Hearne ISD is home to about 750 students. The majority of students are African American (43.3%) and Hispanic (44.5%). (Hearne ISD 2023) There are quite a few students that have immigrated from Central American countries, mainly Mexico, that I know about. Most students in the district speak English, but quite a few speak only Spanish. Many of the students' parents work in the city at local businesses like restaurants and grocery stores. Quite a few work at the local plants in town. There are a few kids that have parents that are unemployed. Hearne can get extremely humid, but the temperature is manageable and in the Texas average. The majority of the students that attend the Hearne schools are from Hearne, while a few are from Gause, since Hearne is a magnet school for the city of Gause. There are quite a few kids that live in the city that go to other schools in the county, such as Franklin or Mumford, so the enrollment numbers at Hearne are low and there are a few kids that transfer out in the middle of the year to move to those districts.
All students in Hearne ISD from grades 3-12 get their own device at the beginning of the school year to complete assignments and use in their classrooms and at home. At the elementary level, Pre K-2nd graders have classroom tablets but don't get to take them home. I work primarily at the elementary, so I know more about what technology they use there than at the junior high and high school levels. Teachers will use lots of technology in their classrooms. The younger kids get iPad time and have different activities on there. There are many apps that they use to help with their reading and math skills. The older kids work on MClass, ST Math, Lexia, Zearn, and MyON. These curriculums are mainly done on their computers, so this is where students do their learning and complete assignments and tests. Many of the teachers also use YouTube to show different educational videos and use Kahoot or Blookit as review tools.
Internet connection at the school can be shaky sometimes. We have had days where the internet is extremely slow or doesn't work for a few hours. This causes teachers to have to think of something for the kids to do that doesn't involve a device. Many students also don't have wifi connection at home, so they are only able to complete assignments while they are at school. Many of the older kids do have cell phones and will sometimes use those when the internet is working with their computers or if they forget their device at home. The students have their own network to connect to while teachers and administrators use a different one. On the student's network, they don't always have access to certain things. For example, they cannot connect to YouTube. Teachers have more access than students.
The district is continually making improvements to technology and internet connectivity. Hearne ISD recently had a bond passed that will spend lots of money on high quality technology.
References
District Profile - Hearne Independent School District. (n.d.). District Profile - Hearne Independent School District. https://www.hearneisd.com/en-US/district-profile-74293fafeducational technology in U.S. public school. www.mcgrc.com/. https://www.mcgrc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Report-Environmental-_-Final12.22.2016.pdf
My district is very fluent with technology and I know it is used differently and throughout. Like yours, we also have those shaky days and luckily our textbook adoption also comes with workbooks for days like that. One set back I do see in my middle school classes, is that their handwriting is terrible because they have grown accustomed to typing everything! On a side note, I love incorporating review games you mentioned like blookit! I also use quizlet live for vocabulary and Gimkit!
ReplyDeleteWow, I really hope this new bond helps your students in the district!
ReplyDeleteMy district also restricts students from taking home devices, that is for grades Prek-2nd. 3rd and up have to take home to charge daily and are responsible for bringing them everyday. On testing days the non-testing grade levels are asked to refrain from using the devices in order for testing to go smoothly. Our students don't have access to youtube either because during the pandemic there were many issues with students accessing things on youtube.
ReplyDeleteWe are lucky to have solid wifi connection most of the time, except for when the whole school is using it for benchmark testing. However, we have an IT assistant always present in our school. I am not sure if his position was created during COVID and how long he will be there, but it helps when there is an issue with techonology.We also use You tube videos to relate them to lessons being taught in class and use both Blookit and Kahoot for reviewing skills before tests.
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