By Laura Monroe

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — For Zach Bell, using technology in the classroom is just another way to prepare his students for the future.

“The earlier on you can immerse students in technology, the sooner they become used to using it so they are more prepared when they need to use it in the future,” said Bell, who is a first-year sixth grade math teacher at Ferriday Junior High School. “It’s like adding an extra layer onto their education.”

In order to teach with new technology and software, however, teachers must first learn to use it themselves. That’s why Bell and more than 160 other Concordia Parish School District employees participated Monday in the district’s second annual Tech Day, a series of technology training sessions devoted to preparing teachers for the year ahead.

Superintendent Paul Nelson said experience is the best teacher when it comes to technology.

“It doesn’t do us any good to put a $5,000 smart board in a classroom and nobody know how to use it,” he said. “We have to train them to be able to take advantage of these resources. We have a good group of teachers who are always trying to bring new technology into their classrooms, and we need to provide the opportunity for them to be comfortable using it.”

Angela Cotton, a first grade teacher at Concordia Parish Academy, led a session on teaching using programs such as Keynote and iMovie. She uses both programs in her own classroom and said it’s a great way to keep students engaged. During the session, Cotton showed examples of student presentations created using Keynote—a presentation program similar to PowerPoint— and walked the teachers through the steps of creating their own.

“They get in here, and they see that it’s pretty easy and you really can’t mess it up,” Cotton said. “You just back out of it and try again if you mess up, and that’s why this is so helpful. It’s step by step, and they get to play with it and make mistakes that we have probably already made and have corrected.”

Tommie Bell, a computer technician with Concordia schools, said his session helps teachers prepare for when something does go wrong and equips them with troubleshooting methods. Realizing that it is impossible to foresee every problem that might occur is just part of the training.

“My number one rule is don’t panic,” Bell said. “My second rule: check the obvious and work your way up from there. It could be that something just isn’t plugged in right.”

Technology Coordinator Paula Paul said Tech Day allows teachers to overcome fears of using technology. She often hears teachers say they are afraid they will break something, but she assures them it just takes practice.

But practice takes time and Paul realizes that’s something teachers don’t always have.

“Teachers are very busy people and if we don’t provide them a little time to play with things or to work with them, they never get around to it,” she said. “I know because I was a classroom teacher. They want to learn it, but they just don’t have the time. This is their time to come and get used to the technology.”

With 2,146 computers, 250 iPads and 227 Smart Boards across 11 schools, teachers in the district would find it difficult to avoid introducing new technology into their lesson plans. If a teacher were to question why they needed to, Paul would say it’s because students don’t learn in the same ways they have always learned before. They have grown up using the same technology these teachers must now learn.

“The teachers have to learn how to not let that bother them,” Paul said. “Once they give over that control, it can be a happy situation. It’s hard for teachers of my generation to not be the sage on the stage and not be the one that is the giver of the knowledge, but we have to in order to bring this into the classroom.”