sixty.

Jada: So highlight it, and then…

Student: Ah!

Heavenly: It’s hard to teach. Sometimes they don’t listen. It’s hard but it’s worth it.

Francesca: So my role has minimized a bit, because our fifth graders are really doing all the teaching, and we can just kind of check in and allow them to take charge of their lessons.

Student: No helping him.

Francesca: At the end of each session, we like to ask the students things that they thought they could use some work on and some accomplishments that they’re proud of.

Student: I’m done with my story.

Francesca: That’s awesome. What about a fifth grader? Who can tell me something that went well in your group today?

Student: I do it, like first, and then they do it after me, or point to what they have to click on.

Francesca: You were modeling.

Lauren: Actually showing them modeling. Give yourself a round of applause.

I think tech buddies has given me the extra time, because the fifth graders give the students the one on one attention they need that I can’t provide for them all the time, and my students are more independent.

Francesca: So my fifth graders definitely have had a boost in confidence. Seeing them work with the first graders, their relationships are blooming with each other.

Student: Yes!

Daniel: Having that relationship has done wonders not only for the technology integration and the instruction, but for climate and culture here at John Barry.

Student: We got it.

Schools That Work

Meriden Public Schools