Harding Avenue Receives $10K Technology Grant

Today while school districts are feeling the pinch, it's nice to know there's money out there to continue to help students learn better.

In this case the money was in the form of a $10,000 grant for purchasing iPads for the classroom, and among the Long Island recipients were two schools from Lindenhurst: and .

More than 150 Long Island schools vied for the Optimum Lightpath Transforming Education with Technology grant, but only 11 received it: nine received $10,000 and two received $5,000.

Each school will buy iPads for different purposes. The LHS will use them in a college-level political science class via Dowling College for college-bound seniors while Harding will place them in two Life Skills classes dedicated to teaching special-needs children from across the district.

"This is something the Life Skills teachers and I spoke about. We wanted to come up with money to buy iPads because there are so many apps to foster the students' learning," said Brian Chamberlin, Harding principal.

When he received this grant, it seemed to be the right fit. He applied for it, and the school was ultimately chosen to receive one of the $10,000 grants earlier this Fall out of a field of 31 finalists.

The Harding students who'll benefit are ones who require specific instruction tailored to their individual needs and disabilities, and are transported from across the district to receive this education in a specialized environment.

"We teach them a range of skills: speech and language, readiness skills, fine motor skills and social skills," said Alyssa Quinn, who teaches the classes with Caitlin Curran. Those skills are initially taught in the kindergarten to second-grade class, then reinforced in the third- to fifth-grade class.

The classes were started two years ago by the district in Bower school, then came to Harding after it closed in June. There are currently nine students in the younger class and four in the older one.

Now, thanks to the grant, Quinn and Curran will be able to incorporate apps to make learning a bit easier for their students.

For instance, Curran said students each have behavior plans, and receive rewards based on completion of different goals in those plans - a token or a smiley face, for example, depending on the behavior chore.

She said there's an app called iReward, which allows for tracking the behavior chart on the iPad, as well as tracking progress and rewards received.

Other apps include iDressforWeather, which could help students make decisions about what to wear based on the weather forecast, and Proloquo, which could give students a voice who might not be able to communicate verbally.

Those are just a few examples of the myraid life skills iPad apps available that the teachers feel could be helpful in their day-to-day instruction. And while some of these apps cost as little as a dollar or a few dollars to download, the rub was the cost of the initial technology.

The grant will now allow for the purchase the iPads - one each for the students and the teachers. The money will also pay for the wireless connection and associated tech to install it in the school. And it'll go toward a way to secure them in the school at night and in the classrooms so they last the rigors of day-to-day use.

The money will also cover some apps, while some will be covered by the general supply fund, according to Doug Ward, coordinator of instructional technologies for the district.

"They would be considered consumables, like workbooks and other basic classroom supplies," he noted.

But while the money's now available to the school, it'll take some time before iPads are incorporated into the classroom.

"We need to order the iPads, and install everything," said Chamberlin, who sat with Ward last week to go over what's needed. Ward's also talking to Apple to get the best deal possible for the amount of iPads the district will buy for Harding, and the high school.

"We also want to get familiar with the technology first, but we're working toward for February to start using them in the classroom," Chamberlin said.

In the meantime Quinn, Curran and Chamberlin will attend two conferences - one at Western Suffolk BOCES on December 13 and one at Adelphi University on January 18 - where they'll be able to talk with peers already using iPads.

Curran feels these sessions will be helpful in narrowing down the choice of apps. "I've looked online, but we'll also be able to talk with others about what works," she said.

"Once they're up and running, we'll be able to see how they're working in the classroom," Chamberlin said. " And perhaps we'll learn how these could work in other settings in the district - that's the hope."

Editor's Note: Look for details soon about how the high school will be using the grant funds.