By Sakshi Venkatraman

staff writer

@oompapa1

When walking into an old middle school, one often feels a tide of old memories and nostalgia washing over them.

However, with all the new programs, technology and classes being implemented this year at the Coppell middle schools, the learning style is unrecognizable from that of just a few years ago.

Like Coppell High School, Coppell ISD middle schools are using technology in everyday learning more than ever before. More computer labs are being turned into classrooms, and students often bring their own technology into the classroom environment.

Aside from that, programs like iExplore are making the students more interactive with their own grades and with the outside world.

“[iExplore] is a mandatory class for seventh graders in where we explore different careers and colleges,” Coppell Middle School West seventh grader Aishwarya Kannan said. “It takes up one of our electives so we can focus more on the exploration.”

iExplore is an endorsement course in which students explore ‘real world’ concepts such as budgeting, colleges and careers. All of the Coppell middle schools have implemented this program, reducing the students’ electives to two instead of three.

“We are addressing the ‘real world’ by bringing in a number of guest speakers to interact with learners, discuss their career choices, and what their daily job might look like,” Coppell Middle School East iExplore teacher Trina Messer said. “[In class], learners could be online, reading an article about a career in Health Science, or watching a video from the perspective of a worker in a manufacturing plant. It will depend on their interest and career choice.”

The iExplore students are working to gain knowledge of themselves and their career options so that they can be more successful in high school, college and ultimately, find a good career.

“To start the year they have focused on learning about themselves, their personality types, their strengths and about other personality types as well,” Messer said. “This will help them now as they work with others in [Project Based Learning] groups and through high school, their post-secondary education, as well as their future career.  We will end the year with activities that focus on the importance of success in education and on the job, ways to handle stress, along with work ethic, time management, and perseverance.”

iExplore focuses on molding kids into citizens that are ready to be fruitful members of society, sending them to high school with a thorough knowledge of their options.

Another new type of class being implemented this year is Results Only Learning Environment, commonly known as ROLE, in which students and teachers discuss on a one-on-one basis about what grade the student thinks he/she deserves.

“Learners give themselves a grade at the end of each six weeks based on feedback and mastery of skills done that six weeks,” CMS East English teacher Laura Melson said. “We replace individual grades on assignments, projects, activities, etc. with direct feedback, so learners are given the opportunity to master skills.”

Aside from the new programs, the most obvious change in Coppell schools is the amount of technology used for everyday work. The advancements the Coppell Independent School District has made as far as technology are just starting to touch the middle school level.

“Learners are actively using technology everyday in several classes,” Messer said. “Devices might be used to introduce new material, to show understanding and apply concepts learned in the days lesson, or to create presentations showcasing more rigorous concepts learned throughout a PBL. Also, due to science textbooks being completely online, science classrooms each have an iPad cart.”

In addition to the class sets that most of the middle school teachers have, students, beginning with 8th graders, will receive one-on-one iPads towards the middle of the school year.

“The iPads help us set reminders for homework assignments and keep track of our work better,” Kannan said. “The new technology makes us more responsible students because instead of losing all our handwritten notes, we can keep everything online.”