Conway Middle School Curriculum Coach Kelly Moran has learned that if you want to grab the attention of middle school students, it takes a little creativity.
"Highly engaged is not always easy with this age group, because it takes a lot to catch them," Moran said. "It takes a lot to keep them engaged."
Moran has found something that works: iPods.
Conway Middle School was among three Horry County schools chosen to receive iPods through an Apple grant. Then, it was up to teachers to use them to enhance lesson plans -- for example, sixth grade science.
"They have to understand weather patterns, and weather movement in our country," Moran said. "You know, that weather moves from west to east, and they have to understand cold fronts, warm fronts -- all that kind of stuff."
To test their knowledge at the end of the unit, Moran's students were assigned to put together a weather forecast using an iPod app called PhotoPuppet.
"We picked a map out, and our weather person talked about the two day forecast for that area," now seventh grader Evan Groome explained.
The project landed Conway Middle as one of ten schools nationwide chosen for the Apple Snapshot Learning Award. It's given to classrooms at all grade levels that engage students using Apple products.
Their videos were displayed on iTunes -- and more than that, it got the students excited about what they were learning.
"It's a lot more fun than just sitting down and reading a textbook, or taking a test," Conway Middle School student Brent Glasgow said. "You actually do something, you interact, and I like having hands-on learning, like most kids."
Getting engaged through Apple technology has been great for the students, but Moran says it's also helped the teachers. The Apple grant provided for a brand new MacBook and an iPad2 to help the teachers break out of some of their more traditional teaching methods.
"It's a different kind of lesson, it's the kind of learning where they are taking charge so I don't have to be the one lecturing and talking," she said. "It can be them, and they're taking charge of their own learning."
Many of the students already use Apple technology at home, but for those who don't, it's a new opportunity to level the playing field.
"Education is supposed to be the great equalizer, and if we can give those skills to kids who don't have it, then they have skills they can take to jobs and other places," Moran said.
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