By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer

A fifth-grade class at East Lake Elementary School in Kissimmee has become the first classroom in Osceola County to offer iPads to every student as part of the educational experience.

Students in co-teacher’s Elizabeth Colon and Shannon Johnson’s exceptional student education class use the iPads for all subjects, manipulating applications to cater to each student’s individual learning style.

“I like to use the Pages (app) to make charts and Keynotes to make presentations,” Sonia Jacob said.

Sonia’s mother, Cini George, is pleased with the progress she’s seen her daughter make since the iPads were introduced to the class about a month ago.

“Her knowledge improved and that’s the best thing,” George said. “She’s faster than before, her learning capacities improved and her grades.”

Jacob’s teacher, Elizabeth Colon, has seen her students change over the past month as they embraced the technology.

“It’s amazing. I’ve seen a huge change in behavior and their focus. The productivity has increased tremendously,” she said. “What they’re exposed to right now is very different than what I was exposed to. They live in a digital world. They’re natives in this.”

As part of the school’s three-point plan – which also includes academics and the arts – technology was a huge part of the campus when it opened two years ago.

Principal Stacy Burdette has maintained the number of desktop and laptop computers the school began with but decided to implement the handheld tablets as part of the school’s iConnect program because the students are the future of the community.

“We want to speed up the process of getting kids to technology,” Burdette said, adding the tablets are equipment with applications companies say “educators are falling down” on teaching.

She defended providing expensive handheld technology to elementary school students.

“When we look at our kids, we see the future,” Burdette said. “We’re not willing to wait to see if they’re putting it in the high schools. We’re starting now.”

That includes the youngest students at the school, the five and six-year-olds that fill the kindergarten classes.

Stacy Johnson rotates 18 students three times a day as part of her science block, integrating her classroom’s iPad for lessons on letters and animal coverings such as feathers, fur and scales.

“Anything I can give them that’s hands-on has definitely increased their knowledge and enthusiasm,” Johnson said. “They already know how to do it and they aren’t afraid of it. I’m more intimidated by this than they are, probably because I know how much it costs.”

Johnson is currently using the iPad to film her students singing the alphabet and using Wikki Stix – , wax-covered yarn – to create letters. She plans to use the movie for parent-teacher days, presentations and on the school’s website.

Johnson wants parents to see the benefits of such technology for their students.

“They embrace it much easier than we (adults) do,” she said, adding the teachers undergo training for grade-appropriate learning. “If they don’t learn it now, they’re already behind, I feel.”

Assistant principal Audie Confessor said students with the technology in their classrooms have increased their academic engagement and decreased behavioral issues.

The school continues to work with the community to raise funds for the iPads with Technology Days.

The school received a $2,820 donation Thursday from Mullinax Ford in Kissimmee after the dealership and school participated Oct. 6 in the Drive One 4 Ur Community program.

The program gave the school $20 for every test drive taken during the event at the school’s campus, with 141 faculty and parents participating.

“When this opportunity came up, it was a perfect fit,” Chris Baron, Mullinax general manager said, adding technology has improved so greatly that the dealership offers bi-weekly training classes for customers needing help with the gadgets in their new vehicles. “That’s the biggest problem.”

It’s an issue Burdette hopes her students won’t encounter because of the technology they were exposed to in elementary school and throughout their academic career.

“We opened this school with a lot of technology but in order to move our students forward, it’s not the same as having your own tablet,” she said. “We needed to move to one-to-one.”