CONCORD ó Classroom technology has graduated from chalk boards to smart boards. As high-tech innovations revolutionize learning, Cannon School is putting cutting-edge tools in the hands of its students.
Cannon School raised $50,000 to enhance classroom technology during a recent parent-led fundraising drive. The money will provide additional iPads, Smart Boards and Smart Tables at the junior kindergarten-12th grade independent school, as well as a new virtual language lab.
ěSmart technologies and iPads encourage high-engagement interactivity that keeps children absorbed in learning and prepares them with the tools for their future,î said Matt Rush, head of middle school. ěThese innovations offer a stimulating and constructive way to teach students.î
Cannon School began providing iPads for middle school students in the fall. Teachers are incorporating the tablets in classes taught both inside and outside the classroom.
For example, when students have to dissect a frog in seventh-grade science lab, instead of cutting open a real frog, they do it on an iPad application. Teachers conduct outdoor learning sessions on Cannonís 65-acre campus while students participate using their iPads.
The new technologies are reaching even the youngest students at Cannon.
ěUsing a Smart Board, I can display the information for our students big as life in front of the classroom so that everybody can see it,î said Camilla McWilliams, a first-grade teacher. ěNo matter what topic or theme I am discussing in class, I can find and share a plethora of information using smart technologies and teaching apps.î
Cannon School will add a third full-day, first-grade class beginning in August to meet the demand for the program. The schoolís enrollment application deadline has been extended to accommodate additional applicants to first grade. To learn more, interested parents can call the admission office at 704-721-7199.