4th grade math goes high tech at Elk Lake

Elk Lake 4th grade students use the IXL math computer program both at school and at home. The program provides students with problems based on individual abilities. PHOTO COURTESY OF ELK LAKE ELEMENTARY

The use of computers in schools has taken another step past just trips to the school computer lab and has reached the point where some students are actually teaching themselves at home.
In Elk Lake Elementary School’s fourth grade math class, students of teachers Meghan Casselbury and Laurie Woolcock use the popular IXL math computer program at home and in school.
IXL’s program presents students with math problems which gradually increase in difficulty depending on each student’s ability. The more math problems the kid wants to solve, the more math problems the kid gets to solve. The list is endless.
“When you look at what we’ve done as a district you’re looking at close to a quarter of a million problems district wise that students have solved during school time or on their own time,” Elk Lake Elementary School Principal Marc Weisgold told school board members last week.
In class, fourth grade students are given specific assignments just like in a traditional math class but then are free to tackle other problems on their own online. The program keeps a log of each student’s progress and automatically keeps statistics for all users providing school officials with reams of invaluable data.
“It’s new,” fourth grade math teacher Meghan Casselbury said. “They’ve never done it before and they love technology,” the 10-year teaching veteran said.
“I really think it’s a lot of the competitiveness. In fourth grade they still want to please their teachers,” she said.
“I think fourth grade is a great time because they still have a love for learning,” she said.
Using the IXL program Casselbury and Woolcock sparked up a competition between the fourth grade homerooms. Prizes are awarded.
“We are each day looking at our numbers,” Woolcock said. “They have a team incentive and they also have a personal incentive,” she said.
“So we, with our own money, give them a pass for a cookie at lunch because they’re a smart cookie,” Casselbury said, chuckling.
Elk Lake High School Principal Brian Mallery expressed his excitement over the growing use of Chromebooks, a stripped down version of a laptop which runs Google’s Chrome operating system.
“When you walk into a classroom right now, you don’t see eyes because they don’t even know you’re in the room. They’re just staring at their little laptops and their Chromebooks,” Mallery told school board members last week.
Mallery sees the Chromebooks as yet another step away from traditional chalk on the blackboard style teaching to the full integration of computers in – and outside – the classroom.
“We can foresee that perhaps in years to come that a computer lab wouldn’t even exist. We want to prepare the teachers well in advance in how to use Chromebooks,” Mallery told board members.
“The number one hurdle is realizing that the students know more than us. Once you get over that, it’s okay because they’re going to help teach us and in the classroom they’re saying, ‘It’s okay. I got this,’ ” he said.
According to its website, IXL offers “comprehensive coverage of K-12 curriculum, with more than 7,000 skills aligned to the Common Core and all state standards.”
The sophisticated computer program customizes each student’s experience “by generating questions based on students’ understanding of the material.”
“IXL’s personalized recommendations help students make smart decisions about their learning by suggesting skills that inspire them to tackle trouble spots, challenge themselves, explore new topics, and more,” the website says.
One in 9 students and 95 schools of the 100 top districts in the country use IXL. IXL is used in more than 190 countries and students have answered over 30 billion questions, the company’s website boasts. IXL Math was launched in 2007.
IXL came to Elk Lake Elementary at a modest cost as Casselbury and Woolcock paid out of pocket for the Kindle Fire devices their students use in class.
“When you start to look at it across the district and what’s going on at the high school, we wouldn’t have been able to do that if we would have had to have walked down to the computer lab all the time,” Weisgold told school board members.