Rocket News – Three years ago, Spencer Middle School adopted a new English Language Arts curriculum called StudySync. This curriculum was one of the first fully electronic programs used in our district. After also adopting one-to-one student Chromebooks last year, the curriculum started to become a seamless way to complete reading, writing, speaking, and listening assignments that students truly enjoy.
The classroom looks very different at times compared to the traditional teaching of the past which included very large reading anthologies and a good number of supplemental workbooks and novels. Now, everything the students need is available in a virtual and weightless space–the Chromebook. Students also don’t have to remember to bring homework to class (nor can one say they forgot it) because it is nearly always stored in a virtual space! Interactive elements like videos, virtual flashcards, and annotation storage make the program both convenient and thorough to a point that we could never have achieved in a 42-minute class period in the past.
The students are benefiting greatly and they are engaging more because they like the platform of the class. It is as second-nature for a student today to hear “log in” as to the past when a teacher said “turn to page…”
-Submitted by Heidi Much,
Spencer Middle School Language Arts Teacher
