The North Kenwood/Oakland Charter School has a technology-rich environment.  There are five modern computers in every classroom and they are all connected to the Internet.  In a few months, they will be connected to an Intranet as well, and our students will have all the advantages of file service while they are creating their projects.

All this gadgetry might lead a visitor to think that NKO is a technological center.  Actually, we are not geeks.  We are teachers who have found that computers can help in doing those things that teachers have always wanted to do:  make the subjects they teach real and relevant to children.

At NKO, computers add to the richness of the experience of learning.  Children in our pre-kindergarten classes are working with KidPix, which is the Power Point of the 3-year-olds.  Through it they can have the pleasure of watching their ideas evolve as screen productions--while they are learning about color, design and computer use.  First and second graders use a variety of software, but they also use the web to supplement their classroom reading.  Take a look at some of the sites that we have made for them.  Very soon, some primary school teachers will begin to pilot WiggleWorks, an outstanding program that works well with our splendid language arts activities.

But don't forget to look at our the 5th and 6th grade websites, which contain collections of materials to help them in math and science as well as language arts and social studies.

Our school is certainly one of the most technologically advanced in the city, but our plans go much farther.  As NKO joins the Ariel Community Academy in the beautifully restored Shakespeare School building this year, we will have a computer lab for training and the use of a school wide file server.  The file server will let students assemble their portfolios electronically.  At the same time, staff will use a sophisticated management system to record attendance and grades, keep complex records of student achievement and communicate easily among themselves and with parents.

In a not-so-distant future, NKO will be a school where the activities of good teaching and learning are carried out as a matter of course with the help of technology.  Children doing research on farm yard animals or fruitflies will take for granted the resources of institutions around the world; they will "talk" with other children doing similar projects in distant places; they will do their work on computers and present their results on the web.  There is a way to go before we are there, but not a very long way.

Last revised 08/08/2000 rcc
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