Students relying on remote-control clickers

Hand-raising has gone high tech at Hedges School.

A grant from the state Office of Public Instruction paid for a wireless remote for every one of the elementary school’s 348 students. The “clickers” allow students to interact with information and questions teachers post on the interactive whiteboards in the classrooms.

So far, the clickers have played an important role in increasing student engagement, Principal Casey Bertram said.

“Every student has to respond every time,” he said.

In schools without the remotes, students who don’t raise their hands to answer a teacher’s question don’t have to participate in class, he said. Using the clickers forces students to take an active role in the class because teachers can see which students don’t respond.

The remotes also prevent potentially embarrassing situations, Bertram added.

“They don’t get called out in front of their peers. They’re assigned a number, and the teachers know who has what clicker,” he said. “The kids don’t necessarily see who got the answers right or wrong.”

The clickers were paid for using a $30,000 grant from the state. Hedges School won the grant last fall when the school was chosen as one of Montana’s two recipients of the National Title I Distinguished School Award.

Hedges was recognized for its students’ high achievement on the state Criterion Referenced Test, an exam used to determine whether Montana schools meet standards set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. In the last three years, Hedges students easily have exceeded the benchmarks set in math and reading.

In 2009-10, 92 percent of Hedges’ third-graders achieved proficiency in reading. Fourth- and fifth-graders reached 98 percent and 100 percent proficiency, respectively.

The reading proficiency target was 83 percent of students meeting the benchmark.

What impact the clickers might have on those scores remains to be seen. The remotes are heavily used in reading and math classes, Bertram said.

Students can answer math problems on the devices, he said. They can type in short-answer or multiple-choice responses to literary questions, or even text brief paragraphs.

Most students already are used to typing, whether on computers or cellphones, Bertram said. The clickers allow students to learn using the technology they’re already familiar with, rather than having to “power down” when they come to school, he said.

The remotes can benefit teachers, too, Bertram said.

“It gives teachers instant assessment. They can instantly gauge what percentage of the class ... gets it and who doesn’t,” he said. “It’s an assessment tool that’s kind of seamless throughout the day.”

Teachers can access an “unlimited test bank of questions” in software that came with the remotes, or they can build their own lessons based around the clickers, Bertram said. The wireless system allows them to easily share information.

So far, the feedback from teachers has been largely positive.

“The technology learning curve has probably been the only challenge,” Bertram said. “With any technology, there are early adopters, who use the clickers all day, every day. Others start with one piece, then they build.

“It’s going to require ongoing professional development to maintain and expand” the remotes’ use, he added.

The school has experts on hand should a technological crisis arise. Tanya Brist’s fifth-grade classroom and KC Glastetter’s third-grade class had remotes before the rest of the school.

Brist and Glastetter “became our trainers. They worked out all the kinks when we brought in all $30,000 worth,” Bertam said.

But the teachers aren’t the only ones with know-how.

“Because that third-grade class has had them all year, our third-graders are very proficient at trouble-shooting,” Bertram said. “When there’s an issue, we send two third-graders to the classroom. They can figure out what’s wrong.”

So far, the children have seemed to appreciate the remotes, he added.

“The kids have responded overwhelmingly in a positive way. They love them,” he said.

“It puts instant pressure on the teacher: Kids want their lessons infused with the clickers. They want to interact with the teachers. It’s a great thing.”

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.