Maryetta
School seventh and eighth grade students in Stilwell, Okla., use their new Mac
laptops they received as a result of federal stimulus funds. COURTESY PHOTO


     

         
 
         
         
         
     
     

         
 Eighth grade student, Dylan
         Pettigrew, receives his Mac laptop computer from teacher Lisa Chair during an
         assembly at Maryetta Elementary School in Stilwell, Okla. The school was one of
         19 schools that were awarded a digital classroom project grant from the
         Oklahoma Department of Education. PHOTO BY JAMI CUSTER
     

By JAMI CUSTER
Reporter

STILWELL, Okla. – Maryetta Elementary School is one of 19 schools awarded federal stimulus funds by the Oklahoma Department of Education to buy Mac laptops and implement a digital classroom. 

Nancy Neff, Maryetta education technology integration specialist, said the laptops would be used to start a digital curriculum that will teach students 21st century learning skills.

“It will take time to transition,” Neff said. “We are trying to make it more student centered, where the students actually have their own system of learning. They can work at their own pace…and teachers can individualize the curriculum. That’s our long-term goal.”

The plan is to have students correspond with teachers via e-mail when turning in assignments as well as reading textbooks on the laptop. Each seventh and eighth grade student received a laptop. The students will able to take the computers home or wherever they choose just as if they were textbooks.

Maryetta School’s grant was for $249,000, which was used to buy 148 Mac laptops as well as pay for professional development for teachers who will stay after school each Wednesday to meet and discuss a curriculum and learn the computers.




Neff said with the grant, teachers and students would have to change how they teach and learn.

“I think this has endless opportunities for the students,” she said. “We are going to innovate teaching and learning and how it’s done here at Maryetta School.”

For the students, many are looking forward to the transition from books to laptops.

“It is a great opportunity to have it, and I can’t wait to use it instead of books,” said seventh grader Kyle Leuthje. 

“I plan on keeping track of my assignments with it, and I love having it. I can email all my friends, said eighth grader Makiah Goodrich

Maryetta Elementary Principal Rhonda Brown estimated that less than 30 percent of the school’s students have access to a computer and that many go to a friend’s or family member’s home to use one.

Neff said school officials hope family members of the students will also use the computers. Not only could the laptops open doors for students, but for parents, too, she said.

Maryetta Elementary Superintendent Lori Means said the students have an opportunity of a lifetime at their fingertips and she hopes they take advantage of it.

“Seventh and eighth grade students, you’re an elite group in Oklahoma. You have this opportunity to take this and not only compete for jobs in Oklahoma or the United States, but globally. Now what you do with it is up to you,” she said.

Dr. Neil Morton, Cherokee Nation senior advisor of Education Services, said he envied the students for what they received and joked about what he used during his school days – a Big Chief tablet, a pencil and rough paper. 

“This isn’t happening in very many places…instant opportunities to find anything you want to find, to communicate with the rest of the world and your life will actually change forever as a result of today,” he said.

Other public schools in the tribe’s jurisdiction also receiving the grant included Briggs, Catoosa, Grand View and Pocola. 

jami-custer@cherokee.org • (918) 453-5560